Part of me wishes that the title of this film were true. What I wouldn't give to have these dead men not tell their tale of revenge. That being said, I had some hopes that this movie would help redeem the franchise after the lackluster On Stranger Tides (2011). After all, Javier Bardem has proven to be an effective villain in such films as No Country for Old Men (2007) and Skyfall (2012),so I thought he could help carry this movie as a solid antagonist. Unfortunately, even he could not save this sinking ship of a franchise.

The main problem with Dead Men Tell No Tales is that it feels rote and uninspired. Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow feels more lucky than actually talented at pirating. Granted, that was some of his charm in the previous films, but not all of it. Add to this a loose connection to the original trilogy as a vain attempt to remind the audience how great those films were, and it just highlights how bad this movie was. In fact, I felt the many overt double entendres were more groan-worthy than clever, merely pandering to the lowest common denominator. I can only assume that was why the doe-eyed and tightly bosomed Carina (Kaya Scodelario) featured into the plot so much.

In a franchise that stakes itself on wild swashbuckling action sequences, this film had maybe two of note, and even they were uninteresting at best. This movie might have been better if it picked its battles more carefully, as the plot seemed like a stone skipping along the sea: never going very deep into any single character's arc, thus making them all seem insignificant when compiled together. If it was merely about Salazar's (Javier Bardem) revenge, Henry's (Brenton Thwaites) desire to break his father's curse, or Carina's search for treasure; then it might have been interesting. Unfortunately, it is all of these things and none of these things at the same time.

A film that proves it's time to abandon ship on this franchise, I give Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales 2.0 stars out of 5.

As a big fan of the franchise essentially made from a Disneyland Ride the first 3 films were roaring successes and "On Stranger Tides" we saw a movie that just didnt quite come together and this is essentially in the same ballpark. The story sort of mirrors the first and the return of Will and Elizabeth with their son and Barbossa's daughter going after Poseidon's trident whilst new villaint Captain Salazar on the chase for Jack after his release from the devils triangle had the makings of another fun film but with no Hans Zimmer composing the score or Gore Verbinski in the director chair it didnt quite reach the higher levels, maybe time to stop now.

The best film in the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise will always be the first, which is still a terrific film fourteen years later (has it really been that long, feels like only yesterday when first seeing it when it first came out).

Its sequels are not on the same level, and while they are a long way from flawless none of them are awful films either. They have their flaws, 'Dead Man's Chest' did get too frenetic sometimes, 'At World's End' was overlong, bloated and needlessly bloated and 'On Stranger Tides' (which has been dumped upon by many here but to me it was a very enjoyable film, one of the better sequels, and much better than given credit for, which is not going to be a popular opinion) had an underdeveloped and forced romantic subplot and too much filler that could have been trimmed in some places. They all have great merits, namely great visuals, exciting action, Hans Zimmer's music, Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush and Bill Nighy.

'Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge' has its defenders but has also been met with underwhelmed disappointment by critics and most fans. Personally am on the fence with 'Salazar's Revenge' and consider it one of the weaker entries generally of the series, with only 'At World's End' being weaker. It is a decent and fun enough ride, but it could have been so much more and has some glaring flaws.

It is easy to say forget the story, however this is a strong case of being very hard to do so when there is so little to it. It takes a while to get going and there are some real pacing problems in the final act, which has its good points but generally is very tedious. It is very thin for the running time and feels overstretched and bloated, giving the impression the film is too long. The script has some droll and witty quips every now and again, but mostly it is very weak with far too much of a rambling, improvisatory and random feel, it just doesn't feel that well structured. There is also a very bizarre exchange with Depp and Paul McCartney (whose presence is rather jarring).

Brenton Thwaites and Kaya Scodelario are vastly inferior to Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, they lack presence and come over as bland and dare one say deadweight. The music score is rousing enough and creates some nostalgia, but can be overly bombastic and is too much of a retread from the music of the previous films. There is an overload of CGI effects, which standard-wise are mostly splendid though with some artificial ones too.

With all this being said, there are obvious merits here. Once again, the production values are impeccable, the cinematography is skillful and full of beauty and atmosphere, the costumes, sets and period recreation is authentic and sumptuous and the effects are superb. As aforementioned the special effects are splendid quality-wise.

'Salazar's Revenge's' action is a lot of fun too, being coherent and exciting, especially the very scary one with the undead shark and the ending, which also does a good job clearing up loose ends. There are some great and suitably light-hearted comedy set pieces, like Jack being dragged by a building and clinging onto the guillotine.

Jack not being the central focus but still being essential to the plot proved to be a good move. 'Salazar's Revenge' succeeds in bringing a sense of nostalgia. Loved Barbossa's story arc, inarguably the film's most interesting which allows Geoffrey Rush to really sink his teeth and give a fun and moving performance. His revelation and his farewell was heart-breaking in its emotion.

Contrary to what some have said, apart from the newcomers to the franchise Thwaites and Scodelario as well as McCartney, the acting was fine. Although Johnny Depp's performance has been criticised, to me he still has the enthusiasm, sense of fun and swagger. Geoffrey Rush does a great job as always, while an unrecognisable Javier Bardem (very impressively made-up) is simply brilliant and clearly having a whale of a time as perhaps the franchise's most sinister villain (if not the best, that title still belongs to Bill Nighy's Davy Jones).

Summing up, decent and fun enough ride that could have been so much more. 6/10 Bethany Cox