Pirates Greatest Hits Record

Rating: 5/10 (9 January 2018)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales:
Directed by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg. Written by Jeff Nathanson and Terry Rossio
The fifth Pirates movie. Who would have thought? Certainly not I as it really felt like this franchise had completely run out of steam in On Stranger Tides. They went back to the well of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann and started introducing kids with a Captain Jack Sparrow who much like Johnny Depp himself doesn't age. This movie is eerily reminscent of the first one with a supernatural villain with close ties to Jack Sparrow and two young heroes in love but not really sure what to do since they have obligations to a destiny greater than themselves.
You've seen this before from this series for sure. It feels like a greatest hits of the Pirates series. There's honestly not much to the villain Captain Salazar. He hates Jack Sparrow because he was outsmarted and killed by him a long time ago. Jack barely even recognizes him when he does show up.
That brings me to Johnny Depp himself. He is barely recognizable as this character anymore. Jack Sparrow has come around full circle to a parody of what it once was. This is inevitable for any character on a long enough timeline. This was always a comedic character anyway but something seems off in Johnny Depp's portrayal this time around.
The action setpieces are nicely done and look terrific for a big budget movie. The camerawork is swirling and puts you in the place of what is happening. Everything feels lived in even for smaller scenes. Then again I would certainly hope so for what they spent on this thing.
It's an okay movie. There isn't much to it and as I mentioned previously it feels like a greatest hits record of the Pirates franchise. With On Stranger Tides, this franchise was over and this was the network special honoring it's anniversary. It's still over. I give this movie a C.