Spoilers Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Review Thread

[JD]

The fifth movie in Disney's Pirates of the Carribean series, Dead Men Tell No Tales was released in theaters yesterday. The film picks up on a couple plot threads from the series threads from the series third and fourth movies, but it also follows it's own new plot which introduces us to a whole collection of new heroes and villains. The three biggest editions to the series cast would be Brenton Thwaits' Henry Turner, the son of the first trilogy's heroes Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan, Kaya Scoldelario's Carina Smyth/

Spoiler: big spoiler related to her identity

Barbossa

, an astronomer, horologist (this actually leads to some of the movie's best jokes), with important knowledge for the other characters' quest, and Javier Bardem as the main villain Armando Salazar.
Series regulars Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, Geoffrey Rush as Hector Barboss, Kevin McNally as Joshamee Gibbs, and Martin Klebba as Marty, all return, along with returning cast members Stephen Graham as Scrum, and Angus Barnett & Giles New as Mullroy & Murtaugh.
The main focus of the plot is a quest for Trident of Poseidon, which all of the characters want for their own reason. The movie also provides a bit of backstory for Jack and his compass.
Overall I enjoyed it, but it did drag a bit in a few places.
The opening sequence, which takes the term bank heist a bit more literally than usual, is one of my favorite sequences in the entire series.
The two new heroes Henry and Carina were nice editions to the cast, and were definitely better heroes than on Stranger Tides' Phillip and Syrena. Henry being Will and Elizabeth's son, and the reveal at the end that Carina

Spoiler: has a connection to another character

is Barbossa's daughter

gives them a nice connection to the series and fans.
Salazar was a pretty good villain.
While the end has a small hint towards a possible future story, the biggest plot threads from the previous movies, the fate of the Black Pearl, and Will's curse are both resolved, so this could easily be a very nice ending to the entire series.
My Rating: B

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I'm not sure if I'm going to even bother. I loved the first three films and I'm one of the few people who considers At World's End the best of the series, but On Stranger Tides was decidedly mediocre and nothing about this film really appeals to me. Javier Bardem is always great but his character doesn't come off as interesting in the trailers. Plus, Todd VanDerWerff's review doesn't fill me with any kind of excitement and I always trust his review for both film and television. Besides, I'm not sure if I even want to support Johnny Depp productions at this point.

 

[Gaith]

Screen Junkies' Hal Rudnick recaps the first four movies:

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If I may reply to a very old (August 2013) comment from the pre-release thread (this movie's been a while coming):

I would like to see them move away from the supernatural elements and just have some sort of swashbuckling adventure. Show some real piracy too... in the first movie, at least, the pirates were shown to be the bad people that pirates really were. Since then, they have been a bunch of lovable misfits. I know it is Disney, and they cannot go too far in making them bad, but still. They are supposed to be pirates. Doing piracy. And other pirate-y things.

I don't mind a bit of fantasy, but the franchise's glorification of pirates, while conspicuously avoiding ever showing them committing any actual acts of piracy, has been a weird feature of the series from the start. To my mind, that contradiction is a big part of why Dead Man's Chest is its only good movie to date, as the soul-sucking, pirate of spirits Davy Jones is the only satisfying, hissable villain in the bunch. Heck, even Blackbeard in On Stranger Tides was mainly trying to merely stay alive - an unpleasant possibility, sure, but hardly a devilish plot of nefariousness.

Sounds like this movie, which has the lowest Metacritic score of the bunch, is a rental at best, though I'd be surprised if it were worse than At World's End and On Stranger Tides. (IMO, AWE has its moments, but is massively muddled and way too frickin' long, whereas OST is shorter, but completely uninspired.) Incidentally, this movie is the shortest of the bunch, beating OST by eight minutes.

I can see why Depp is back, as that's the safe bet. And revisiting the Turner storyline is understandable, given the series' 14-year history. But crikey, why is Geoffrey Rush still in these movies? He was a nothing character in the first movie, but at least he had a purpose. In AWE, he was just kind of along for the ride, and OST made him a leading character again, for no clear reason other than he's probably a cheap hire.

 

[fireproof78]

Geoffery Rush loves doing these films, and wants to be in them.

 

[Tosk]

I really never minded the original three (bloated though they may be) but the fourth one was definitely a boring stinker, so I probably won't even bother with this one.

