I liked Pirates of the Caribbean when I was twenty-three. It wanted a bit of Johnny Depp showmanship, the fatal love of Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, and of course the evil Geoffrey Rush. That, coupled with the summer season, was a great breather and a decent follow-up.
The second episode and the third episode were filmed together, improving on the success of 2006 and 2007. The fourth episode was a bit different, with the story focusing solely on Jack Sparrow and his help in destroying Blackbeard and the fountain of youth.
After 14 long years, the same line-up returned again, and that included Keira Knightley, who really doesn't have a successful film anymore. The others are a bit more famous now. Johnny Deep in particular is a big star, Geoffrey Rush has had his seasoned years, so if you want a very capable actor in a film, he's the one. The new, and possibly rising, stars are Brenton Thwaites (Gods of Egypt) and Kaya Scodelario (Labyrinth), who, in the company of experienced actors from across the franchise, are trying to push a new generation for the next films.
The new director duo of Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg have made a pretty good sequel to the films of the first three. The story from the fourth installment is only lightly mentioned, rather we're given the resolution to the problem that still from the third installment, Will Turner is still the captain of the Flying Dutchman, so his son is trying to find the Trident of Poseidon that managed to break his father's curse.
Thanks to the producers for giving a new directorial duo the opportunity to prove they can make a successful big budget film that would make their benefactors a lot of dollars. The directors are smart. They have managed to weave the flimsy script with the right amount of humour and even at over two hours one doesn't get bored, just the story travels quietly to its destination, interspersed with humorous interludes. It is about love, a father/son/daughter relationship. Of course, it's also about destroying the bad guy (Javier Bardem), who goes with his dark soul to Jack (he wants to kill him) to free himself from his curse.
In the end, of course, all the good guys survive and we finally get to see Will Turner on solid ground to embrace his wife, his son and his sweetheart.
It's pretty easy to compare the five films, the first was groundbreaking, the second and third were just too long, and the fourth was just pretty weak. And how's the fifth one? Well, it's the second best. It shows how the directors pulled their weight, the actors had fun and the trick makers delivered. There are going to be some good moments to remember.
Photo © Walt Disney Studios
Original release of this article March 5, 2021 – Kritiky.cz
