Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

The 2017 entry from Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg is among the most expensive films ever made, with a budget quoted between two hundred and thirty and three hundred and twenty million dollars. It took close to seven hundred and ninety-six million worldwide, yet posted the lowest North American total of the franchise. All of it was shot in the Australian state of Queensland, which the government secured with twenty million dollars in incentives. The Caribbean here is a built geography, and anyone who liked the location variety of the earlier films will notice how alike the backdrops look. The second thing is how the horror was made. Javier Bardem sat three hours a day for Salazar’s makeup, but the undead crew’s missing limbs and their floating hair and clothing were added by computer over the footage shot on set. What you see is a hybrid, not a practical effect. The young Jack Sparrow was played by Anthony De La Torre with a digital replica of Depp’s early 1990s face laid over him, which turns the flashback into an effects demonstration more than a performance. The old man in the prison scene is Paul McCartney, the character named after his own uncle. Not for you if you want practical effects, or an ending that closes.