"Dead Men Tell No Tales" is the fifth entry in this series and I hope the last. Although it is better than the last two installments (At World's End and On Stranger Tides), that's not saying a lot. Cap'n Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) isn't the charismatic draw he once was - in fact, this time around he is a caricature of his boozy self. Depp has resorted to mailing in his effort and he's just plain tiresome to watch in another movie. Luckily the plot doesn't revolve solely around him. The powers that be realized that when they removed Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth (Kiera Knightley), their stories became weaker and less cohesive. So the 'new Will' is Henry (Brenton Thwaites), Will and Elizabeth's son, and his plucky love interest is astronomer and horologist, Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario). The quest in "Dead Men Tell No Tales" is to retrieve the Trident of Poseidon, a magical device that can impart power and remove curses. For the search, Cap'n Jack and his crew are joined by Will, Carina and the ever-returning Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). They are pursued by naval officers and a ship of undead, led by Salazar (Javier Bardem).
"Dead Men Tell No Tales" is the shortest of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and feels less bloated. There's plenty of action, some of which is a little to slap-sticky for me (the guillotine sequence, for example). The newcomers, Brenton Thwaites and Kaya Scodelario, hold their own opposite Depp. They mesh well together and Scodelario's feistiness is reminiscent of Knightley's Elizabeth. Less successful is Paul McCartney's awkward turn as Jack's uncle. "Dead Men Tell No Tales" is adequate, but ultimately forgettable. Hopefully Pirates of the Caribbean can be put to rest.
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