Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: May 26, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
39
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 45 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
21
Negative:
13
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Total FilmJames MottramMay 22, 2017
The pacing is spot-on, the set-pieces memorable and all the characters are allowed to shine, without it ever becoming The Johnny Depp Show. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 23, 2017
"Dead Men” works well enough as a stand-alone, swashbuckling comedic spectacle, thanks to the terrific performances, some ingenious practical effects, impressive CGI and a steady diet of PG-13 dialogue peppered with not particularly sophisticated but (I have to admit) fairly funny sexual innuendo. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittMay 22, 2017
Johnny Depp’s drunken Captain Jack Sparrow stumbles into yet another seafaring adventure, which has its rocky moments but also offers an engaging tale with family legacies, above-average swashbuckling and a fantastic new villain courtesy of Javier Bardem Read full review
70
Paste MagazineOktay Ege Kozak May 25, 2017
Dead Men Tell No Tales doesn’t rewrite the rulebook for the franchise or the genre as a whole, and is wholly predictable from start to finish, but the likable characters—Thwaites and Scodelario have more natural presence and mutual chemistry than Bloom and Knightley—creative action set pieces, and Depp finally being put in his place in the franchise creates a fun ride that’s instantly forgettable. You know, like the ride itself. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMay 27, 2017
Directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg work up a stormy sea-parting finale that is better than anything in “The Ten Commandments.” Again, the trick to enjoying this film is to expect nothing. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattMay 22, 2017
What we get is the usual mash of swashbuckling nonsense and soggy mythology: There will be romance, and revelations, and some silly gold-plated cameos (hello there, Sir Paul McCartney! And whoops, goodbye). Through it all, Norwegian duo Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg (the Oscar-nominated Kon-Tiki) feel less like directors than shepherds. Read full review
67
IndieWireMichael NordineMay 22, 2017
Kon-Tiki directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg are at the helm this time around, proving capable captains even if the script they’re working from isn’t always seaworthy. Read full review
65
TheWrapRobert AbeleMay 22, 2017
The fifth entry, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, is the most divertingly enjoyable since the first. A professionally crafted brew of action, slapstick and supernatural mumbo-jumbo, it’s less likely to spur timepiece glances than did the last few bloated installments. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 25, 2017
It’s fast paced but goes nowhere new and the film’s “bigness” makes it hard to remember what an amazingly unexpected treasure The Curse of the Black Pearl was. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyMay 24, 2017
Much as Bardem enlivens things, the real source of zip is Kaya Scodelario (“Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials”). Charming and spirited, she’s Daisy Ridley dialed up a notch. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 24, 2017
Kon Tiki directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg strike just the right tone, and found just enough heart left in this tattered tale. Read full review
60
IGNJim VejvodaJun 1, 2017
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales manages to be less bloated, dreary, and meandering than the last three entries have been, but it still suffers from many of the same wearisome, dredged-up villains and ho-hum action and comedy that have bedeviled the franchise since its second installment. Read full review
60
SlateJeffrey BloomerMay 25, 2017
I found Dead Men Tell No Tales to be passably fun and certainly no harder to watch than any of the better-pedigreed blockbusters this year. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 22, 2017
The gonzo-Wagnerian backstory the franchise subsequently built up hasn’t been sufficiently pruned – and with so many characters to juggle, the story feels less like a coherent chain of events than a bundle of obligatory subplots. Read full review
60
CineVueJamie NeishMay 22, 2017
It's hardly original nor necessary, but it's a fun and absorbing escapade on the Seven Seas. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyMay 23, 2017
Waste enough of the audience’s time with the adventures of a couple of uncharismatic dinguses, and Depp’s stage-drunk, innuendo-laced, cabaret-emcee shtick starts to creep back into being funny. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorMay 25, 2017
The most engaging performance is Javier Bardem’s solidly nasty Captain Salazar, the undead commander of a ghost ship. His disintegrating skin and holey crew are fabulously rendered as evaporating digitizations: It’s the special effects and swelling action sequences that make the movie palatable. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonMay 25, 2017
The franchise has sadly devolved into a cynical cash grab. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaMay 25, 2017
Those who go to see “Dead Men Don’t Tell Tales” might just recognize that hollow feeling as they leave the theater. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 25, 2017
Loud, overstimulating and hard to take in all in one sitting, it feels like the vacation that you’ll need a vacation from. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMay 25, 2017
