Oh, Jack Sparrow… how do we love thee? Let me count the ways. Actually, it is twice. The middle three of the five-part movie series Pirates of the Caribbean are completely and utterly forgettable. But, the first film and now the fifth film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, are in leagues all their own.
Now, Dead Men Tell No Tales is not quite as entertaining as Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, but then again, nothing can be that first time seeing a character like Johnny Depp’s Sparrow and his irresistible irrelevance and the thrills of the adventures played out on the high seas on Gore Verbinski’s blockbuster hit. But, given that this fifth film follows a bit of a similar formula, it could have been simply more of the same and be seen as an effort to recapture magic that first impressed audiences 14 years ago.
Instead, the film has so much going for it that it elevates the first film plot mirroring elements. It starts with the terrific directing tandem of Kon Tiki’s Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, a stand-out performance by our villain — Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) — stellar debuts by two young performers (Brenton Thwaites as Henry Turner and Kaya Scodelario as Carina Smyth) and of course twists and turns that swirl around two stars that have been there since the beginning, Depp and Geoffrey Rush (Captain Barbossa).
Henry Turner has been on a quest to free his father Will Turner (Orland Bloom, who makes a triumphant return to the series) from his curse since he was a boy. As a young man, he finally finds his father cursed to be buried in the sea where he has slowly but surely become a permanent fixture. Henry learns that the key to breaking this curse lies with Jack Sparrow and finding the trident of the God of the Sea, Neptune. The younger Turner begins his sea-fearing life with one thing on his mind and it doesn’t involve serving Queen and Country. It’s finding the storied pirate captain. Meanwhile, Smyth is in the Caribbean fighting a witchcraft charge. She’s a woman of science and needless to say, she is years ahead of her time. These two youngsters’ fate will soon intertwine with Sparrow, Barbossa and Captain Salazar as this adventure hits the high seas in some of the best action sequences we’ve seen since the first film.
One of the tenants of a great action movie, within any genre, is that it is only as good as its villain. With Bardem’s Salazar, we have magnificent motivation in the form of a Spanish pirate hunter driven by something that is simple, but about as pure as it could be — rage. Through his story, we learn the origins of Jack Sparrow and it involves Salazar being sent to the bottom of the ocean at the hands of the pirate who would become a legend. He and his army is cursed to remain a earth-bound ghosts. The only way that they could be freed from this eternal real world hell is to kill the man who saw to their demise.
Bardem is a vision of visceral vengeance. He digs deep and becomes a fantastic and formidable foe for Sparrow. He is like a laser-guided missile with one thing on his mind. A keenly focused evil doer with a well-developed backstory is priceless. In the hands of an actor of the caliber of Bardem, this aspect of the Dead Men Tell No Tales story brings a level of awesomeness to what could have been an average somewhat re-treaded plot course of the original film. Instead, this is an enjoyable summer popcorn movie experience as one would want from a film of this ilk.
This is a story about fathers, sons and daughters. Curse of the Black Pearl was a movie about fathers, sons and daughters. Instead of Bloom’s Will searching for his father, we have his son Henry. Substituting Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann and her paternal journey, we have Smyth and her daddy issues. Then, above it all, we have characters who are cursed who are driven by the desire to break these curses in order to free themselves of the supernatural bonds that bind them.
Sure, it’s similar. But so too was Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It echoed similar sentiments as its original film, and was widely acclaimed and a box office success. So too will Dead Men Tell No Tales.
That is largely due to the sensational sea-fearing filmmaking of its directors. Kon Tiki was just a warm-up for their work on the oceans and what they do with a budget of this size, a talent pool this deep and a movie star icon in Depp who was born to be the bodacious Jack Sparrow, is fantastic. Some have said that this chapter will be the final one. If there is a sixth film, we sure hope that Rønning and Sandberg return to the crow’s nest.
Then, there is the reason why this series makes almost a billion dollars each time it hits screens (the last one actually went over a billion!). There is something audiences took to immediately with the first film with Depp as Jack Sparrow. This is a character that has no arc. Actors are always talking about the joys of portraying a huge character arc that allows them to utilize their entire tool box. The opposite is true with Sparrow. He never learns. He always says what he wants and it continually gets him into trouble. And after five movies, we could not love him more for it. With Depp behind the wheel, it is a journey we would take repeatedly. Thankfully this time out, there is much more to please… even if it does feel awfully familiar.
Grade: B