Look, this summer season isn't particularly enjoyable in terms of the offerings. Big blockbusters, sequels, reboots, and all other sorts of rabble are sprinkled as far as February to December nowadays. I'ts delightful in that it means a moviegoer is guaranteed at least one big movie a month, but the plethora of weekly blockbusters seems to have dissipated. What's more, most of them aren't as good as they should be. Enter Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the fifth entry in Disney's swashbuckling series. What should be an utter dud turns out to be a fun, two-hour distraction.
Johnny Depp returns to the role that made him stupid rich for another pseudo-historical adventure through the myth and mire of the high seas. Jack Sparrow, down on his luck and in need of some fortune, is recruited by a young boy named Henry Turner, in the hopes that Sparrow can free his father from the curse of the Flying Dutchman. Accompanying them is Carina Smith, an astronomer with the knowledge necessary to locating the Trident of Poseidon, an ancient tool said to have unimaginable power. Sparrow will need it to protect himself from Captain Salazar, a spirit on the hunt for Jack, with a thirst of revenge.
This plot is standard fare for the series, but the inclusion of a younger, eager generation to compliment Depp's somewhat tired Jack Sparrow is entertaining enough to keep a viewer engaged. The highlight is absolutely Javier Bardem's Captain Salazar, who's criminally underutilized in the film. His gravitas, demeanor, and command of whatever scene he's in is mesmerizing. It reminds me of Davy Jones in Dead Man's Chest. Bardem steals the show here. Additionally, Geoffrey Rush returns to play Captain Barbossa, but he doesn't do anything terrible inventive or new with the character. Yep, it seems like veterans came to do a more minimalist job with their roles, while the newcomers actually seemed to have fun.
Special-effects wise, I'm somewhat disappointed. Bardem and his ghost crew look astoundingly good, and the explosions of ships and sunken vessels are haunting, but from my understanding, this is a Pirates film that decided not to film on the open seas as past iterations had done. No, this is a shoot that had ships suspended in giant green screens. That's a big letdown for me, especially considering how one of the strengths of the series was that the audience felt like they were on the ships with the pirates. Now, it looks like a stage.
On a further note of disappointments, the writing isn't entirely as clever or original as it thinks it is. There's quite an abundance of chuckles, I must say. But again: they don't come from Jack Sparrow for the most part. Furthermore, concerning the script, there's an interesting amount of world-building and history-exploring done with the Jack Sparrow character. Alas, like this season's Transformers: The Last Knight, all world-building is done at a base level. Nothing is dug too deep. Of course, that would take away from the somewhat-mundane plot already established.
This is truly the best Pirates of the Caribbean movie in a good while. The action is fun, the new characters are enjoyable, and the return to the high seas is always a joy, especially in this franchise. Unfortunately, it's just too 'okay' to return the franchise to greatness.
Johnny Depp returns to the role that made him stupid rich for another pseudo-historical adventure through the myth and mire of the high seas. Jack Sparrow, down on his luck and in need of some fortune, is recruited by a young boy named Henry Turner, in the hopes that Sparrow can free his father from the curse of the Flying Dutchman. Accompanying them is Carina Smith, an astronomer with the knowledge necessary to locating the Trident of Poseidon, an ancient tool said to have unimaginable power. Sparrow will need it to protect himself from Captain Salazar, a spirit on the hunt for Jack, with a thirst of revenge.
This plot is standard fare for the series, but the inclusion of a younger, eager generation to compliment Depp's somewhat tired Jack Sparrow is entertaining enough to keep a viewer engaged. The highlight is absolutely Javier Bardem's Captain Salazar, who's criminally underutilized in the film. His gravitas, demeanor, and command of whatever scene he's in is mesmerizing. It reminds me of Davy Jones in Dead Man's Chest. Bardem steals the show here. Additionally, Geoffrey Rush returns to play Captain Barbossa, but he doesn't do anything terrible inventive or new with the character. Yep, it seems like veterans came to do a more minimalist job with their roles, while the newcomers actually seemed to have fun.
Special-effects wise, I'm somewhat disappointed. Bardem and his ghost crew look astoundingly good, and the explosions of ships and sunken vessels are haunting, but from my understanding, this is a Pirates film that decided not to film on the open seas as past iterations had done. No, this is a shoot that had ships suspended in giant green screens. That's a big letdown for me, especially considering how one of the strengths of the series was that the audience felt like they were on the ships with the pirates. Now, it looks like a stage.On a further note of disappointments, the writing isn't entirely as clever or original as it thinks it is. There's quite an abundance of chuckles, I must say. But again: they don't come from Jack Sparrow for the most part. Furthermore, concerning the script, there's an interesting amount of world-building and history-exploring done with the Jack Sparrow character. Alas, like this season's Transformers: The Last Knight, all world-building is done at a base level. Nothing is dug too deep. Of course, that would take away from the somewhat-mundane plot already established.
This is truly the best Pirates of the Caribbean movie in a good while. The action is fun, the new characters are enjoyable, and the return to the high seas is always a joy, especially in this franchise. Unfortunately, it's just too 'okay' to return the franchise to greatness.
Rating: 7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment