The film opens with a prologue that hardcore fans had waited for since 2007: young Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites), son of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), tries to break the curse of the Flying Dutchman . We learn that Will is still bound to the ship, his heart locked in the Dead Man’s Chest, allowed to step on land only once every ten years.
Here lies the film’s deepest wound. Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow was once a brilliant subversion of the swashbuckler—a drunk genius who stumbled into victory. In Dead Men Tell No Tales , he is simply a drunk. The wit is gone. The charm feels exhausted. Depp, reportedly struggling with personal issues during production, sleepwalks through scenes where Jack is tied to a guillotine or chased by ghosts. Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales...
The most controversial decision in Dead Men Tell No Tales was sidelining Jack Sparrow in his own franchise. Here, Jack is not the hero. He’s a washed-up, drunken mess who accidentally triggers the plot. The real heroes are Henry Turner and Carina Smyth. The film opens with a prologue that hardcore
The most striking element of Dead Men Tell No Tales is its literalization of the franchise’s metaphorical ghosts. The narrative revolves heavily around the concept of the past encroaching on the present. This is best exemplified by the antagonist, Captain Armando Salazar, played with terrifying, stiff-lipped menace by Javier Bardem. Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow was once a brilliant
Bardem understands the assignment: be terrifying. Unfortunately, the script undercuts him by giving Salazar a backstory that mirrors Barbossa’s from the first film. He is not a new villain; he is a remix. And when his climactic confrontation with Jack relies on a magical trident that “splits the sea” (a transparent Pirates take on Moses), the terror gives way to déjà vu.