A Guilty Pleasure

Rating: 7/10 (31 May 2019)

14 years after the release of Curse of the Black Pearl, Captain Jack Sparrow returns for a fifth adventure, Dead Men Tell No Tales. The Pirates of the Caribbean series at this point is one that can only be appreciated by fans, and those who have enjoyed the previous movies. Personally, I consider them guilty pleasures. While there is a lot to like about the first few, this probably should've been a trilogy, with At World's End being the last one. But that's not the case, and there are more adventures with Captain Jack Sparrow to be watched.
A lot of the good stuff from the previous movies has returned. The sets, between the ships, the islands and seas, the towns, it all looks fantastic. Not only is it visually spectacular, it helps to give off the vibe of adventure that a movie like this should have. The soundtrack is fantastic. He's a Pirate is one of the best movie tracks of all time. As with most Pirates of the Caribbean movies, there's also a lot of supernatural stuff in it, and the undead continue to look fantastic. Of course, it's got to have some ridiculous over-the-top moments, which are always welcome. The most notable is when Jack and the gang steal a bank. Not just the money, the whole building. That kind of stuff is just fun and enjoyable, not much else to it.
Unfortunately, the characters aren't as good. Captain Jack Sparrow is still the wild, witty pirate he's always been, but it's quite clear that a lot of the charisma has worn off. Depp still gives a good performance, as only he could portray this character. The other main characters are Henry, son of Will and Elizabeth, and Carina, an astronomer. These are some of the most bland and cliché characters I've ever seen. They're effectively "not Will" and "not Elizabeth." What they should have done was have Henry and Elizabeth go together to break the curse, as that makes more sense than leaving Elizabeth out altogether. Javier Bardem plays Captain Salazar, the villain, who is actually pretty good. Bardem is a fantastic actor, and he plays the part of the undead captain very well. Killing off Barbossa would have been fine, but the context and nature of his death was extremely uncharacteristic. And the plot is rather similar to that of Dead Man's Chest.
If what you want out of a movie like this is just an adventure on the high seas with pirates, the undead, ancient treasure, you'll like it. It's as simple as that.