REVIEW: “Dead Men Tell No Tales” refreshes Pirates franchise

By Lev Farris Goldenberg,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

After a disastrous fourth movie, Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” has returned with an entertaining new installment. In “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” an old enemy of Jack Sparrow seeks revenge while Sparrow (Johnny Depp) joins forces with Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) and Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) to find Poseidon’s trident and save Will Turner.

Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow once again displays his trademark incoherent speech (although that may be because he is drunk for a good part of the movie) and his penchant for being a complete klutz while somehow not getting killed.

Sparrow is down and out, and Hector Barbossa (played by the magnificent Geoffrey Rush) now rules the seas, with a fleet of pirate ships at his disposal. A hopeless drunk, Sparrow is abandoned by his own crew, even the loyal Mr. Gibbs, after a bank robbing goes wrong.

The film limps along at times, but nothing epitomizes the rebirth of the franchise like Jack Sparrow’s crew pulling an entire bank through a town while he runs along the rooftops.

In the first scene, a young Henry Turner seeks out the Flying Dutchman, and tells his father that he has found a way to rid him of his curse. But Will (played by Orlando Bloom for the entirety of two scenes) tells his son that finding the trident is impossible, and pleads with him to never return and to seek out a life as something other than a pirate.

Years later, the younger Turner is working on a British navy ship when he commits treason and is tossed in the holding cell. The British unwisely chase a ship into the Devil’s Triangle, and they are attacked by Captain Salazar and his undead crew. The pirates kill everyone in their path, but leave Henry alive to tell the tale.

At the infirmary, Henry meets Carina Smyth, a brilliant astrologist and horologist who is believed to be a witch by the British. She tells him of a map that no man can read, which supposedly will lead them to the trident.

Carina is captured, as well as Sparrow, but they are saved by Henry Turner and Sparrow’s not-so-loyal crew. The British generals are somehow astounded when Sparrow and his mates escape from them for what must be the millionth time.

This new villain is portrayed by Javier Bardem, who I am convinced was cast for the role simply because of his ability to say “Jack Sparrow” in a heavy Spanish accent. Bardem plays Armando Salazar, who was formerly a Spanish captain who sank dozens of pirate ships, and now seeks revenge against Sparrow for the curse upon him and the rest of his undead crew.

Meanwhile, Barbossa’s command of the sea has made him rich. No longer barnacle-encrusted, he now bears flowing locks of hair and a golden, jewel encrusted peg-leg. But his greatest treasure is yet to be found.

Salazar and his disintegrating face go around, destroying Barbossa’s fleet one by one. The Spanish captain’s ship possesses the ability to unfurl itself and consume entire ships.

Barbossa unwillingly helps Salazar find Sparrow, but when Salazar and his men, bound by a curse, are unable to pursue Sparrow on land, Barbossa volunteers. He then promptly joins forces with his former nemesis. Both former captains of the same vessel, they commandeer the Black Pearl, which has been hiding in a bottle in Sparrow’s coat pocket.

As the sea-faring adventure continues, Thwaites’ and Scodelario’s characters build a close relationship. They bond over the fact that neither of them had a father who was present while growing up. The series will likely continue with more focus on these two, as Bloom clearly wants out and Sparrow can only defy death for so long.

As Salazar hunts down Sparrow, those gosh-darn Englishmen are in hot pursuit, determined to conquer the Caribbean Ocean for the British Empire. Just when the English ship catches up to the Black Pearl, Salazar’s ship devours them in one fell swoop.

At this point, events start to get a little unbelievable. Instead of consuming the Black Pearl and all the main characters like he did with the British ship, Salazar pulls his ship up next to it and attempts to board the boat. The only reason that makes sense is that Salazar’s cannibalistic ship somehow was too full after eating the Redcoat ship.

In the newest swashbuckling installment, it is revealed how Sparrow first became Captain, and how he earned the moniker Jack the Sparrow.

Directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg create a compelling story, that has a plot that is easy to follow, unlike some of the past movies in the “Pirates” franchise. While viewers may laugh at the use of one of the most famous clichés of all time in the second-to-last scene of the movie, they can delight in Depp’s witty banter, improbable physical stunts and a Galileo Galilei reference that makes absolutely no sense.