Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales: Movie Review

“Dead Men Tell No Tales” is the fifth movie in the hugely successful “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise.  I would be lying if I told you that the latest chapter in the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow wasn’t the best film since the second one. However, that isn’t really saying much.  “On Stanger Tides” was nearly unwatchable and “D.M.T.N.T.” isn’t much better.

Set five years after the last time we saw Captain Jack (Johnny Depp), things haven’t been going great for the drunken’ pirate.  He is flat broke, his beloved Black Pearl is shrunken down into a bottle, and his crew abandoned him.  To make matters worse, the cursed ghost of Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) is on the hunt for Sparrow after being released from a tomb that the pirate trapped him in many years prior.

Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites), the son of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) wants to free his father from a curse so he can come back to the land of the living.  Unfortunately, he needs the help of Sparrow to locate a mystical trident that is capable of doing so.  The same trident can also destroy Salazar.  Along for the adventure is Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) who is also after the trident for her own reasons.  While Sparrow, Turner, and Smyth quest for the trident, Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) is forced to help Salazar hunt down Sparrow.

There is a whole lot going on in “D.M.T.N.T.”, and Bardem is easily the best villain this series has had so far.  I just wish the whole thing didn’t feel like a 129 minute rehash of all the previous films.  Even though this latest outing is less of a mess than the last few, it still feels bloated and overly long.  I wanted the movie to end so badly that I couldn’t even remain seated for the post-credits stinger.  Sure, Depp and the rest of the cast of veterans are great, but it’s the lack of originality in the writing that I had trouble with. I will say there was one sequence involving Sparrow and spinning guillotine that really had me laughing.

If you love this series and even enjoyed the last couple, then I am sure you will enjoy this one too, but if you had enough by the time the third film was released, then I can’t recommend you go in for this latest adventure.

By: Marc Ferman