Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales – Film Review

It’s been a while since the Pirates of the Caribbean series released a film. The most recent film in the series prior to this one, On Stranger Tides was released 6 years ago. I made sure I rewatched the four previous films in the series prior to watching Dead Men Tell No Tales and I’m happy I did.

Timeline wise, Dead Men Tell No Tales continues straight after the events of On Stranger Tides. We’re reunited with Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Hector Barbossa played by Geoffrey Rush and Kevin McNally’s Gibbs who have all been in every Pirates film instalment. We are also introduced to two new main characters, Henry and Carina played by Brenton Thwaites and Kaya Scodelario. Despite all the characters’ different back stories, their paths all entwine in the pursuit for the trident of Poseidon.

What On Stranger Tides did wrong focusing solely on Jack Sparrow, Dead Men Tell No Tales does right. The film storyline is quite evenly distributed between the main characters so that you don’t feel overwhelmed with too much Johnny Depp. I really liked the new characters, Henry and Carina. Even though they were new, I felt they were quite established and belonged with the original characters we’ve grown to know and love. Javier Bardem is also new, cast as Captain Salazar who is cursed, undead and is pursing Jack Sparrow out of revenge. The stand out performance in this film however is absolutely without a doubt the amazing and talented Geoffrey Rush. Captain Barbossa’s character has developed the most out of all the characters in this film series and tugged at my heart strings. I would be lying if I said I didn’t shed a few tears. A ‘few’ tears would also be an understatement.

Listening to Hans Zimmer’s score throughout the film felt like being reunited with an old friend. With some long-awaited cameos to boot, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is an exciting action-packed nautical fantasy-adventure with the characters that we originally fell in love with more than 10 years ago. This film is created for the fans and is the conclusion that the fans have been wanting for a long, long time. I laughed, I cried, I loved it and would see this swashbuckling story again in a heartbeat.