Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
★★½ — Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has always been a peculiar beast. It began life as a theme park attraction, a premise that seemed almost absurdly thin as the foundation for a serious blockbuster series, yet the original 2003 film surprised everyone by becoming a genuine cultural phenomenon, largely on the strength of Johnny Depp's anarchic, rubber-limbed turn as Captain Jack Sparrow. By the time the fourth film, On Stranger Tides, arrived in 2011, diminishing returns had started to set in. So when Walt Disney Pictures and producer Jerry Bruckheimer announced a fifth entry, Dead Men Tell No Tales (released in some territories as Salazar's Revenge), the question hanging over it was less "how good will it be?" and more "does anyone still need this?" The film arrived in cinemas in May 2017, more than a decade after the original trilogy wrapped.
Behind the camera, Disney turned to Norwegian directing duo Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, whose previous work together included the well-received Kon-Tiki (2012). It was a polished but unremarkable choice on paper, pairing experienced international filmmakers with a property that practically runs on autopilot. The screenplay sets Jack Sparrow on a new quest for the legendary Trident of Poseidon, chased by the vengeful Captain Armando Salazar, a ghost commanding a crew of the undead. Joining the adventure are two new faces: Brenton Thwaites, playing a young British naval officer named Henry, and Kaya Scodelario as Carina Smyth, an astronomer whose unconventional knowledge holds the key to finding the Trident. Geoffrey Rush returns as the ever-reliable Barbossa, a character who has consistently been one of the series' more grounded pleasures. If you want to see how Depp has fared in other franchise entries, our review of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End covers the earlier run, and his work in rather different territory is discussed in the review of Black Mass.
The production is, by any measure, a big one. Walt Disney Pictures and Bruckheimer Films do not do things quietly, and the film has the glossy, expensive sheen you would expect, with large-scale set pieces and a significant visual effects workload given that the principal villain and his crew are rendered as supernatural, partially decomposed apparitions. Javier Bardem brings genuine weight to the role of Salazar, a performance that sits in interesting contrast to his other memorable screen villain turns. He is an actor capable of making almost any material feel urgent, and his casting here is one of the film's more interesting decisions. Whether that proves enough to hold the whole enterprise together is precisely the question. For a point of comparison on big, kinetic adventure filmmaking of the same era, it is worth checking out our coverage of Mad Max: Fury Road, a film that showed what this kind of action spectacle can look like when it is firing on all cylinders.
By the time we reach Dead Men Tell No Tales, the Pirates franchise feels like it’s running on fumes, and this fifth instalment does little to reignite the spark. Javier Bardem steps in as Captain Salazar, a ghostly Spanish pirate cursed to the afterlife and hellbent on revenge against Jack Sparrow. He’s a strong presence (intense, menacing, and genuinely chilling at times) but even his cold fury can’t save a film that’s overly familiar, narratively bloated, and missing the chaotic charm of the early entries. Jack is back to his old tricks, but now he’s less roguish genius and more tired caricature, slurring, swaying, repeating the same shtick without the wit or surprise. The new leads, Brenton Thwaites as the square-jawed Henry and Kaya Scodelario as the astronomer Carina, are likeable enough, and their star-crossed quest to break a curse feels like a throwback to the original’s spirit. But the chemistry between them is flat, the romance predictable. The action has moments and the final showdown has some fun visual tricks but too much of it is drowned in CGI, with ghosts flickering in and out of existence like budget special effects. The humour falls flat, the stakes never feel real, and the whole thing drags in the middle. Compared to the swashbuckling madness of Dead Man’s Chest or even the chaotic fun of On Stranger Tides, this one feels like a limp farewell. It’s not a disaster. Bardem elevates every scene he’s in, and there are flashes of the old magic. But as the supposed conclusion to a once-thriving series? It’s underwhelming.
I keep coming back to Bardem, because he really is the one element here that makes you wish the film around him were sharper. There is a version of this story where a nemesis of that calibre pushes Jack Sparrow back into the corner and forces something genuinely surprising out of the character, but the script never quite commits to that possibility. For me, that is the real frustration: not that the film is outright bad, but that it keeps gesturing at something better and then settling for the comfortable and the familiar. At a certain point, a franchise needs to earn its next chapter rather than simply assume it. This one, for the most part, does not.
Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2017 | Watched: 2025-08-23
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus · fuboTV · YouTube TV
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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Related on Movies With Macca
More with Johnny Depp: Corpse Bride (2005) · Black Mass (2015) · Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) · Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
More from the 2010s: Wonder (2017) · Beautiful Boy (2018) · The Witch (2015) · What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
