May 29, 20173 min read

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

★★

Directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg

Starring Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem, Brenton Thwaites and Kaya Scodelario

This movie review might sound very negative, but Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales does have some positives and some really enjoyable moments. Firstly, comparing it to the last two movies this one felt more like an action adventure movie similar to the very first film. Pirates of the Caribbean has always had some of the best musical score, and once again the music and sound editing fitted perfectly with every scene. The action sequences were bigger and better, the humour was good throughout, the acting was solid from all the cast including the new additions and it was quite an entertaining film.

Now…here are some of the issues…

Whatever happened to the Johnny Depp who was nominated for portraying such a memorable charismatic character and delivering such an iconic performance known as Captain Jack Sparrow? What we loved about the character was that he was clever and witty, fresh and original, he was brilliantly funny and sarcastic, he was loveable but also at the same time he was feared by his enemies. However, as this franchise has progressed, his character seems to have become really silly and cartoonish. It’s almost like watching a clown who somehow manages to luckily overcome and escape whatever the odds he's up against. We know Depp is a great performer, we’ve seen him deliver some incredible performances in the past, but lately any character he seems to portray his acting goes too over the top. He’s still good as Jack Sparrow, and being that this film doesn’t all focus on his story, that certainly helped with the flow of his character.

Geoffrey Rush’s character as Captain Barbossa is definitely one of the best things about this franchise as his character has consistently developed keeping in line with all the other movie’s storylines. Javier Bardem as Salazar was a nice addition playing the leading villain, his performance was very good but there were times where his CGI version did feel out of place. Overall the special effects are brilliant throughout the movie and there are some fantastic action sequences which visually looked spectacular. You can clearly see that this film had a huge budget, the film certainly felt bigger in all aspects with some great set pieces and locations used.

Dead Men Tell No Tales's storyline was quite convoluted where it should have focused on one simple plot, rather than having too many side stories with unnecessary scenes, some of which didn’t make much sense. Even though it was a nice introduction with the new characters such as Henry (Thwaites) and Carina (Scodelario), it would have been more interesting had the storyline revolved more around their backstories building up the next film or a possible spin-off. The pacing of the film felt longer than its actual running time, it felt sloppy at times and the script could have been executed better.

Overall, no pun intended but unfortunately this franchise was already a sinking ship and this fifth installment has done no justice to recapture that magic from the very first film. The ship has certainly sailed now being that the last film was made over six years ago, many people had already forgotten and given up on this franchise and another film wasn’t really necessary. However, there are some entertaining moments and some unexpected surprises with a strong conclusion in the final act.

Watch the official Movie Trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales below...