"I am just as bent as ever. Hellishly so!"

Rating: 8/10 (3 March 2019)

Chronologically, it appears that as the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise progressed, the IMDb rating accorded to each successive film was lower than the previous one. I guess that's to be expected, as for some folks, the novelty wears off and it's hard to match the originality of the first picture. For this viewer however, there's never been a 'Pirates' movie I didn't like and find enjoyable. A lot of the credit goes to Johnny Depp for making Captain Jack Sparrow such an amusing and engaging character. He uses his facial expressions exceeding well in a variety of situations and his dialog is humorously written with a lot of double entendre involved. I particularly got a kick out of a line he delivered here defending the cleric Philip (Sam Claflin) - "I support the missionary's position". It blows by very quickly but the nuance made me laugh after doing a double take. Very clever.
One of my favorite bad guys in movies ever since seeing him in the HBO series "Deadwood" has been Ian McShane. He was a well cast addition to this story involving the search for the Fountain of Youth. McShane has just the right look for a villainous pirate, and his portrayal of Blackbeard Edward Teach was noteworthy. The prophecy involving Blackbeard stated that he would meet his death at the hands of a one-legged man, which after some consideration, seemed to me a lot more feasible than dying at the legs of a one-armed man. With the recurring presence of Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa, it was only a matter of time to see how that whole prediction would play out.
You know, it's hard to come up with unique and original situations in movie sequels, but I thought the mermaid battle was creatively done, and the first swordfight between Jack and Angelica (Penélope Cruz) was just about the best I've ever seen, second perhaps only to the masterful exchange between Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin in "The Princess Bride". The hanging of the mutineers aboard Queen Anne's Revenge by Blackbeard was also a skillful bit of business. All well done and resulting in some fine action sequences to keep the story moving. About the only thing I would have handled differently would have been to use Keith Richards in more scenes. Like Ian McShane and the rest of the pirate crew, he's got just the right look for a nasty buccaneer.