--- title: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" year: 2017 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-men-tell-no-tales" fi1m_score: 45 critics_score: 44 critics_reviews: 23 published: "2026-09-19T16:43:12.514273+00:00" updated: "2026-09-19T16:43:34.418436+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) Directed by Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg · 2h 09m · MPA PG-13 · Adventure, Action, Fantasy **Fi1m score: 45** · Critics 44 from 23 reviews *In a sentence:* Johnny Depp robs a bank by taking the whole building, then spends two hours doing a Johnny Depp impression > New directors, a proper villain and one good robbery cannot hide that Jeff Nathanson’s script is the first film run again with the life let out. Bardem earns his floating fringe; Depp is doing an impression of himself. ## Synopsis Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites), son of the cursed Will Turner, has spent his boyhood looking for a way to free his father from the sea, and believes the Trident of Poseidon will do it. Serving on a British warship, he is the only man left breathing when Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem) and his dead crew come out of the Devil’s Triangle, and Salazar sends him ashore with a message for Jack Sparrow. On the island of Saint Martin, Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), an astronomer with a diary that maps the way to the Trident, waits to hang as a witch. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is in town too, drunk and short of a crew, robbing the new bank by dragging the entire building through the streets. Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), fat with plunder, learns his ships are being sunk one by one. ## Review Fourteen years after Gore Verbinski’s *The Curse of the Black Pearl*, the fifth Pirates film sets out to be the first one again: a young couple with a mission, a cursed crew, an object at the bottom of the sea, and Jack Sparrow somewhere between them. Jeff Nathanson’s script, from a story he wrote with Terry Rossio, does not pretend otherwise. Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg were brought in to get the series back on the water and down to a sensible length. At 129 minutes they have managed the second. The first depends on how much you still want to watch Depp do this, and there we have bad news. The best thing comes early. Jack’s crew mean to rob the new bank in Saint Martin and instead haul the entire building off its foundations behind a team of horses, with Jack inside it. Nigel Phelps has built a town designed to be knocked down, and Roger Barton and Leigh Folsom Boyd cut the chase so that every collision is set up a beat before it lands. We laughed out loud, more than once. The rescue that follows, Jack strapped to a guillotine that swings the blade towards and away from his neck while Carina waits on the gallows opposite, is nearly as good. Javier Bardem is the other reason to stay. His Salazar is a Spanish captain who spent his life hanging pirates until a young Jack tricked him into the Devil’s Triangle, and has come back with a cracked head and black water running from his mouth. Bardem gives him a wrecked, hissing voice and the bearing of a man who has been insulted and will not stop until it is answered. Then the effects team get in the way. His hair floats as though he were still underwater, on deck, in daylight, and it is impossible to look at anything else. We admired the performance and kept being pulled off it by a fringe. Depp is the problem. Jack Sparrow in 2003 was a drunk who was always three moves ahead. Here he is a drunk. The slur is thicker, the eyes are somewhere else, and the jokes are the old jokes with the timing gone. Nathanson writes him as a man his own crew have given up on, which reads as an excuse for a performer who has not turned up. He trades his compass for a bottle in the first act, and it is hard to argue with the exchange rate. We found this sad rather than annoying, which surprised us. Brenton Thwaites and Kaya Scodelario have the young-lovers parts and less to do in them. Scodelario’s Carina is an astronomer who keeps correcting the men, which is one joke, and Thwaites is earnest and blank. Geoffrey Rush, in Penny Rose’s biggest coat and a wig the size of a small dog, walks off with the second half. Barbossa is handed the one thread with any weight, and it takes a turn we will not describe; Rush plays it with a seriousness nothing else asks of him. Golshifteh Farahani has two scenes as a sea witch and deserved a third. The finale is where it goes wrong. Paul Cameron shoots the daytime scenes in a hard, bright Caribbean light that suits the comedy, but the last half hour happens at night, at sea and then under it, and the screen becomes a grey-blue wall of water and debris in which we lost track of who was where. Geoff Zanelli brings the old themes back loudly, as if he knows something is missing. We were bored, and then we were cross about being bored, because the first act had shown these directors can stage a thing so that you know where you are. Most critics have landed near us, with a few insisting it is the best of the sequels; we can see what they mean if the measure is the bank. See it for the robbery, the guillotine and Bardem, and if there is a child in the house who has not seen the 2003 film, put that on instead. *Fi1m score 45, published 19 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics do not enjoy the fifth Pirates film, and the reasons repeat. The reviews call it a retread of Curse of the Black Pearl with new directors and younger leads but few new ideas. Where there is praise it clusters in two places: Javier Bardem’s vengeful Salazar, whom several critics call the best thing on screen, and the early bank robbery, which even the harshest reviews single out as brisk and well staged. Geoffrey Rush’s Barbossa gets steady credit too. The reservations centre on Johnny Depp. Most critics find Jack Sparrow a tired routine, drunker and less charming than before, and several say the character should be retired. The spread is wide. A minority, including The i Paper, Digital Spy and Deadline, calls this the most entertaining entry since the first; The Times calls it derivative from start to finish; and complaints about CGI overload and an inconsistent plot run through the middle. ### Reviews we read (23) - **The i Paper**, Matthew Turner (★★★★): The most enjoyable sequel so far thanks to new directors and a script recapturing the original's magic; it feels like a soft reboot that retreads Curse of the Black Pearl beats while keeping the story moving. Praises spirited performances, fun Jack Sparrow moments, exciting set-pieces like the bank robbery, and strong effects. