Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge Review

"The dead have taken command of the sea. They're searching for a girl, a pearl, and a Sparrow!"


Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge or Dead Men Tell No Tales depending on the country you live in (Dead Men Tell No Tales is such a better name!!) is the fifth instalment into the highly popular Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The film itself was directed by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg and stars the likes of Johnny Depp as the one and only Captain Jack Sparrow, Geoffrey Rush as Captain Hector Barbossa, Kevin McNally as Gibbs as returning cast members, but also introduces new characters to the franchise such as Javier Bardem as Captain Salazar, Brenton Thwaites as Henry .... ( I won't spoil the surname for you!!) And Kaya Scodelario as Carina Smyth. The film follows Captain Jack Sparrow, Henry and Carina as they search for the mysterious trident of Poseidon (each with their own intentions for it)

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has been one of two halves, personally I loved the original trilogy of films, but the fourth film in the franchise Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides to me did not live up to the expectations that the previous films had set. So how about Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge? How does it compare to the previous instalments? Well straight away the latest instalment is definitely not as good as the original trilogy but is an improvement over On Stranger Tides. Salazar's Revenge captures the spirit of the franchise and has some truly comedic and stand out set pieces that we have come to expect in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, some standout sequences include an over the top (and I mean over the top) robbery sequence and the escape from an execution sequence which involves a rotating guillotine. The cast also give good performances from the script that they were given and of course Depp and Captain Jack Sparrow steals nearly every scene he is, but for me something felt off with his performance maybe it came across much more staged and more like he was going through a routine rather than the spontaneous Captain Jack Sparrow that we have all come to love (maybe that is just me!). There are also some beautiful imagery in this film, not just from the beauty of seeing pirate ships sailing on vast open oceans but also a certain island the characters visit (I won't spoil it for you), is absolutely stunning, a visual representation of heaven as Carina would say.

Whilst the film has certainly got some extremely fun and exciting set pieces, the film also suffers from certain pacing issues, for example some set pieces happen way to quickly and it's hard for the audience members to understand what exactly just happened to having set pieces that go on just that little bit too long, that you lose your enthusiasm for them (you will know it when you see it). Some dialogue based scenes also seemed dragged out, and rather than giving us back story into characters or setting up and developing the mystery of the quest to find the trident of Poseidon, are often filled with quick bits of key information followed by some sort of unnecessary joke that ruins the importance of the information the filmmakers are presenting us. Whilst the original films had comedic elements (which were used effectively to enhance the narrative) the comedic elements just seemed to fall flat in this film. The new characters entering the franchise in this instalment give good performances but for me lack the chemistry that the original trio had and seems a little too forced, that is not to say that there are not moments where it works, but it could take some getting used to if the franchise continues (really hope it does!) but even Javier Bardem's Captain Salazar, whilst visually looking scary and intimidating doesn't have the fear factor that say Davy Jones brought in Dead Man's Chest.

Overall if you are a Pirates of the Caribbean fan, there is defiantly going to be elements in the film you absolutely love and of course seeing these great characters on the big screen again is great, but don't expect a return to form, more like an improvement over On Stranger Tides. Some might say that it is up there with The Curse of the Black Pearl, but for me it doesn't capture the spirit of the original films. Will the franchise continue who knows? (I really hope it does!!) but if it does it will need to step up its game and hopefully return to form.

Verdict: 3 out of 5 stars