Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

★★★½ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

"You would've seen a lot more if you kept your cakehole shut!" That's a hilarious quote from Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, a flawed but overall pretty good addition to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Set in the 18th century, Depp reprises his role as Capt. Jack Sparrow, who is hunted after by the undead Capt. Armando Salazar (played by Javier Bardem) for tricking his crew to sail into the Devil's Triangle & causing them to die. Salazar has sent Henry Turner (played by Brenton Thwaites) to find Jack to warn him, who is on the island of St. Martin after failing to rob a bank. In St. Martin, a young woman named Carina Smyth (played by Kaya Scodelario) is about to be hanged for supposedly being a witch (but all she did was know about astronomy & horology, which made you a witch back then if you were a woman who was smart. I know, it's stupid). Jack is also about to be guillotined for attempting to rob the bank; however, Henry saves both Jack & Carina. Together, they, along with Jack's crew, try to find the mythical Trident of Poseidon, but a familiar friend has teamed up with Salazar to find Jack: Capt. Hector Barbossa (played by Geoffrey Rush), who now owns a huge fleet of ships.

The cast is excellent.  The direction by Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg is great. The screenplay by Jeff Nathanson & Terry Rossio is great. The cinematography by Paul Cameron is excellent. The film editing by Roger Barton & Leigh Folsom Boyd is great. The costume design by Penny Rose is excellent. The production design by Nigel Phelps is amazing. The makeup & hairstyling is excellent. The sound editing & sound mixing are excellent. The film score by Geoff Zanelli is excellent. And the visual effects are stunning. Although the direction, narrative & editing are underwhelming at times, it's still a great film boosted by great performances & excellent technical achievements.