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/pirates-of-the-caribbean-salazars-revenge-review-67121) - **Little White Lies**, Adam Woodward (1/3/1): The critic finds the film scuppered by Depp's calamitous lead performance, which is the worst thing about it despite some entertaining set-pieces from the directors. Praise goes to the brisk pacing and practical effects in the opening bank heist sequence. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/pirates-of-the-caribbean-salazars-revenge) - **Radio Times**, Victoria Luxford (★★★): The critic says forget the story—this is all about the ride, which is mostly enjoyable with fun comedy set pieces and spectacular action like the undead shark sequence. Praise for Bardem's sinister villain and Geoffrey Rush's interesting arc, plus an impressive finale that leaves room for more. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/pirates-of-the-caribbean-salazars-revenge-review-forget-the-story-this-is-all-about-the-ride/) - **Screen Daily** (55/100, inferred): The critic notes the film puts some wind back in the franchise's sails with new directors, leads and villain but not enough to return to its swashbuckling best. Praise for Bardem's menacing performance and the dark energy from the zombie elements, alongside a father-child theme providing some emotional resonance. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/pirates-of-the-caribbean-salazars-revenge-review/5118214.article) - **Evening Standard**, Matthew Norman (40/100, inferred): Some exciting set pieces and strong turns from Bardem and Rush, but Depp phones it in and drags the film into mediocrity; time for the character to walk the plank. Bardem is the best thing on screen as the vengeful Salazar. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/pirates-of-the-caribbean-salazars-revenge-film-review-yo-ho-hum-a3681061.html) - **The Guardian** (40/100, inferred): The critic finds few new ideas or memorable set pieces in the fifth instalment, noting that it moves at a faster pace than previous entries but remains the same soggy ride. New directors are praised for focusing more on sea action, but the film is faulted for lacking originality and relying on familiar panto-style nonsense. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/22/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-men-tell-no-tales-johnny-depp-kaya-scodelario) - **Time Out**, Ellie Walker-Arnott (40/100, inferred): The critic views it as another unthrilling episode of swashbuckling by numbers, with wishy-washy plot and lost charm from Depp's Jack Sparrow, who comes across as drunker and more repulsive. Some credit for attempting to return to the franchise's earlier spirit with new characters and action sequences. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/pirates-of-the-caribbean-salazars-revenge) - **Empire**, Dan Jolin (30/100, inferred): Feels like a remake of the first film with the same ride but far less fun; innovative early set-pieces give way to exhausting plot inconsistencies and CGI overload. Jack Sparrow has become a tired routine rather than a character, with little of the original spark. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/pirates-caribbean-salazar-revenge-review/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Katie Walsh (30/100, inferred): The film faithfully follows the established formula with swaggering Depp, young leads, a supernatural villain and heists but offers no new treasures. It is dragged down by the franchise blueprint, though dry-land action sequences show some inventive physics-based feats. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-pirates-dead-men-review-20170525-story.html) - **Slant Magazine**, Jake Cole (30/100, inferred): The film wholly lacks the lighthearted spark and demented creativity of the Verbinski entries, feeling like a shoddy reboot with stale callbacks and a focus on a washed-up Jack Sparrow. Action sequences are big but straightforward and rigid rather than inventive. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-men-tell-no-tales/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, THR Staff (30/100, inferred): The film is as overengineered as ever, with a phoned-in Depp performance and little distinction from its directors, though it hits enough familiar notes for commercial success. The critic notes that attempts to recapture the original's surprise are doomed to look desperate or hacky. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/pirates-caribbean-dead-men-tell-no-tales-1005884/) - **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (30/100, inferred): The film is long and punishing with meager pleasures and forced inventions that make it the opposite of entertainment; it is a tedious rehash overall. Occasional nifty Rube Goldbergian action sequences recall the inventiveness of the original director. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/25/movies/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-men-tell-no-tales-review-johnny-depp.html) - **Variety**, Andrew Barker (30/100, inferred): This is a mercenary, visually unappealing exercise in brand maintenance that feels inessential and depressingly pro forma, with only faint traces of the original spark. An early bank robbery scene is well-staged and entertaining, and some supporting turns like Golshifteh Farahani are enjoyable. [Read](https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/film-review-pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-men-tell-no-tales-1202439545/) - **The Times**, Kevin Maher (20/100, inferred): The critic calls the film gob-smackingly derivative and says Captain Jack should walk the plank, faulting it for crassly cannibalising earlier entries with no understanding of what made the original work. The performance of Depp is seen as frozen in cliché, with the plot and structure feeling like sludgy regurgitation. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/film-review-pirates-of-the-caribbean-salazars-revenge-vmwzwk8gk) - **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (80/100, inferred): The critic calls it the most entertaining installment since the first, praising the directors' experience with water scenes, Bardem's villain, and the fun ride overall. They single out the top-of-the-line special effects and Bardem's performance. [Read](https://deadline.com/2017/05/the-pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-men-tell-no-tales-review-johnny-depp-disney-video-1202101389/) - **Digital Spy**, Ian Sandwell (80/100, inferred): The film surprises as the best Pirates sequel yet, with a streamlined quest narrative, inventive set pieces, and strong new characters that make it feel fresh. Bardem's creepy villain and Scodelario's feisty lead stand out amid the fun and emotional moments. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a828825/pirates-of-the-caribbean-salazars-revenge-review-dead-men-tell-no-tales/) - **The Wrap**, Robert Abele (75/100, inferred): The critic finds it the most divertingly enjoyable since the first film, praising the energetic direction and fresh buffing of the series' elements. They single out the humorous staging of action sequences like the dual guillotine/hanging rescue. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-men-tell-no-tales-review-johnny-depp/) - **NME**, Nick Levine (3/5): It is business as usual with a knotty plot, slick action sequences, adult humour and familiar characters, anchored by Depp's Sparrow and Rush's Barbossa. The mix of tones and excessive CGI on the villain can jar, but Disney magic pulls it together. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/pirates-of-the-caribbean-salazars-revenge-film-review-2077511) - **Den of Geek**, Don Kaye (2.5 out of 5): The film is a handsomely mounted but overly busy and frantic affair that feels like a theme park ride, with familiar elements that fail to linger after viewing. The directors deliver inventive action sequences and strong technical work, with solid support from the cast including Bardem's menacing villain. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-men-tell-no-tales-review/) - **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (D+): The critic finds the film exhausted and lacking life, a diminishing return on the franchise. They single out the lack of chemistry between the new leads and the absence of interesting arcs for the characters. [Read](https://collider.com/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-men-tell-no-tales-review/) - **HeyUGuys**, Hannah Woodhead (2/5): The critic finds the film a tired, formulaic parody of itself with poor acting, unfunny humor, and sub-par effects; praises Geoffrey Rush and the Paul McCartney cameo as minor bright spots. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/pirates-of-the-caribbean-salazars-revenge-review/) - **Consequence** (20/100, inferred): The review deems the film soggy, bloated, and a chore, with lifeless performances and deadening spectacle. It singles out Johnny Depp's tired performance and the overreliance on CGI and MacGuffins. [Read](https://consequence.net/2017/05/film-review-pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-men-tell-no-tales/) - **/Film**, Josh Spiegel (2/10): The review calls it the worst in the series, visually and narratively incoherent and lazy, with illogical plot and poor direction; singles out the bank-heist scene as a rare effective moment but overall despairs at the franchise's decline. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/551185/pirates-of-the-caribbean-5-review/) ## Details - **Director:** Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg - **Director:** Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg - **Screenplay:** Jeff Nathanson - **Story:** Jeff Nathanson, Terry Rossio - **Cinematography:** Paul Cameron - **Editor:** Roger Barton, Leigh Folsom Boyd - **Music:** Geoff Zanelli - **Production design:** Nigel Phelps - **Costume design:** Penny Rose - **Producer:** Jerry Bruckheimer - **Cast:** Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow; Javier Bardem as Armando Salazar; Geoffrey Rush as Hector Barbossa; Brenton Thwaites as Henry Turner; Kaya Scodelario as Carina Smyth; Golshifteh Farahani as Shansa; Kevin McNally as Joshamee Gibbs; Stephen Graham as Scrum - **Runtime:** 2h 09m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13 - **Release (the US):** 26 May 2017 - **Genres:** Adventure, Action, Fantasy - **Budget:** $230 million - **Box office:** $796 million ## Where to watch in the US - Disney+: streaming, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $9.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $19.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-19.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IL, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl* (2003), Fi1m 81: The film this one is copying; see how the same beats land when they are new. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/pirates-of-the-caribbean-the-curse-of-the-black-pearl.md) - *Captain Blood* (1935): Errol Flynn, real ships and a plot that knows exactly where it is going. - *Kon-Tiki* (2012): Rønning and Sandberg on a raft with no effects budget, and better for it. - *Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World* (2003), Fi1m 86: Peter Weir’s frigate war, for when you want the sea taken seriously. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/master-and-commander-the-far-side-of-the-world.md) - *Black Sails* (2014): Pirates played straight and bloody over four series, with real politics aboard. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-men-tell-no-tales