Whether or not you're troubled by this movie's flaws depends a lot on what you're looking for. I wanted:
- a fun adventure
- ghost story elements like those in the original movie. Stuff that would make good fodder for a sailor's spooky tales
- engaging characters
- more of Jack Sparrow's hijinks
- an expanded mythology, adding to what was established in the previous movies
I got all of that, so I was fairly satisfied.
Dead Men Tell No Tales is definitely not the worst of the series, as the RT score would suggest. Maybe second worst after On Stranger Tides. I've found all of the Pirates sequels to be pretty close together in terms of quality. They all have their failings, with only the original setting itself apart as a clearly better movie with few if any odd tonal issues, character problems, or fat to trim.
I can say that Dead Men Tell No Tales generated a ton of goodwill for me with its entertaining first act, and held it in the second with charismatic characters like Salazar and Barbossa, who faltered only when their enormous personalities were stifled by plot movement.
It wasn't fun to see Barbossa as a helpless captive, and I was less than happy with his sacrifice at the end, which seemed like a predictable and unecessary attempt to give his arc an unearned note of tragic nobility. This could have worked in a movie that put Barbossa front and center from the beginning, and spent due time developing his relationship with Carina.
I thought the final act was mostly a rushed anticlimactic muddle, full of elements that weren't properly introduced or developed. The Trident of Poseidon, Carina's diary and the ruby that solves the puzzle on the island, the island itself (which somehow perfectly mirrors the night sky with loose sediment and gemstones? What?), Salazar's out-of-nowhere ability to possess a human... The whole climax was a real fumble. (Although the very end was alright.)
I didn't mind the tie-ins to previous films. It was good to see Elizabeth and Will again. I liked their reunion. I was even OK with both of the main supporting characters being children of major characters, improbable as it was for them to meet each other, and Jack, and Barbossa, etc.
Dead Men Tell No Tales actually has its fair share of the things I enjoy in this series. It's an entertaining ride. Where it fell short, it rushed to hit its plot point, or didn't capitalize on the strengths of its own characters, or failed to take the right lessons from the original. The first Pirates never tried to get around developing each important character and key element. It had a cohesive story that justified each important plot point and event, whether it was a supernatural curse, or a special relic, or a daring act from a usually well behaved character. No shortcuts, just a good character driven story that didn't overextend itself with massive stakes or sudden emotional turns with insufficient buildup.
If the series continues, Jack needs to be at least as clever as he is bumbling, like in the first movie. The villain shouldn't have a convenient personal connection to Jack. The plot shouldn't aim for world shaking stakes. The Pirates series is best when the characters are thinking on their feet, chasing a goal, or deploying their charm and wit in the midst of some sort of conflict or peril. Make it character driven, and don't take shortcuts with deus ex machinas or contrived revelations, and you've got yourself a great Pirates film.
