Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)

So… Pirates of the Caribbean FIVE. It’s the fourth most expensive film ever made, and boy does it look it. The result is a high-octane, piratical romp, with plenty of magic and spectacular, organic visuals.
This time, yet another ghost army (the magic is never explained) is unleashed when a penniless Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) trades his enchanted compass for a bottle of rum. The ghost ship is steered by Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem), who in life was known as “El Matador Del Mar” for his ruthless pursuit and murder of pirates, and is seeking… revenge. Javier Bardem’s intense thirst for death, wheezing with ghostly, flaking skin, lends the film much-needed moments of high stakes and genuine fear.

Meanwhile, Depp’s iconic drunken captain is more cartoonish than ever, resulting in some hilarious action sequences. Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites), an impossibly handsome nautical myth obsessive, seeks to uncurse his father Will Turner (Orlando Bloom). Proto-feminist astronomer Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) seeks to find her father. Thus begins the perilous voyage to find the legendary trident of Poseidon, which has the power to release all curses (also never really explained).

Though superficially just another blockbuster franchise cash-in, it does jump off from the previous (fourth) film: can Will Turner reverse the curse of the Flying Dutchman? Is undead pirate supremo Captain Barbossa (Geoffery Rush) set to rule the seven seas forever? The answers may surprise you, and there’s fantastic adventure to be had along the way.

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