Calling Dead Men Tell No Tales the most entertaining Pirates of the Caribbean movie since the original is a backhanded compliment with all the bilge water under the bridge since then. Time to deep six Capt. Jack Sparrow. This franchise should tell no more tales. Read full review
50
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMay 23, 2017
The proportions of good parts to not are more generous than they’ve been in years, though there’s still much too much of the usual undead sea dogs killing their prisoners and rumbling on about curses. Read full review
50
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoMay 22, 2017
Dead men may tell no tales, but with Disney's latest Pirates sequel, I'm not convinced that living men can tell tales with any more intrigue. Read full review
42
The Film StageChelsey GrassoMay 22, 2017
As the coldly calculated Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales proves, it is time to let this series rest in peace, or at the very least, spend the rest of its doomed, immortal days sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshMay 25, 2017
There are no new treasures to be found in this installment, which is dragged down by the anchor of a prescribed franchise blueprint. Read full review
40
VoxEmily VanDerWerffMay 25, 2017
Dead Men Tell No Tales tries to serve far too many masters with its story. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 24, 2017
This movie is exhausting. Read full review
40
EmpireDan JolinMay 22, 2017
Not the return to form you might have been hoping for. Its story might cover all the same beats as the 2003 original, but there’s little of that film’s spark or spirit. Read full review
40
VarietyAndrew BarkerMay 22, 2017
The franchise has lost a bit of its luster with every successive installment, but never has a “Pirates” film felt this inessential, this depressingly pro forma. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMay 22, 2017
Scodelario, of the Maze Runner films and Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights, is just about the only member of the cast who seems to believe she's expected to be more than a thin generic functionary or flamboyant scene-stealer. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonEllie Walker-ArnottMay 22, 2017
Unfortunately for everyone, Captain Jack Sparrow is still slurring and staggering around the Caribbean. Whatever charm and charisma Johnny Depp once had in this role is well and truly lost at sea. Read full review
40
The GuardianMike McCahillMay 22, 2017
Dead Men Tell No Tales moves at a faster rate of knots than any Pirates film; trouble is, nothing has really been added. It’s the same soggy ride, set to a marginally preferable speed. Read full review
38
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldMay 25, 2017
Directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg (“Kon-Tiki”) seem to not have the slightest idea how to make this material sing; instead, it’s mostly a noisy, dark 3D blur in which the characters run around a lot, seemingly looking for the exits Read full review
33
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezMay 22, 2017
The film is not unlike a classic rock supergroup reuniting to play all the greatest hits, with the payday at the end as the only true motivation, rather than returning with something new to say about their work. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMay 25, 2017
It’s stuffed to the gills with effects executed by the highest-paid artists and technicians in the business. But it’s still a sorry spectacle. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovMay 24, 2017
This ship has sailed, sank, and not to put too fine a bowsprit on it, sucks. Read full review
30
ScreenCrushMatt SingerMay 22, 2017
Dead Men Tell No Tales is the sort of sequel that’s so bad it makes you retroactively wonder why you liked the original film so much in the first place. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 24, 2017
Bloated, boring, repetitive, draining. Read full review
25
New York PostSara StewartMay 24, 2017
It’s a little less cute these days to watch his Jack Sparrow swish about drunkenly, knowing the actor’s an abusive lush. Equally wearisome is the spectacle of a once-entertaining franchise staggering around, devoid of purpose. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 24, 2017
“Dead Men” is a jumble of half-baked impulses. Read full review
20
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMay 25, 2017
Its pleasures are so meager, its delight in its own inventions so forced and false, that it becomes almost the perfect opposite of entertainment. Read full review
20
Screen DailyJohn HazeltonMay 22, 2017
Screenwriter Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can), taking over from series regulars Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, doesn’t make much sense out of the typically (for the franchise) convoluted plot, but does manage to bring out a father-child theme that lends the film a little emotional resonance. Read full review
16
ConsequenceBlake GobleMay 24, 2017
There’s no voice, no style, and no real intrigue on hand. It’s all a slow sail to the next outsized setpiece. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineJake ColeMay 24, 2017
Johnny Depp’s perfunctory gestures and flailing pratfalls befit a film that brings the franchise’s theme-park roots full circle. Read full review
0
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMay 25, 2017
This movie is truly unhinged — not crazed, which might be interesting, but devoid of the usual hinges that connect one sequence with another. Read full review
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