Review of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) by Andy G — 16 Jan 2018

This movie actually starts out pretty great for the most part. Most of the first act of the movie is exactly what I wanted out of this movie, including some fantastic, ridiculous funny action scenes, but I was able to identify the point at which the movie just loses my interest. Without spoiling much, there's a completely out of place scene involving a wedding on an island, and pretty much everything from that point onwards, I just couldn't care for. The action gets boring, nothing particularly interesting happens, and the climax is weak. There's also something the movie COULD have done with the climax, and didn't, which was incredibly disappointing. However, I love the very end of the movie, and so the first act and ending do ultimately make the movie feel worth watching. Plus of course, the visuals are amazing, the music is good, and everybody loves Jack Sparrow. Although I do have to say I was disappointed somewhat in Johnny Depp's performance here. It feels more like a bad imitation of Jack Sparrow, focusing on the clumsy drunk side, and ignoring the cunning and witty pirate we were introduced to in the other films. It's still fun, but it's missing some critical elements to his character. On the positive, this movie did do a few things to improve on what I felt was lacking in the last movie. Ultimately, it was still an enjoyable Pirates movie. I do wish they had done some things differently, and wish the movie had designed the second half of the movie better, but in the end, you're still going to have a fun time with this movie, especially with some of the fantastic scenes towards the beginning.

Personal Grade: S.

Technical Score: 77%.

Also, the first time I watched the movie was in 3D, and the second time was in HDR. Both experiences offered significant upgrades to the experience imo, although I would probably give an edge to the 3D over the HDR, although unfortunately Disney has decided not to release this movie on 3D Blu-ray in the states.