Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Blu-ray Review

By: Lynn Barker

For Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) returns and is chased by an enemy from his youth; Spanish Captain Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem) is a cursed undead fellow who, with his creepy ghost crew, has escaped from the Devil’s Triangle to kill Jack whom he blames for his curse. With new young allies Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) and Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), Jack has to find the Trident of Poseidon which can control the seas and all curses therein, before Salazar gets it.

Carina and Henry join Jack on the quest for the tridentCourtesy of Walt Disney Studios

Young Henry Turner

Henry, the young son of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), risks his life to find and talk to his dad who is cursed forever at sea on The Flying Dutchman unable to return to his wife Elizabeth (Keira Knightly) or son. Will sends the boy home but not before Henry swears to grow up and break his dad’s curse.

Will Turner is still doomed on the Flying DutchmanCourtesy of Walt Disney Studios

Young Captain Salazar before the curseCourtesy of Walt Disney Studios

In the Devil’s Triangle

Grown up Henry is still determined to break his dad’s horrible curse. Meanwhile, in the Devil’s Triangle, Captain Salazar and his ghost crew swear to get even with Jack Sparrow who, as a youthful captain, doomed them to die there. If they could just get their lands on the Trident of Poseidon, they could control the seas and all the curses they hold. Henry has also heard about the curse-breaking Trident as has Carina Smyth, who knows science and astronomy in a time when such women were labeled witches. She is following a diary from a father she never knew that will lead to the Trident. After several misadventures, she and Henry eventually team up to find it.

Captain Salazar and his ghost crewCourtesy of Walt Disney Studios

Barbosa is Back

When Captain Jack’s planned bank heist goes horribly (and hilariously) wrong, his old Black Pearl crew abandons him. Henry knows Jack was his dad’s friend and wants his help to find the Trident. Jack just wants to play one side against the other long enough to save his skin and get lots of rum.  Captain Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) is now a super rich pirate but Salazar breaks out of the Devil’s Triangle area and starts sinking all of Barbosa’s many pirate ships. Barbosa too would like to find the Trident that can both get Salazar off his back and help him rule the seas.

Captain Barbosa is backCourtesy of Walt Disney Studios

Doubtful Partnerships

Henry, Carina and Jack team up under her guidance as she uses the old diary to track various stars to lead the group to the Trident. Meanwhile, Salazar takes Barbosa prisoner and Barbosa must reluctantly team up with him on their own quest to get to the powerful artifact first.  Oh yes, and the British Navy would love to have it as well for the power it possesses so their ships are chasing everybody. Who will control the seas? Will Henry save his doomed dad, will Captain Jack get his crew back or will Salazar win the day?

Carina will chart the stars to find the tridentCourtesy of Walt Disney Studios

Special Extra Features

The film looks and sounds amazingly crisp on this set. I didn’t miss one line of dialogue and the transfer is pristine. There are quite a few extras included that cover behind-the-scenes and on set action.

• Dead Men Tell No Tales: The Making of a New Adventure is a seven-part feature:
• A Return to the Sea includes cast and crew talking about returning to the franchise after five years and still keeping the tale fresh.
• Telling Tales: A Sit-Down with Brenton & Kaya is an interview, with on set visual back up, with the two newest and youngest actors on the film. It’s fun. They are thrilled to meet Johnny Depp and watch him play guitar on set etc. Quite a hoot. We see them doing stunts etc.

Henry Turner will risk it all to free his dad WillCourtesy of Walt Disney Studios

• The Matador & The Bull: Secrets of Salazar & the Silent Mary –Features great actor Javier Bardem talking about playing Salazar; his costumes, make-up, CGI “floating” hair, his cool ship and Bardem’s feeling that before death Salazar was like a matador and after, a wounded bull. Makes sense. Very cool extra.
• First Mate Confidential- presents actor Kevin McNally, who plays Sparrow’s first mate Gibbs, about being in all of the pirates movies, how he and things around him have changed in 13 years since the first movie. The bank robbing scene shot in Queensland, Australia is featured. Neat!
• Deconstructing the Ghost Sharks talks about the design and execution of the freaky half-there sharks that chase Henry and Jack.  Some models are there on set, rest in CGI. Interesting.

Ghost shark attacks!Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios

• Wings Over the Caribbean is super fun for me since I’m a big Beatles fan. Paul McCartney briefly plays Jack’s namesake uncle Jack in the film. He and Johnny have been friends since Johnny appeared in some of Paul’s music videos. They pal around on set and Paul sings. Fun!
• An Enduring Legacy looks back on all the Pirates films. Brenton and Kaya admit they were big fans at age 14 when Kaya had a huge crush on Orlando Bloom! Johnny and Geoffrey Rush talk about developing their characters. Nice.
• Bloopers of the Caribbean contains the usual line goofs and the ghost pirates dance the Macarena… always fun.
• Deleted Scenes- there are four….very short but worth a one-time watch.
• Jerry Bruckheimer’s Photo Diary presents some really nice black and white on set and behind-the-scenes photos shot by Producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Director with Johnny Depp on setCourtesy of Walt Disney Studios

There is no audio commentary by directors or cast but most of what is happening is covered anyway.

Wrapping Up

As we said when we saw the film in theaters, it’s nice to see the return of well-loved characters but the film wanders all over the place with a few unnecessary scenes that could have been left out. The entire British Navy could have been omitted since they do next to nothing in the story, etc. Stunts and Special Visual Effects are very well executed and creative. Javier Bardem’s Salazar makes a creepy and very worthy villain. A lot of the charm of the first couple of films is achieved.

Captain Jack and First Mate GibbsCourtesy of Walt Disney Studios

The extras on this home entertainment set are a lot of fun and well-presented so we can go 4 stars. You’ll want to add this one to your collection or gift it for the upcoming holidays.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Blu-ray Rating: 

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Blu-rayCourtesy of Walt Disney Studios

Buy Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales in stores Tuesday, October 3^rd.

Have Your Say

Are you all pirated out or still a Captain Jack fan? Would you be happy to see the Elizabeth and Will characters back together at last? Share with your mateys below with a comment.