Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

The Pirates of the Caribbean films were never clever but they were funny, entertaining, and catchy. In my opinion, with the fifth film of the series, they reached a stage of rotting where it hardly affects me anymore. The film doesn't even offend me and just evokes indifference and boredom. Perhaps I'm slightly concerned about the IQ of the target audience. If this kind of silly infantile entertainment can justify its existence and fill up cash registers, society is not heading toward a brighter future... Overall impression: 20% for the set design and special effects. (25/02/2022)

After so many times, the characters have lost some of their zest and are no longer than interesting. Barbossa is still scowling, Sparrow is still doing the same crap, and maybe only one or two scenes are really funny. And to make sure it's not just sterile grey and a variation on the same scripted tripe a hundred times over, new faces and new plot pieces are added to the puzzle. The creators have certainly made a very bold effort to move forward, and the phenomenal stunts this time are well complemented by a fast pace and very clear action. It's not nearly as pompous and bombastic as the madcap previous two episodes, but it's still, not and probably never will be as balanced and inventive as the first one was. The pirates are dead and stale stuff even if Depp was walking on his head. (09/06/2017)

The fifth part, Dead Men Tell No Tales, returns to the original story of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, but this time a generation later. Fans of the original trilogy can rejoice, and thanks to the post-credit scene, they apparently have more to look forward to. The rest of us, who only liked the fourth installment with Penélope Cruz at most, can continue sleeping. And here, the main antagonist was even played by the once wonderful Javier Bardem. (22/12/2022)

It's better than the previous film, but not by much. The gratifying difference is mainly that this time the creators really tried to come up with interesting and unique ideas, but unfortunately, they forgot about the story. They almost completely forgot about it. On the one hand, there is a great guillotine scene in the fifth Pirates, which feels like it came from Gore Verbinski's mind, a fine finale on an anchor and a few irresistible black-humor scenes (being elected captain, for example). On the other hand, there is also a lot of overly simple humor (tacky double-meanings as if from contemporary domestic comedies), which is unnecessarily predictable (you always know that a joke is coming), a couple of all-too-surprising twists for which I would most like to stretch someone on the rack, and for most of the film, Jack Sparrow's “humor" is supposed to consist of him being drunk like a dog, and therefore he behaves even stranger than normally. I liked Javier Bardem's villain, the central couple not so much... Geoffrey Rush didn't get much space, but he did his best. The music was desperately inconspicuous. (27/05/2017)

The pirates are back after six years and the longer hiatus has probably been good for them, as this is one of the best episodes. The high budget is definitely evident (there are speculations that it was as high as 300 million, some say 400, IMDB says 230 million, I don't know who is right, but I find 230 more believable). The film has a decent pace, nice new characters, especially Kaya Scodelario is a feast for the eyes, but Javier Bardem as the bad guy was also decently scary. Jack Sparrow is still the same. The highlight for me was the dead rotten sharks, something I haven’t seen anywhere, and the spectacular finale. What sucks is that there are no sword fights, most of the action is between ships. The film deserves to be seen in theatres for the visuals alone. 80%. (27/05/2017)