Maybe on DVD.

 

[Gov Kodos]

It was OK for a film that could have had at least a half hour cut out of it. Jack was there mostly for pratfalls and while there were some nice moments throughout, it's no loss if you pass up seeing this. Enjoyable fun, but after a series like Black Sails, this is just not a pirate film. It's clownish schmaltz in pirate suits.

 

[JD]

Screen Junkies' Hal Rudnick recaps the first four movies:

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If I may reply to a very old (August 2013) comment from the pre-release thread (this movie's been a while coming):

I don't mind a bit of fantasy, but the franchise's glorification of pirates, while conspicuously avoiding ever showing them committing any actual acts of piracy, has been a weird feature of the series from the start. To my mind, that contradiction is a big part of why Dead Man's Chest is its only good movie to date, as the soul-sucking, pirate of spirits Davy Jones is the only satisfying, hissable villain in the bunch. Heck, even Blackbeard in On Stranger Tides was mainly trying to merely stay alive - an unpleasant possibility, sure, but hardly a devilish plot of nefariousness.

But series has never been meant to be taken serious as pirate stories, and getting rid of the fantasy elements would pretty much destroy one of the things that makes these different. The fantasy elements have one of my favorite parts of the franchise since the beginning, and it would really deminish my interest if they were to get rid of them. Hell the fact that these movies are fantasy is really the only reason that a character like Jack Sparrow can even work. Going into these movies expecting a realistic take on pirates would be like going into the Star Wars movies expecting hard science.

I can see why Depp is back, as that's the safe bet. And revisiting the Turner storyline is understandable, given the series' 14-year history. But crikey, why is Geoffrey Rush still in these movies? He was a nothing character in the first movie, but at least he had a purpose. In AWE, he was just kind of along for the ride, and OST made him a leading character again, for no clear reason other than he's probably a cheap hire.[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

Geoffery Rush loves doing these films, and wants to be in them.

After OST Barbossa has now become the leader of pretty much all of the pirates, so he plays a pretty big role in this one since Salazar is as much as threat to him as to Jack.
After reading about how much he loved doing the movies,

Spoiler: Barbossa's fate and what it could mean for the next movie

I was pretty surprised when they actually killed him off at the end. I can't help but wonder if we do get a sixth, if it'll be The Search for Barbossa. Actually, it just dawned on me as I wrote that that was probably what the end with the comment about an appointment beyond the horizon was setting up, since they had to go beyond the horizon, or something like that, to get Jack back in AWE.

 

[Gaith]

But series has never been meant to be taken serious as pirate stories, and getting rid of the fantasy elements would pretty much destroy one of the things that makes these different.

As I said in plain English above, "I don't mind a bit of fantasy" in this series. The trouble is, instead of serving as a framework for the story and supporting/galvanizing the drama, the fantasy is the whole story, and nearly the whole drama also. In CotBP, the villains spend the whole movie trying to undo their curse, but it's not as though they're ashamed of what they did and want to redeem themselves or anything; they just don't like the way it feels, and the protagonists have no reason whatsoever to stop them from doing so apart from they intend to kill Elizabeth (or at least cut her hand) due to a misunderstanding. Why does everyone want to rescue Jack from the Locker at the end of DMC - because they genuinely, credibly care about him enough to spend significant resources and risk their lives doing so, or because Verbinski wanted to play around in an afterlife sequence, and the Locker keeps Davy Jones in the picture? What was the point of Lord Beckett getting Davy Jones' heart, if he didn't bother doing anything with it besides killing the Kraken off-screen? Why is Jack searching for the Fountain of Youth in OST - because he yearns for immortality, or because he gets roped up in Blackbeard's quest? (And Blackbeard is inspired to quest because he heard a prophecy, and Barbossa is only in the movie because Blackbeard shrank the Black Pearl, an ability which has f----all to do with the rest of the story.)

Hell the fact that these movies are fantasy is really the only reason that a character like Jack Sparrow can even work.

Jack's character hasn't worked since the end of DMC, as he has no discernible motivations or even goals. He just reacts to whatever fantasy MacGuffin the writers have thought up for the movie at hand.

