Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (also known as the slightly more generic Salazar's Revenge in the UK) is the fifth entry in the now 14-year old franchise (which just makes me feel old) and arrives just when any good will left from the golden years has more or less diminished. The original film, The Curse of The Black Pearl, came as a surprise to all with its inventive plot, zippy pacing, well-rounded characters and a cool gimmick involving skeleton ghost pirates. The film's international success led to a franchise, which saw diminishing returns every time Captain Jack Sparrow stumbled back on screen (I'll list my quick thoughts on all the films as an appendix at the end of the review). Following the series nadir, On Stranger Tides, Disney left the franchise dormant for six years. Dead Men Tell No Tales attempts to return to the older and simpler days, in effect serving as a soft reboot. Can renewed intent and new leads hope to save this increasingly tired franchise?
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| Jack Sparrow is back for his (apparently) final adventure |
Those of you who remember the convoluted and unsatisfying ending of At World's End will recall that Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) became besotted with a curse that made him the new Captain of the Flying Dutchmen and only able to step onto land every 10 years. This leaves poor Elizabeth Swan and their son trapped on an island, awaiting his eventual reappearance for only one day. Sucks. So their son grows up into young Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites), desperately seeking a way to break the curse. His research leads to the fabled Trident of Poseidon, a mystical McGuffin that can break any curse at sea. His plan also includes tracking down the fabled and legendary Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), whose star has faded somewhat (his bounty these days amounts to £1.00), spending his time planning botched schemes and getting more drunk than ever. Eventually, the pair hatch a plot to retrieve the trident and are joined by an astronomer, criminal and progressive woman, Carina (Kaya Scodelario), who has been searching for the mythical object all her life. To further add to the maelstrom of plots, Jack inadvertently unleashes an old rival - the mysterious and threatening Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem), who is intent on reaping revenge on Jack for an act committed years ago. Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) is also added into the mix, as he schemes and double-crosses his way to the trident.
If all this sounds a bit messy, well ... did you see the last three films? Even though Dead Men Tell No Tales is a conscious effort to return to the simpler days of the original film, it still suffers from an over-stuffed and unfocused script. Characters pop up randomly out of nowhere (including David 'Faramir' Wenham forgetful performance as an arsehole British sea captain - because all these films need one of them), plot strands are introduced and swiftly forgotten, the tone veers from serious to campy with the click of a finger and everything feels a bit lost. You could nit-pick every element of the plot that doesn't make sense but it doesn't really do anything egregious enough to bare closer examination. By no stretch is Dead Men terrible or anything, the new directors are clearly trying to breath new life into the series, it just falls into a miasma of averageness with an undeveloped script. Some moments and gags come close to capturing that spirit (the early film raid of a bank and an attack by undead sharks springing to mind) with the spine-tingling music used only sparingly. There are some inspired moments - such as Jack releasing the Black Pearl from its bottle prison to sail the seas again is a great scene. All the actors involved seem to be having a ball playing these over-the-top characters. By far the best is Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa, who continues to be my favourite part of these films - a wonderfully camp, borderline pantomime performance.
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| Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa continues to be a constant highlight for the series |
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| Jack sets out on a new adventure with some old and new faces |
Weirdly, the most underplayed element is Jack Sparrow himself. It's no secret that Depp has, in many eyes, passed his heyday. Sparrow now lacks the speed and energy of the original performance but granted he does have a handful of funny and charming scenes. Depp is older, which is inevitable of course. But the film still seems to think that the character is the same versatile plaything from 14 years ago. Honestly, a plot where a young protagonist dusts off the legend of Jack Sparrow, now a bit older but not much wiser, would make for an interesting rediscovery of not just the character but of the franchise as a whole, working to softly reboot the series (see The Force Awakens for a masterful example of this). Dead Men Tell No Tales hints at this in its first act but it it ultimately doesn't amount to much when the characters set out to the high seas. Downplaying Jack Sparrow maybe an attempt to return to the dynamic of the original film but with, no charismatic lead to fill that void, he ends up getting a bit lost in the proceedings. There is an attempt to explain Jack's backstory, filling you in on how he became a legendary pirate, but again there's little effort put in to make it impactful (even outside of some impressive de-ageing CGI).
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| Our two new leads, Carina and Henry Turner - a valiant effort for sure but the unfocused scripts gives them very little time to shine |
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| A cool design can't save Salazar from another widespread curse in modern Hollywood - underwritten villains |
The two new leads, while filled with motivated and spirited performances, don't add a whole lot to the film and end up being fairly forgettable and one-note. Henry Turner is a bit of a flat-liner, managing to be even more bland than his father - even if the film opens with some fairly fun criminal wrong-doings to get closer to accomplishing his goals. Carina is given some semblance of a character arc that at least distinguishes herself from the other under-written female characters of past Pirates films. Javier Bardem is always a welcome addition to any film he is in. Here, he is caked in make-up and CGI to turn him into the threatening Captain Salazar, former pirate hunter and bearer of a curse inflicted by entering the Devil's Triangle. He is also joined by a crew of disintegrating ghosts (the film never makes it quite clear what they are or the nature of the curse) who recall the undead crew of the Black Pearl. Salazar isn't terrible or anything, the design is pretty unique, but the characterisation boils down to a fairly one note villain. On the filmmakers' half, effort is put in to make these new characters motivated and filled with personality - the issue is that the script doesn't really give many opportunities for them to shine and often feel adrift in the proceedings. This is the general feeling that the film evokes. It doesn't do quite enough to distinguish itself from past films and reposition the franchise in a new direction but it also doesn't hit the high notes of the series' past glories.
Dead Men Tell No Tales doesn't really do anything new for the franchise or atone for the sins of films past or even produce the increasingly camp entertainment of the original trilogy. It's just .. kind of there. It's not as mind-numbingly stupid as some of the sequels but it doesn't come close to matching the economic and inventive filmmaking of the original film. As part of an increasing trend in Hollywood productions, the script is given little to develop its ideas and could have drastically benefited from a second or third draft. There was potential here for a successful soft reboot, in which the familiar elements are reintroduced from a fresh pair of eyes (i.e. The Force Awakens) and there are some genuinely great moments. But outside of sheer nostalgia, I personally don't see this one connecting with audiences or convincing fans that there is life left in the series. Time to set sail into the sunset, Mr. Sparrow?
Rating: 5/10
As promised, my thoughts on the other Pirates films.
The Curse of The Black Pearl (8/10) is a solid blockbuster, bolstered by a unique premise, great acting and excellent set-pieces even if the script is a bit pedestrian. Dead Man's Chest (7/10) gets a bit of a bad rep, which I can kind of understand - this is where the scripts became overly complicated. That said the set-pieces are excellent and the introduction of Davy Jones and his crew offer a unique alternative to the villains of the original. At World's End (6/10) offers an incredibly frustrating first two hours that is somewhat redeemed by a goofy and action packed finale, offering the best set-pieces of the franchise. On Stranger Tides (4/10) is the nadir of the series, with no memorable qualities. Not even Ian McShane as Blackbeard could save this one!
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