Get ready to set sail on a high seas adventure in search of a great treasure with the crew of the Black Pearl.
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is the fifth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise. Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow, along with Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa, and joining them on this adventure are new and familiar faces to the franchise, including Javier Bardem as Captain Salazar.
A down-on-his-luck Captain Jack (Johnny Depp), unknowingly, releases Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) and his crew of undead ghost sailors from the Devil’s Triangle. Where many years earlier a very young Jack had trapped and killed them (or so he thinks!). Now that they have been released they resume their attack on wiping out every pirate at sea while hunting for Jack to get their revenge. Jack must find the legendary Trident of Poseidon before Captain Salazar finds him. He is joined on this journey by a brilliant and beautiful astronomer, Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), a headstrong young sailor in the Royal Navy, Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites), and his old partner Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).
Both Carina and Henry are searching for the Trident of Poseidon for different reasons. Carina holds a book and map that can lead them to it, while Henry needs the power of the Trident to release the curse that binds his father, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), to the Flying Dutchman.
I saw the original trilogy of Pirates of the Caribbean films, but never saw the fourth installment, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. There are some things in the new film that connects to On Stranger Tides, that explains those things. Like Barbossa missing a leg and the Black Pearl shrunk down inside a tiny bottle. Even though I didn’t know anything about these tiny details from the last film, it doesn’t detract you from the story of this film.
Javier Bardem is frightening and deadly as the undead Captain Salazar, but very regal, proud and fearful before he is trapped within the Devil’s Triangle. Strands of his ghostly hair move about his head and reveal the huge hole in his skull. His ship, the Silent Mary, is equally creepy. It’s damaged masts, decaying and rotting hull looks more like a skeleton of a ship with undead seagulls flying around it. Instead of ramming into other ships, the bow of the Silent Mary will rear up and the ribs of the ship will open up and engulf the enemy ship, completely destroying it. They also use undead sharks as weapons. Three dead and rotting shark carcasses are dropped into the seas by the crew. After hitting the water, they come to life and swim straight for Jack and Henry in a rowboat not far from shore.
One of the things I really liked about the movie, although it was only a moment, was the return of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann (Kiera Knightley) from the Pirates trilogy. It was nice to see them return to the franchise and maybe, from the end credits, coming back to a sequel to Dead Men Tell No Tales.
Keith Richards isn’t the only musician in the Jack Sparrow family tree. Another musical legend joins the family as Paul McCartney shows up in a cameo role as Uncle Jack.
This film also closes the chapter on the character of Barbossa but opens a couple of new ones with Henry, Carina and possibly a young Jack Sparrow. Getting a glimpse of a young Jack Sparrow (Anthony De La Torre) was nice. It explained how he became Captain and when he received the compass. Now that they have introduced a bit of Jack’s backstory, it would be nice to see something on his early years as a prequel to the franchise.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is rated PG-13 and open in theaters, Friday, May 26 over Memorial Day weekend.