After OST Barbossa has now become the leader of pretty much all of the pirates

Another problem the series has - it keeps wanting to impose rules (and, in the case of AWE, a huge actual book full of codes and by-laws) on a class of rogues. It's not enough that the arbitrary fantasy rules dictate so much of the action, the writers throw in pirate bureaucracy in also, to cover their characters' utter lack of interesting qualities all the more heavily.

 

[The Wormhole]

I went in with low expectations based on OST being so dismal and the trailers for this one creating a largely meh reaction. That said, while I wouldn't claim to be "blown away" by this movie it is decent entertainment that exceeded my low expectations. Though the climax really was too bloated for its own good, a problem that's no stranger to this franchise. And somehow it seems a crime to take an accomplished actor like Javier Bardem and disguise his role with CG for most of the movie.

I will say the flashback scene with young Jack Sparrow becoming captain is the highlight of the movie, and actually that's a storyline that could have easily been expanded to fill its own movie, IMO.

 

[LJones41]

There were two aspects of the movie that I did not like. One, I disliked the night time encounter between Jack and Salazar on the sea. Too dark and I wasn't that impressed with the editing. And two, it looked as if the writers had revamped the story regarding the compass. I could have sworn that Tia Dalma had given it to Jack.

Otherwise, I really enjoyed the film. I think I enjoyed it more than the fourth film. I almost enjoyed it more than the third film. I enjoyed the cast's performances very much. And there were three times when I actually started crying.

 

[DigificWriter]

I haven't had a chance to see the film yet, but I found out about the ways in which it links back to At World's End and Dead Man's Chest, which makes me happy and makes me really want to add it to my video collection in a few months along with the other films in the franchise.

 

[Hawku]

I'm a huge fan of the first four films, but this one I have trouble even considering part of the franchise. It sounds like Depp is doing Hatter's voice, and the screenplay and directing was done by new people. In the first four, they had witty scenes and comedic moments; didn't see any of that here. :-(

I think the plot-framework was there, to explain things and set up sequences. I liked the idea of the Salazar and his crew. The original writers were credited for Story, so I think they laid things out and the new guys took over.

 

[Spider]

As long as it's not taken to seriously, this movie series is a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to this one being available on Amazon for streaming.

 

[The Wormhole]

In the first four, they had witty scenes and comedic moments; didn't see any of that here. :-(

I don't know, I definitely laughed my ass off over the various jokes about donkeys and donkey breeding.

 

[JD]

I thought the horologist stuff was pretty good too.

 

[Australis]

I enjoyed it, and was glad to have seen it. That said, it's advertised as "The Final Adventure", and I think that's probably a good idea.

 

[Kane2026]

I saw the movie last Saturday and I thought it was utterly forgetful. The twists and turns near the end made the movie boring and repetitive. Dead Men Tell No Tales or Salazar's Revenge as I call it had plenty of fun moments and some cheeky dialogue, but little more than that. It is a shame for a series that started out so well. The Curse of the Black Pearl in comparison to the other movies remained grounded - with a dash of horror added to the action. But most of all I enjoyed the journey Elizabeth and Will go on (separately and together). Salazar's Revenge tries something similar, but the story of Henry and Carina never manages to get a warm-up. Oddly enough I think Geoffrey Rush stole the show with his depiction of Barbossa.

 

[fireproof78]

The Curse of the Black Pearl is a tough comparison, because production was relatively quick, and they didn't know what they had or how big of a hit it would be.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Terrible film. Like a 5th rate town-hall pantomime given $200m and a painful Beatles cameo.

Only Kaya Scodelario comes out unscathed from this mess, even when lumbered with her half-rate Elizabeth-Swan clone.

I have neither the will nor inclination to find out myself, so can anyone tell me why the film has two titles? I went to see Salazar's Revenge over here in the UK, but I see reviews and posters for Dead Men Tell No Tales (better title)... legal snafu over title rights for the latter?

Hugo - Never again Cap'n Jack, never again

 

[The Old Mixer]

a painful Beatles cameo

I've never seen any of the Pirates movies, but was checking in here to see if anyone said anything about how Paul did. Alas, he was always a particularly lousy actor...going all the way back to A Hard Day's Night, in which he was the only one who didn't get a substantial scene without the others. I think that's why they gave him Wilfrid Brambell as his grandfather...to draw attention away from that.