Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

The last instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was a bit of a full-circle moment in many ways, especially for my friends and me. "In what ways?" you might ask.
Well, for one, my best friend introduced me to the franchise when we were 10 and we desperately wanted to become pirates. I attribute my longing for adventure to these movies. I distinctly remember that many of our birthday parties (especially my bff's) revolved around pirate themes, had pirate cakes, or consisted of our little group going to the theatre to see the latest Pirates film. We went to see Dead Men Tell No Tales as a spur-of-the-moment thing for my best friend's birthday this summer - and as we've been moving into new phases in our lives, it felt right that the franchise was also wrapping up.
In terms of the movie itself, the original characters all returned, and their stories were finally happily resolved. The proper young girl in love with the adventurous young man of pirating heritage also echoed The Curse of the Black Pearl, even to the point of making Henry a boy whose father has been forced to abandon his son because he is tied to the Flying Dutchman. Again, the villains were undead, semi-formed humans cursed to roam the seas forever and hoping for revenge on those who had wronged them, namely Jack. It was all clever, but also somewhat redundant.
Of course, the revelation of Carina's parentage was somewhat cheesy and expected, but added to the whole full-circle happy ending thing.
The characters were perhaps a bit flat, but they always have been. They are ridiculous, dramatic, and fun. Plus the girls always manage to help the situation more than any of the men can, which always makes me happy.
Harkening back to its origin, Dead Men Tell No Tales is full of awash-buckling fun and fighting, cryptic maps and the mysterious legends and powers of the sea. It is certainly not the best movie in the franchise, but I'd have to say that it's not the worst. Yet no matter how bad these films may get, the franchise will always hold a special place in my heart. And I will always want to be a pirate because of it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Wolverine

[Warning: Spoilers for this movie and X-Men movies] The Wolverine  follows Logan after the loss of Jean Grey, the woman he loved. His struggle to cope continues to push him to the edge, but he fights on (sometimes quite literally by fighting people). The Wolverine is summoned to Japan by another mutant, Yukio, and meets with her adoptive grandfather/boss, anold acquaintance of his who is dying and wishes to help Logan before his time is up. The now elderly man, whom he saved in the Second World War, offers to take away Logan's immortality so that he does not have to suffer and remember his losses for eternity. However, Logan's gift of mortality suddenly becomes a curse when he gets caught in the middle of the man's family drama. His son wants to take over the business, but he has already designated it for his granddaughter, Mariko. Mariko's father is willing to kill to get her out of the way, and while protecting her, Logan begins to fall for her. Yukio aids Logan in ge...
Read more

Les Misérables

Image
[Warning: mild spoilers] Many people may be unaware that Les Misérables  was originally a novel by Victor Hugo, the man who wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame . And just like his other novel, Les Mis is extremely long. The book tells the story of Jean Valjean's redemption after getting out of prison and the way that he tries to do whatever he can to assist others, until the day when Inspector Javert realizes who he is and he is forced to spend the rest of his days running and hiding from the officer who is bent on revenge. The one thing that continues to push Jean Valjean to run is a girl named Cosette. He adopted the girl when her mother, who had worked for him, passed away. The girl was in the care of a selfish couple whom the mother had paid to raise the little girl. It's very much a Cinderella story, with Cosette being treated more like a servant than a part of the family. Jean thus dedicates his life to caring for the young girl, but the Thenardier family repeatedly co...
Read more

Sunday Sayings

Image
So for those of you keeping up on world events, this weekend has been a particularly important one for the LGBTQ community. I am sure some of you have already noticed, but I want to let you know now that this blog is for expressing my views and so it will reflect my Christian beliefs. That being said, I want everyone to know that I do not hate gays. I have a relative who is gay, and I love them and their spouse and children very much. However, this does not mean that I feel that their lifestyle choices are right. Living in Canada, legalized gay marriage is not a new concept to me. But the changes in America are an indication of the direction that the world is headed. I don't always like to say this (as there is progress constantly being made all over the world) but America is at the forefront of every major change in the world. If attitudes in America have begun to change, it won't be long before the rest of Western society follows. I don't feel that it is the responsibili...
Read more