Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
Movie · 2017 · Adventure, Action, Fantasy · 2h 9m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 1.0/10 (974.4K ratings)
All pirates must die.
Overview
Thrust into an all-new adventure, a down-on-his-luck Capt. Jack Sparrow feels the winds of ill-fortune blowing even more strongly when deadly ghost sailors led by his old nemesis, the evil Capt. Salazar, escape from the Devil's Triangle. Jack's only hope of survival lies in seeking out the legendary Trident of Poseidon, but to find it, he must forge an uneasy alliance with a brilliant and beautiful astronomer and a headstrong young man in the British navy.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.0/10
IMDb: 6.5/10
Letterboxd: 2.75/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 30%
Metacritic: 39
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
Espen Sandberg, Joachim Rønning
Production
Walt Disney Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Infinitum Nihil
Cast
Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, Golshifteh Farahani, Kevin McNally, Stephen Graham, Angus Barnett, David Wenham, Martin Klebba, Adam Brown, Giles New, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Paul McCartney, Delroy Atkinson, Danny Kirrane, Juan Carlos Vellido, Rodney Afif
Where to watch
Disney Plus, fuboTV
Curator Review
Verdict
A loud, effects-heavy pirate sequel with a few entertaining set pieces, but it feels like a franchise running on fumes. The ghost-sailor premise and Javier Bardem’s villain give it some visual flair, yet the humor, plotting, and character energy are uneven, and the movie often feels more tired than swashbuckling.
Best for
viewers who want glossy fantasy adventure and don’t mind formula
fans of the franchise looking for one more round of spectacle
audiences who enjoy undead villains and nautical action
Skip if
you want the sharpest or most playful entry in the series
you’re looking for tightly paced adventure storytelling
you’re already fatigued by Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow schtick
Overview
Dead Men Tell No Tales is the kind of sequel that arrives with a lot of noise and not much new life. The ghost-pirate imagery is strong, the production design still knows how to sell a cursed-seas adventure, and Bardem gives the villain a suitably eerie presence. But the movie also feels mechanically assembled, as if it is checking off franchise obligations rather than discovering a fresh story to tell.
Worth noting
Its biggest problem is fatigue. The jokes land inconsistently, the mythology is overcomplicated, and the central character has been stretched so far into self-parody that the film often seems to be coasting on memory of better installments. Even the action, while polished, rarely builds the kind of momentum that made the earlier films feel like events.
Bottom line
There are still flashes of the old appeal: cursed ships, impossible escapes, and a few moments of genuine swashbuckling fun. But this is best approached as a late-series curiosity rather than a must-see adventure film. If you’re already invested in the franchise, it can pass the time; if not, there are livelier pirate fantasies elsewhere.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Alex Hurding (1★) · 2758 likes
Jack Sparrow is basically Jar Jar Binks by this point.
deah · 2035 likes
ZERO stars for Keira knightley’s ZERO lines
luke (5★) · 1433 likes
Paul McCartney is a pirate. Nothing else matters.
adambolt (3★) · 1006 likes
does anyone in this franchise stay dead
Matt Singer (1.5★) · 800 likes
Yo ho, yo ho, let’s retire this franchise forever.
Full review at ScreenCrush.