I have lived to tell the Tale...

Rating: 5/10 (31 May 2017)

After a 5yr absence, 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales' is the fifth installment of the series and the continuing adventures of the infamous Cpt. Jack Sparrow. Having hit choppy waters since it's fantastic first film, does this one finally recapture it's adventurous fun?
1. Having embodied a character (at this point) more popular than Indiana Jones, the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise would be truly lost without Johnny Depp as Cpt. Jack Sparrow. With wind in his sails, undying wit and drunken-luck on his side, it's hard not to love a character like Jack Sparrow. No matter which film(s) we like better than the others, Sparrow has stolen the show since 2003 and has undoubtedly grown on and become aware to every movie-going audience. I was delighted as anyone can be having him back on the silver-screen for what could be his final adventure. Needless to say, I couldn't help but think his luck and charm just might have run it's course with this film.
2. No doubt that Johnny Depp is in fact one of the greatest actors of our generation. He's an A-list star as well as a household name and now most notable to younger audiences for his portrayal of Sparrow. However, his characters on film may be immortalized, but Depp is in fact getting older and his fatigue does in show through this particular performance. Perhaps the blame can fall on the writing or the story as a whole, but the charm and wit we all love from this character is few and far between and solely replaced by drunken foolishness instead. We all look forward to what new mischief and tricks Jack has in stored, but I left the theater feeling as if he's now one big walking joke.
3. The plot revolves around Henry Turner (Brendan Thwaites) promising to rid his father (Orlando Bloom) of the Dutchman's curse by finding the Trident of the Greek God 'Poseidon'. In the case of Jack however, a former enemy who himself and his crew were enslaved as ghosts, are set free and seek revenge on Sparrow. As simple as this may seem, it unnecessarily becomes more convoluted. Karina (Kaya Scoldelario) a young astronomer gets involved, since she claims that she can navigate to the Trident's location by mapping the stars. Alas, even though she has more personality with her character than Thwaites, Scoldelario serves just a minor purpose to the plot and even less as a love-interest as she is utterly underused.
4. Having an Oscar-winning actor as the villain seems like a win/win scenario right?.....not exactly. Javier Bardem is indeed a great actor, but as the ghostly Cpt. Salazar.....he falters. Not only is he not as intimidating as one might think, but his Spanish accent is much too thick to where it's hard to understand his English. Bardem definitely falls short of the franchise's previous antagonists such as Geoffrey Rush (Barbosa), Bill Nighy (Davy Jones) and even Ian McShane (Blackbeard) to an extent. The film tends to work better as long as you focus on the characters that you've already invested in. The action scenes are done well, but never quite hits any exciting high-notes.
5. Besides fun and relate-able characters, the next important thing necessary in a 'Pirates of the Caribbean' film is.....the Caribbean. Not only was this installment filmed entirely in Australia, but it's glaringly obvious that set-pieces were missing. There are way too many digital back-shots that take away from the organic feel swashbuckling films supposed to have. Filming for this ended in the summer/fall of 2015, and my guess for it's delayed release was the massive amount of CGI and art direction added in post-production. Not saying that all the effects were bad, but the CGI on the ghosts and the final action sequence is quite glaring. For it's second film 'Dead Man's Chest' to have won an Oscar for special effects, this was indeed a huge step back.
'Dead Men Tell No Tales' amounts to be an average and mildly entertaining flick. Rating this out of the franchise's five films, this would be #4, with 'At World's End' being by far the worst. 'Curse of the Black Pearl' is definitely the best, and I sure hope the filmmakers find their stride as they did with the first and have a successful return-to-form if there is to be a sixth entry.