The fifth movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and it is more evident than ever that it is getting stagnant. Jack Sparrow returns with his quirky behavior but this time more crude and lacking much of the charm that made him so memorable in the first place. In true fashion of the film series, the beginning act is a large diversion that is unnecessary to the plot. Yet when we do get into it proper with the introduction of Will Turner's son Henry, a clever lady Carina and the return of many previous characters including Captain Barbossa and most of Jack's crew, it never felt like it was building up to something. The pacing was slow and a lot of the set pieces just never felt quite right. Jack surviving all the things he had thrown at him with nary a scratch will irk you, including falling from multiple storeys to having a cannon hit him right into the chest through the wall of a ship. The film relies heavily on special effects and while some scenes are impressive, others come across as cheap and tacky. The plot itself is weak as the characters are searching for the Trident of Poseidon in order to break all the curses of the sea and this includes yet more retcons into Jack's past. It tries to tie in previous characters more and it works to a degree there but since we haven't seen them in so long and them having such a small contribution to the film, we don't care about them. Overall, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales falls flat and feels overlong as a result.
