Review of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) by Kristofer H — 28 May 2017
Proper Perspective: This... Is... The second best Pirates movie in the franchise. With ease. Good villain, good use of the original cast, good new additions to the ensemble, and what feels like a good refresher to a franchise that went stagnant two movies ago. Let's talk about Pirates five...
Official Synopsis: Captain Jack Sparrow searches for the trident of Poseidon.
Plot: Captain Salazar wants to get revenge against Jack Sparrow, while at the same time everyone in the open ocean is in search of the trident of Poseidon for their own personal reasons.
Take: For the first quarter, maybe third of the movie this felt like the "greatest hits of Pirates" with nothing but gags and references. Then, slowly but surely, as the story blended in the ensemble cast the movie flowed. Taking the focus off Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), like in the first movie, allowed the story to breath.
A moment for Depp and Sparrow, the character felt very, very dated and overplayed. Depp felt like he was sleepwalking through the first half of the movie, overcooking the character. He faded into the movie as he was used more sparingly.
The story followed Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), an orphan looking to complete a map that no man can read. She is joined by Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites), the son of Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner, who wants to free his father for good from his curse and duty to the Flying Dutchman. The two of them get mixed up with Sparrow and his crew, the British Navy, Captain Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) crew, and in the crosshairs of Captain Salazar.
It is a more stripped down and simple story with some of the fantastical.
Scodelario was the standout of the movie and as the movie progressed the origin of her character was clearly going to relate to someone in the movie, but they go in a direction that is not so on the nose.
Recommendation: I am surprised that I am saying this, but Pirates Five was good. Definitely the second best movie in the franchise, and a return to form if they decide to make more movies. Check this one out, enjoy, the franchise is back on track...
Stay after the credits, because, there is something there.
This review of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) was written by Kristofer H on 28 May 2017.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales has generally received mixed reviews.
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