Starring: Johnny Depp, Brenton Thwaites, Javier Bardem, Kaya Scodelario, Geoffrey Rush.
Captain Jack and crew are back in the fifth installment of Disney's pirate themed hit and this time with a new enemy to defeat, Salazar (Javier Bardem). Looking for revenge, good guy turned bad, Salazar searches the seas to hunt for Jack to lift him from the curse of the underworld.
At this point the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is nothing more than a fun, silly and easy watch every couple of years and that is perfectly fine. With so many hard-hitting and emotional films coming out, POTC 5 feels like a wave of fresh air. Sitting in the cinema, not having to overthink any deeper meaning and watching this cast of people that we've essentially grown up with can be the best 2 hours of your week.
The story followed the same structure as it's predecessors, Jack wronged somebody and that somebody sends someone else to find Jack and bring him back. Whilst this time was nothing new, being introduced to Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) son Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) was a significant moment. In this segment of the franchise we also get to see young Jack Sparrow, played by Anthony de la Torre, and how he became the Captain of the Black Pearl, putting into perspective just how great a Captain Jack was once upon a time.
Brenton Thwaites himself puts on a great performance and merged into the role of Pirate wonderfully, to the extent that you could easily imagine him taking the lead of the franchise one day. Kaya Scodelario also made her POTC debut as Carina, who turns out to have a strong importance to a lead character. Whilst Scodelario usually puts on an astounding performance, her presence in the series felt unneeded and irrelevant probably due to the plot between her and Thwaites being so weak and pushed aside.
As always, the cinematography and special affects were a stand out point. The attention to detail and concepts are strong as always and the CGI creates powerful scenes that ignite all senses. With thrashing seas and glistening galaxy like lands, it's easy to forget that this is a essentially bad film and view it for the £230 million budget movie it is.
All in all, Pirates of the Caribbean 5 may not be winning any awards for originality or depth but it's still winning in the hearts of lovers of the franchise.
