Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge may not be the special return for the series that we were hoping for, but for fans of the Johnny Depp franchise it will be a welcome new adventure. If you’re going to see the film this weekend, you might want to stick around for the end credits scene, which would seem to indicate that yet another sequel is on its way. You can check out more details of what it might mean for Pirates Of The Caribbean 6 at the bottom of our review.
The film is far from perfect with the number of holes in delivery along the way, but it is fun, entertaining and funny in parts. The storyline works well enough to justify the production of the fifth film in the series with Jack Sparrow being caught up in yet another dangerous adventure as the pirate-killer Captain Salazar manages to escape his watery prison on a mission to hunt down and kill Jack. It also does well at introducing new characters with Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann’s son Henry and headstrong astronomer Carina Smyth is working out well as the latest young seafarers.
A lot of the positives from the film are a direct result of Javier Bardem’s (Skyfall) as Captain Salazar, who makes for a great new antagonist for the series. He has exceptional malevolence, which works very well in the role of the baddy and while he’s not quite as menacing as he was as Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men, it’s not too far behind.
Johnny Depp (Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them) is decent enough as Jack Sparrow, carrying off the role fairly well, albeit without the same light steps of earlier Pirates Of The Caribbean films. Brenton Thwaites (Maleficent) does well to channel Orlando Bloom (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies) as Henry Turner and Kaya Scodelario (Skins) does a similar job in bringing together the new take on Elizabeth Swann-like character, Carina Smyth.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge trailer:
However, sadly, Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech, Minions) doesn’t always work out so well as Captain Hector Barbossa, with a few laboured lines, although, in all fairness he does manage to salvage things just a little in the end. The support cast is probably the weakest link to the film with some truly sloppy performances, which are epitomise by the terrible cameo featuring Paul McCartney. Stephen Graham (Taboo Series 2) and Kevin McNally (Legend) are pretty irrelevant as Jack’s core crew members Scrum and Joshamee Gibbs, which is a shame because they’re both good actors.
For the most part, the special effects are truly impressive, specially the creation of Salazar’s death crew, the festering shark attack and the ocean divide scenes. You will need to suspend belief for the entirety of the film and you’re better off leaving notions of science or physics behind for some of the craziest and stunts, but then this is hardly meant to be a serious high-brow film.
Directors Joachim Rønning and Espeb Sandberg could really have done a better job at the helm of the unwieldy beast that is the film at times. There are moments that needed more polish, sharper lines and smarter delivery and it’s a shame they didn’t see that during production.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge may not be the best film in the series and it’s far from being entirely watertight, but it should put a smile on the face of fans of the Disney franchise. For casual cinemagoers, it’s a bit of fun that you’ll easily find faults with you, but it does entertain well enough, especially as it builds climactic end. The film has had some wildly varied review scores, but for us it’s more middle of the sea than down the swanny or up on the 5 stars.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge review – 3/5
Pirates Of The Caribbean 5: Salazar’s Revenge end credits scene speculation:
Spoilers ahead
The end credits scene features Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann as they sleep peacefully following their reunion at the end of Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge. However, their sleep gets disturbed by the looming presence of what appears to be the tentacled Davey Jones, played by Bill Nighey previously. When Will wakes up, the figure is gone. The shot then pans down to see a small puddle of water and some barnacles, which for us is a pretty good sign of what Pirates Of The Caribbean 6 will be about.
If this proves to be the case then Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp will be back in action again together for full adventure next time around.
