The latest Pirates movie is great. It is less confusing than the previous films, funny, full of action, and has a satisfyingly conclusive ending.
It starts off hilariously with a ‘bank heist’ and a tipsy and, as usual, useless Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) who narrowly escapes beheading by guillotine. Shipless and crewless Sparrow is nevertheless still in demand.
Intersecting story characters include Salazar (a cursed, ghostly foe from Sparrow’s past) who sails the Flying Dutchman (a ghostly ship), Barbosa (a living foe) and Henry Turner (son of Will Turner). All of them need Sparrow: Salazar (a marvellous Javier Bardem) for revenge for Sparrow’s defeat of him many years prior; Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) for a special map and the magic compass; and Turner (Brenton Thwaites) for help finding a magical treasure. A very clever and determined woman, Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) also enters the mix. She figures out how the map works and joins up with Sparrow and Turner. The three, together with Sparrow’s absurd crew, ‘resurrect’ The Black Pearl and set sail.
Salazar’s ghostly pirate crew looks even more moth-eaten than the ghosts in previous Pirates of the Caribbean movies and include ragged-looking ghost sharks. And in this film we get to see the back story of how a young Jack Sparrow became a successful captain when he led Salazar to his doom. Turner and Smyth are united (smooch smooch) in their common search for knowledge of their mysterious family backgrounds. And in fact the film starts off with a young Turner ‘unearthing’ his long-missing father, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom, swoon swoon).
All the storylines in Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge are carefully and triumphantly finished off, seeming to indicate that this may be the last in this series of highly enjoyable films.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales OR Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge opens in 3D at cinemas in South Africa on Friday 26 May 2017. See it!
a feast of tales 