Sailing on the Seven Seas...

COLINS FILM CLUB Review – Cinema

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN – SALAZARS REVENGE

A few years ago, somebody at a film studio belonging to Disney saw the theme park ride of The Pirates of the Caribbean and thought “What a good idea for a film...?, and thus the first of a new franchise was born called The Curse of the Black Pearl. It was a wonderful swash-buckling romp in the best tradition of sea faring movies and it was held together by one magical figurehead, a Johnny Depp creation which will go down in cinema history, Captain Jack Sparrow. Several years on and several sequels of declining standard too, and we have come to film number five in the series, but can the franchise ride the crest of a wave again or is it decidedly beached like a whale...???

Confusingly, this is a film of two titles, in the USA it is known as Dead Men Tell No Tales, a line uttered by main bad guy Salazar in the film, but here in the UK we have the subtitle of Salazars Revenge, which means nothing until you have seen the film, so we kind of wished the American title had been used over here too. Setting the scene we have the young son of fated Will Turner seeking a way to lift the curse of the crew of the Flying Dutchman and his Father. Add to this a magical “McGuffin” device of the Trident of Posidon which can end all curses and we see both young Henry Turner, a beautiful astronomer called Karina, The British Navy (for some obscure reason which is never fully explained) and of course baddie Salazar all seeking said mysterious staff, and weaving drunkenly in and around them all is Jack Sparrow. The race is on to locate the hidden island the trident is supposedly on make everything right before Salazar can use it to some evil end which again, we just dont ever find out why. And thats it in a nutshell...

There is a lot to commend the film, it treads softly on familiar ground set by the first film and we soon see characters we know from the series, including the monkey called “Jack”, and indeed the great set piece at the start of the film of the bank robbery, or to be more precise – stealing an entire bank – is a stupendous and ambitious feat which runs at break-neck speed and has several twists and turns as it introduces the various people both old and new to the cast. We are also re-introduced to Hector Barbosa, who it now seems is in charge of a fleet of pirate ships and is doing rather well for himself.

The background for Salazars hatred and reason for revenge on Jack Sparrow is explained in a flashback in which a younger CGI repaired Jack out-witted him in combat at sea, trapping Salazar in the Devils Triangle. Once older Jack gives up his claim on his famous compass, the trigger is released to set Salazar free on his task to find Sparrow.

Now, so far and so good, the film appears to tick all the boxes in regards to a Pirates sequel and then some... but, it has problems.

Firstly we dont really attach to the new players because they seem to have been jammed into the mix here with some suspended logic of disbelief – Barbosa found time to father a child and Will Turners son single-mindedly one dimensionally seeking to right his Fathers curse from age one it seems – but there are also big gaping holes in the plot too. The trident is supposedly hidden on an island that can only be found on a map that no man can read, which leads to two conclusions, firstly because Salazar is condemned to stay only on water, there was going to be an inherent problem that the film-makers suddenly realised when he was required to seize it, thus a handy “get-out-clause” was added by having Salazar inhabit Henry`s body so that he can walk on land. Also the map would seem to be only revealed to women, so it would seem reasonable to keep Karina alive until the trident is found, and yet she is nearly hung, and Salazar`s ship fires upon the ship she is on, surely there was a possibility she could have been hurt or even killed??

And then we come to the biggest problem in the film – Jack Sparrow himself.

In previous entries it was always apparent that Jack had a hidden agenda, a scheme in the background which he was orchestrating and manipulating to his own advantage, often through what looked like a series of mishaps and entrapments, but by the end of the film, Jack would achieve his goal or goals and his plan would be revealed to all involved, only then would they see how they had been used for some nefarious plan other than their own, only then would they realise they didnt get what they wanted, and only then would they forever remember the day that they almost caught up with Captain Jack Sparrow... but here we see Jack more addled, drunk and not seemingly part of the bigger picture, more a bit part player who strays from one scene to the next. Nothing he does in this film suggests he ever has anything bigger going on than simply trying to exist and get on with his life, no big ideas, no scheme... and sadly, he has become more of a shambolic comedy figure which by the end of the film your left wondering if it was just a by-the-numbers Depp acting class you watched. From the innovative character first seen in Curse of the Black Pearl, we have whittled him down to comedy stooge, and surely one of the best ever characters in recent times on screen deserved a better and more fitting script to work with that the one Salazar`s Revenge gives him.

Its a film reliant on too much CGI to dig itself out of a rut. The big scenes play out as actors in peril, actors work out way to save themselves, bad guy gives angry sneer, and Salazar exhibits a power nobody knew about until midway through which he could have used earlier to save a lot of trouble, and inhabit Barbosa or Jack, or even Karina... As you can see, this film frustrates in huge amounts which is a shame as you really feel you would like to love this one, as there are one or two nods to the first film, but its a soulless and lacklustre affair which is adequate rather than exceptional. Still, if this is really going to be the very last film in the franchise – and to be honest it might be a good time for Disney to weigh anchor on this series – then it will at least finish with no unanswered plot threads from previous entries hanging over, and it concludes in a satisfactory manner which should go down well with fans. So – a mixed bag which is sad, but its not a total mess and does hold the attention

So, sailing off into the sunset, the “maybe” last Pirates film will divide people, it will entertain some whilst others will find its flaws obviously and annoying, but in the end and as a bookend film, it rounds off the Pirate's saga in a way which no can doubt, and perhaps its now time to let the Sparrow out of the studio and fly away too...

COLINS FILM CLUB Rating:

***