Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)

Genres

Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Directors

Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg

Country

USA

Cast

Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, Kevin McNally, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Golshifteh Farahani, Stephen Graham, David Wenham, Martin Klebba, Keira Knightley, Angus Barnett, Giles New, Adam Brown, Danny Kirrane, Delroy Atkinson, Paul McCartney

Storyline

Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) finds the winds of ill-fortune blowing even more strongly when deadly ghost pirates led by his old nemesis, the terrifying Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem), escape from the Devil's Triangle, determined to kill every pirate at sea.

Opinion

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise started declining in quality since the very beginning with the first sequel and kept on doing just that with the following movies. In spite of that, I still decided to spend my Friday night and money on Dead Men Tell No Tales. Not that the trailer looked particularly appealing to me, I just was excited to see Javier Bardem playing a pirate, some sort of zombie-like, evil pirate - and by the way, he's not even a pirate. Anyway, he was great. The rest of the film? Well, I'm not so sure about it.

The worst thing about this film is its inability to amaze with new things. It's basically the same, old Pirates of the Caribbean movies, with a silly and tremendously predictable plot that bores so much chances are you'll end up like Salazar, a dead man. It is plenty of pointless subplots. Not to mention the plot twists with the old Barbossa. The guy does the same thing in all the movies, he joins one side and then he leaves the sinking ship.

In addition, there's the lack of emotions and that's probably because of the characters. The new characters, specifically Harry Turner, Will Turner's son, and Carina Smith, an astronomer accused of being a witch. They are beyond annoying and they lack that characterization that should get you to know them, and, I'm not saying like them, but at least having a reason to root for them.

The villain doesn't get any better than that. Although Javier Barmer is fantastic as Salazar - he's clearly having a good time - and makes you almost root for him, the character is pretty weak. Also, his backstory feels rushed. Still, his performance (easily) stands out and his scenes are never boring.

That said, Dead Men Tell No Tales still manages to be a little entertaining. In spite of the lame jokes that fall flat most of the time - I have to admit though that some people were laughing a lot -, and the action, good action but not spectacular as I was used to with the franchise, this fifth instalment - and I'm afraid not the final one - manages to entertain.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

Genres

Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Director

Rob Marshall

Country

USA

Cast

Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane, Kevin McNally, Sam Claflin, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Stephen Graham, Greg Ellis, Damian O'Hare, Oscar Jaenada, Richard Griffiths, Keith Richards, Gemma Ward, Judi Dench, Ian Mercer

Storyline

Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) embarks on a quest to find the fountain of youth only to discover that Angelica (Penelope Cruz), a woman he had seduced in the past, is the daughter of Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and that they are after the fountain too.

Opinion

Since the original trilogy was a big hit, Hollywood figured why to stop at three films. So, many years after the third entry here it is another film following the adventures of Jack Sparrow, and it's bad. Gore Verbinski left the ship right before it sank.

Just like the majority of the films in the franchise, "On Stranger Tides" suffers from a bad storyline and doesn't really have a plot. It does, however, have an interesting plot element, that being the fountain of youth, but the filmmakers weren't able to make the most of it.

Unfortunately, the tedious story they try to pass for a pirate story isn't the worst thing about this film. The characters, they are the worst thing ever happened to the entire series. I'm especially talking about Jack Sparrow who is no longer the odd hero of the story, the eccentric pirate, but he is reduced to a pathetic plot device, a very poor attempt at keeping the film together.

But I'm afraid that's not all. The new entries are also terrible. Penelope Cruz's Angelica will make you regret Keira Knightley. The Latina lover could have been a breath of fresh air but the character is annoying and one-dimensional, and her only purpose is to add more time to the film. Ian MacShane's Blackbeard didn't get a better treatment. He is the pirate all pirates fear, but there isn't a bit of backstory of back that up. Also the previous films gave me the impression Barbossa and then Davy Jones were the pirate all pirates fear.

At last but not least the action sequences, they just feel unreal, and they are not even that enjoybale. The only scene worth of being mentioned and remembered is the mermaid attack, although those magical creatures don't add anything to the story, and netiher doesn't the love story between one of them and a priest.

I just can't wait to see what they'll bring on next.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)

Genres

Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Director

Gore Verbinski

Country

USA

Cast

Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Bill Nighy, Stellan Skarsgard, Chow Yun-fat, Tom Hollander, Jack Davenport, Kevin McNally, Naomie Harris, Jonathan Pryce, Keith Richards, Lee Arenberg, Greg Ellis, David Bailie, Martin Klebba

Storyline

Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) make an alliance to rescue Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from the land of the dead and face Davy Jones (Bill Nighy).

Opinion

Less than a year after the second instalment of the trilogy - yes, a trilogy, that's what this series was supposed to be - Gore Verbinski as well proves that third entries are usually the worst entries. Although it still is a slightly enjoyable adventure film, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" is a flawed disappointment.

