Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
The fifth installment of the film franchise (yes it’s been 14 years since we first met Captain Jack Sparrow and Co.) and while it is perhaps the closest in feeling to that of the original 2003 box-office hit, it lacks in heart.
This time, Will Turner’s son Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) is on a quest to save his father from the curse of The Flying Dutchman. Helping Henry hunt down Poseidon’s Trident is scientist orphan Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) and his father’s frenemy Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), who is himself being hunted by a ghost (Javier Bardem).
Directed by Norwegian duo Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, the film does its best to replicate the original. Two new young pretty things (Thwaites and Scodelario) take Bloom and Knightley’s place as ‘couple at sea’, while Cap’n Jack Sparrow is back as, well, captain Jack Sparrow.
He may have been a crowd favourite in the original, but Depp’s character now seems tired and parody-like. As the plot line seeks to delve into Sparrow’s backstory, its underwhelming revelations leave the crowd feeling bored. And although Geoffrey Rush is as fantastic as ever as the evil Barbossa, it all feels a little too much like a high school reunion you should probably not have gone to.
If you’ve loved the original POTC’s other three follow-ups you’ll enjoy this one too. But unfortunately, while it’s a clear steer back to the first blockbuster, it begs to ask: when will Jack Sparrow finally hang his pirate hat?
★★
Reviewed by Chantal Walsh
