Film Review: Johnny Depp Stays Afloat in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’

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Average: 4 (2 votes)

CHICAGO – The “Pirates Of The Caribbean” series has undergone a strange transformation over five films. The first film was better than any movie “based on a theme park ride” then it had any business being. But now in its fifth film voyage, “Dead Men Tell No Tales” bears a closer resemblance to the ride now more that ever. It’s not so much a high seas adventure as a genial pleasure cruise, with Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow as a bumbling court jester of a captain.

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5.0
Rating: 3.5/5.0

Depp is something of a bystander in his own movie this time around. The plot centers around Sparrow and something known as “Poseidon’s Trident,” but the good Captain is largely a passive and comedic figure – he doesn’t do things as much as he has things done to him. The film begins with him being dragged through town during a bank robbery, in a kind of big-for- bigness sake set piece common in aging blockbuster franchises. Then he’s pushed, pulled, tossed, flipped and battered around, and rarely moves under his own power.

Depp’s Captain Jack is seemingly drunk and stumbling around at all times, screaming in the face of danger, and then running away like a juvenile manchild imitating a scared little girl. I could see that the schtick was no longer fresh, and I’m not sure Depp wasn’t actually drunk while performing the role, that he can undoubtedly pull off in his sleep. But against my better judgement I still found him mildly amusing, if a bit motheaten and stale… he is primed and ready to pop in and clear his head long enough to deliver the kind of corny one liners and hoary puns that you’d might expect from a dad at a backyard barbeque.

”Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” opens everywhere on May 26th, in 3D and regular screenings. See local listings for the 3D theaters and showtimes Featuring Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, Golshifteh Farahani, Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly Screenplay by Jeff Nathanson. Directed by Joachin Ronning and Espen Sandberg. Rated “PG-13”

StarContinue reading for Spike Walter’s full review of ”Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”

Pirate1
Johnny Depp in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’
Photo credit: Walt Disney Pictures

StarContinue reading for Spike Walter’s full review of ”Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”

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