Just like in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead's Man Chest", the main problem is the writing. While this story could have been a bit more interesting than the previous one, it still is quite contrived, there are too many subplots going on - actually, it feels like there's a change of plot every ten minutes or something - and it's almost impossible to follow.

The characters once again received the treatment of the previous entry. With no character development left, and the abandonment of the love triangle between Sparrow, Turner and Swan, not even the main characters manage to entertain. As for the supporting ones, villains mostly, there are just too many of them. Also, Elizabeth Swan's character is given too much importance in the story. I'm a woman, I should like that, but I would have appreciated if she gradually went from blue-blooded, spoiled girl to pirate. She has never held a sword and now she is like the best fighter ever. Come on!

What makes it worse than its predecessor is the humour. We are once again blessed with those same old jokes and gags. Only this time, the third time, they aren't that funny anymore. They are just plain annoying.

That said, the film still manages to be a little exciting, and that's only because of the special effects which are still very impressive and the action/fighting sequences which still are very exciting and a lot of fun. Take this away, and the film is left with nothing.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

Genres

Adventure, Fantasy

Director

Gore Verbinski

Country

USA

Cast

Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy, Jack Davenport, Stellan Skarsgard, Kevin McNally, Jonathan Pryce, Lee Arenberg, Mackenzie Crook, Tom Hollander, Naomie Harris, David Bailie, Martin Klebba, David Schofield, Alex Norton, Geoffrey Rush

Storyline

To prevent his soul from being damned for all time, Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) must recover the heart of Davy Jones (Bill Nighty), the captain of a ghostly ship, while Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) seeks the heart for his own agenda.

Opinion

Sequels have the power to overpower their predecessors by being terrible or being fantastic. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" doesn't fall into either category, as it is neither better nor significantly inferior. It is just a fun pirate flick.

The reason why this didn't manage to outdo the first film is the plot. The writers went from a slightly complex and silly plot to a quite dumb and contrived one that is so hard to follow, it's almost imposible to understand what's going on. It involves too many villains and too many subplot, and it is unfocused most of the time.

And unfortunately the characters suffer from that. While Jack Sparrow still is the colourful character I came to love in the first time, and Will and Elizabeth, well, you will still root for their love to thrumph, they same cannot be said for the new characters. They aren't very compelling. There are several villains but they aren't as good as Barbossa not even when combined. Bill Nighty really does his bast as Davy Jones though.

Flawed script aside, the film is good. There still are a lot of jokes - although most of them are the same of the previous film - and the gags aren't that bad either. The special effects are stunning, yet they kind of distract from the plot, and the action sequences are great. And lastly, the film features yet antoher memorable score from Hans Zimmer.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Genres

Adventure, Fantasy

Director

Gore Verbinski

Country

USA

Cast

Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Jack Davenport, Kevin McNally, Jonathan Pryce, Zoe Saldana, Lee Arenberg, Mackenzie Crook, Damian O'Hare, Treva Etienne, Michael Berry Jr., David Bailie, Martin Klebba, Isaac C. Singleton, Giles New, Angus Barnett, Greg Ellis, Ralph P. Martin, Lucinda Dryzek, Dylan Smith

Storyline

Blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) teams up with pirate Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) to rescue Ms. Swann (Keira Knightley), the love of Will's life, kidnapped by Barbosa, a cursed pirate who believes the young woman's blood will free him from the curse. 

Opinion

I've always had a thing for pirates so you get my excitement when this film came out. It was over the moon, to say the least. And when I did finally watch it, I was happy because it was awesome. Actually, it was such an incredibly funny and delightful film it was impossible for me not to love it. Many years and views later my opinion about it hasn't changed a bit.

Although it is a bit more complex that one would expect, the plot it is what it is - in a few words it's all about rescuing people -, quite silly and more than a few times goes into the not-so-convincing supernatural zone but it's fun, engaging and exciting.

The characters are amazing, especially Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow. He is far from being a super human or a hero, he is just an eccentric, maybe a little crazy man who gave swashbuckler a whole new meaning. Depp brought him to life with so much excitement and everything he does is spot on, from gestures to facial expressions. It's sad though that he now plays Sparrow basically in all the movies he does. 

Anyway, then there are Orlando Bloom's Will Turner who isn't as brilliant as the previous character, but it's easy to root for him and Keira Knightley's Elizabeth Swan, a quite strong and memorable young woman. There are a bunch of other characters, some funny like the one-eyed pirate, and some more serious-ish like Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa, an evil and fearless pirate aka the bad guy brilliantly delivered by Rush.

The film has also plenty of humour and mystery to keep your interest until the end, there's some romance, if you are into that kind of thing, beautiful special effects, but most important there is a lot of sword-fighting, a lot of exciting sword-fighting. And Hans Zimmer's score is great.