Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is the fifth installment in the Jack Sparrow adventure following Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End, and On Stranger Tides. If you want to know my thoughts on those films, click here: Yo Ho Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life For Me
The Story/The Direction:
Dead Men Tell No Tales, is the direct sequel to the original trilogy that tells us the story of Henry (Brenton Thwaites), Will and Elizabeth’s son, attempting to save his dad from the curse of the Dutchman via the Trident of Poseidon. Along the way, he runs into Jack Sparrow, Joshamee Gibbs, and Hector Barbossa played by Johnny Depp, Kevin McNally and Geoffrey Rush, respectively. He also meets Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) who is on her own journey to find the Trident (a real big McGuffin if you haven’t guessed). While trying to find the Trident, they are chased by Captain Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem) who also seeks the Trident wipe out all piracy and exact revenge on Sparrow for putting him in the Devil’s Triangle. That’s pretty much all the story and mixed in is an chases, escapes, close calls and battles by sword and by ship. Salazar’s ghost crew is not as imposing and impressive as Barbossa’s original crew but its very close. There isn’t much here that haven’t seen before in the prior Pirates films but it is still enjoyable. There’s one scene with a guillotine that did have me laughing a lot and there were a quite more sexual innuendo jokes that made me chuckle.
The film is very well directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg who essentially remake the original Curse of the Black Pearl. The plot is very similar and while not original, it was refreshing to see the relatively simple story. I’m not saying its as good as The Black Pearl but I liked that formula as I did for Star Wars: The Force Awakens (also not saying it as good as that). The story is grounded adventure story as The Black Pearl was.
The Characters:
Jack Sparrow is honestly getting old at this point. Depp does well as he always has in the role but it is a lot less funny than it was 14 years ago. His character is just there and everything happens to him based on luck. He’s not the star of this film as he was in the prior films. He’s more of a side character that is a ghost of his original self. Rush as Barbossa also does fine and his character goes through an interesting, though predictable, character arc. I was not a fan of how he looked though. I personally prefered the more pirate-y look versus the “elegant” captain look that he sported here and in On Stranger Tides. Thwaites and Scodelario aren’t just the new versions of Bloom and Knightley which does make their characters enjoyable. However, I feel their characters had little to no chemistry and them ending up together made no sense other than for the reason of obligation. I did really enjoy Scodelario as the intelligent woman who was thought to be a witch because she knew astrology.
It added a nice subtext about an educated woman facing persecution while being obviously smarter than the men who only have authority and the presumption of competence due to their gender. On a smaller note, I enjoyed the cameo by Paul McCartney.
I think the star of this film is Bardem. He really sores in this antagonistic role as he has in No Country for Old Men and Skyfall. This performance is not ahead of those by any means but whenever he was on screen, I enjoyed every moment. It honestly reminded me of how I felt with Rush as Barbossa in The Black Pearl. I could watch a prequel on just his story because he was that interesting. Though they did a lot of it in this film and I don’t know what else they could show.
Flaws:
Aside from the plot being similar to The Black Pearl and how it ties up loose ends from the original trilogy, there wasn’t much in the film besides superficial yet genuine pleasures. If you’re seaking a decent pirate adventure film, you will end up satisfied but its not much more than that. The swordplay though is lacking in comparison to the over the top chase scenes, which I did not like. The CGI also seemed bad at times and I could honestly tell it was not real. There were also a lot of inconsistencies with the original trilogy. The compass is used a plot device in a way that’s quite different and there’s a witch like character that is brought in that is not really explored.
Overall:
If this film is not the final film as some trailers have indicated and it is the start of a new series, it is a step in the right direction and has potential. If it is the finale of the series, I would be satisfied and it would allow for On Stranger Tides to be forgotten. Is it as good as the Original Trilogy films? That is obviously up for interpretation but I would say its around the same as the latter two films in the trilogy. It is a long way from being as bad as On Stranger Tides and if you wanted a more grounded sequel, you may like it more than Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End. I would wait until when it is released on demand and/or Blu-ray/DVD and watch it at home or if its a cheap movie in the theatre. I feel the critiques of this film are a little harsh and if this is the last film, it is a fitting finale.
Rating: 2.5/5.0 bowties
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