![]() ![]() Captain Salazar has an ax to grind with Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), so he allows Henry to live so he can deliver a message to the rum-loving scoundrel.Įventually, Henry meets up with Jack and enlists his help in finding the Trident. Unfortunately, the ship where Henry is working has a deadly encounter with an undead vessel manned by Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem), who likes to leave a single crew member alive to spread his legend. Henry (played as a scrappy young man by Brenton Thwaites) is determined to find a way to locate the fabled Trident of Poseidon, which is rumored to have the power to break all nautical curses. Which is why I was delighted (and frankly a little shocked) by how much fun I had watching this latest entry, which manages to entertain while openly plundering the original movie’s winning formula.ĭead Men Tell No Tales opens with a prologue featuring Henry Turner, the son of original franchise hero Will Turner (Orlando Bloom, still cutting a dashing figure despite being cursed with barnacles that cover half his face) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley, clearly not being paid by the word here). ![]() ![]() Given that this is the fifth film in a faded franchise - and that Depp probably needs the money - the answer for why any of this is happening appears to be painfully obvious. That question is posed slurred by Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp’s perpetually sloshed swashbuckler, during his very first appearance in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Just like the mannequin on the ride.“ This may seem a peculiar request…but could someone explain why I’m here?” Who would he be if he stopped swigging rum and sobered up? Or if he changed locales and left the Caribbean? Toward the beginning, Dead Men Tell No Tales seems as if it will test who Captain Jack Sparrow is when he's no longer the captain and simply Jack Sparrow, but then it doesn't and he remains the same. At certain points, I found myself wondering, could a Pirates of the Caribbean movie work without Depp? (No, right?) But how long can he play this same character? I suppose I'm just aching to see some character development for Jack Sparrow, something lacking from the last five films. (Knightley herself makes a dialogue-less cameo, but seems to not want much to do with this billion-dollar franchise.)Īnd then there is Depp, whose cartoonish portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow has become a caricature of a caricature, mincing and slurring through each scene, drunker and wearing thicker eyeliner than ever. (Zombie sharks!) Paul McCartney pops up for a silly cameo - it's nothing, but it's cute seeing him onscreen - and the new recruits are welcome additions: Thwaites has great charisma and even greater eyebrows, while Scodelario is poised and perfectly Keira Knightley-y. Nevertheless, directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg ( Bandidas) do craft tentpole-worthy action sequences and plenty of moments - like a particularly clever bit involving a guillotine and another with zombie sharks - are honest-to-goodness fun. ( Har har, guess what "horology" sounds like?) There will be the inevitable sword fights and bad guys back from the dead, pratfalls and jokes about cannon "balls." The thrills aren't quite as thrilling the punch lines don't have as much punch. There's a lot of business about the trident and a compass and unreadable maps and curses, but Dead Men Tell No Tales - as with other Pirates installments before it - might ultimately wind up feeling repetitive, the swashbuckling feeling like more of the same. ![]()
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