[Review] Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (6.5/10)

So is it Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, or Salazar's Revenge? It's one of those titles that somehow needed changing when they hit another continent, which I just do not get. Who decides these things and what kind of research do they base it on? I'm so lost.

But you can tell right off the gates that this is a very CGI-heavy movie. From destroying a small town to parting of the sea, and everything else in between including a whole CGI crew of pirates. And it definitely looked like one of those movies where the big spectacles were included in the hopes of more ticket sales.

Having said that, however, there is quite a solid storyline throughout. But having not followed the franchise very closely, which is already four movies in; the characters look familiar but I don't remember how they reach this point in the fifth movie.

Kaya Scodelario and Brenton Thwaites are clear substitutes for Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom as their characters all synched up quite perfectly. Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow still came with some great one-liners, and you can tell why he likes to come back to this character.

Javier Bardem also portrayed a good villain for the movie and he was one of the best new characters in the movie, after Scodelario who could be getting more roles after this. Thwaites, on the other hand, was the weakest link.

The pacing by directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg were very consistent where there wasn't a point where it slowed down too much and became dull due to the necessary expositions. And the action sequences were fun and in abundance.

Story wise, it's not as good as the first movie which was really good fun; but as much as how mediocre I thought this was, the movie could actually launch another sequel in a couple of years with the newer, younger cast.

I also liked the way things ended with one of the long-time characters, though the build-up could have been better. But at least there was a kind of permanent ending this time, and I hope it stays that way this time.