Pirates of the Caribbean Movies Ranked
Over the past couple of months, I’ve re-watched all 5 movies in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. I’ve been wanting to rank these movies for quite some time now, and finally the day has come. Here is my ranking of the 5 Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: When I first watched this movie back 5-6 years ago, I remember enjoying it enough. And having enough fun with it, but upon re-watching this movie didn’t really work for me. And I think it has some of the bigger issues of the franchise. First, I think it was a BAD decision to make Jack Sparrow the lead of this movie. In The Curse of the Black Pearl, he’s a spice character. He makes every scene he is in better, and he’s there to help Will rescue Elizabeth. But he’s not the lead, but here the story is 100% focused around Jack and it doesn’t really work. Part of what makes him a great character is not knowing a whole lot about him, and here we learn about his past through Penelope Cruz’s character. And with that, I don’t think Penelope Cruz added a lot to the movie, she was just there to help us explore Jack as a character. But I didn’t buy any of their chemistry, and I don’t think she fits this franchise in general. Also, I don’t think Blackbeard was a particularly good villain. The idea of having Blackbeard as a villain in this franchise is pretty good, Ian McShane is a good actor and he’s not the problem. The script just gives him nothing to do, or anything interesting about him. Sam Clafin’s plot line with the mermaid didn’t really work. So in general, this is one that had ideas I enjoyed. But the execution of the said ideas didn’t work. So this is my least favorite of the franchise.
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: The latest film in the franchise is the one that is there for me. It doesn’t make any big mistakes to have it in the bottom placement, but also doesn’t do anything to put it in that top 3 placements either. I like that it went back to the fun tone of the original movie, and I remember watching this movie in theaters and having a good bit of fun with this movie. I found the villain of the movie, Captain Salazar to be one of the stronger villains of the franchise. I think they gave him this interesting backstory that ties in Jack Sparrow, and fleshes out Jack as a character and gives some nice details. Of course Javier Bardem is a great actor and he can play the character well. And of course it’s a Pirates movie and the visuals and music are great. Now I think the movie follows a few too many plot beats to the original movie. Where a Turner is involved in the main story meets a girl, has to team up with Jack to stop a villain. But the villain has ties both to Turner and Jack. It feels a bit similar, the way the stories play out is different but the central idea is very different. Also, Barbosa’s plot line in this movie was fine. It didn’t detract my enjoyment of the character, but I don’t think it was needed either. So in general, a watchable movie. But not a great movie.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End: This is a tricky one for me to rank, because it does a number of things really well. But I also think I made some mistakes along the way. On the positive, the scope of this movie is massive. This is easily the most epic feeling Pirates movie, you have different factions coming together for war. It’s a great looking movie of the franchise, the third act is filled with some stunning shots of ships in the water with Jack and Davy Jones fighting on the top of a ship. And it is my favorite final battle in any of the movies. Johnny Depp, like always, is great as Jack, he’s just as fun and quotable. I think this movie had the pieces to be the best movie of the franchise, but this is also the most overstuffed movie. They have so much going on, that it can be confusing at points in time. You have Barbosa’s return, the group rescuing Jack, tension between Will and Elizabeth, the return of Davy Jones, and some much going on. That it feels like it’s hopping from plot line to plot line, it’s doing it so quickly that it’s confusing at points in time. Also, I don't think the tension between Will and Elizabeth is fully earned, and I don’t like how they are antagonists for a good portion of this movie. And I don't think they earned the final moments between Will and Elizabeth really at all. So all and all, this is the one that I’m most split on. On the one hand, it’s the best of Pirates. On the other hand, it’s one of the weaker movies. But I think this is a good movie.
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest: I think the best thing about this movie is just getting more time in this world, and more of the stuff that you liked about the original movie. You get more Jack Sparrow, exciting action, and humor all through-out the movie. Johnny Deep is just as weird and chaotic as Jack Sparrow, and he has some really funny moments in this movie. Like At World’s End this is a great looking movie in the franchise, then designed for Davy Jones, The Kraken, and everything just looks incredible and so real. And I think this movie looks better than At World’s End. In general, I like Davy Jones as a villain, he’s very mysterious and threatening. And you want to see more of him and learn more about him. And I think Bill Nighy does a very good job as this character. I think this is also a movie that opens great and ends great. The sequence with the native people with the face paint is a lot of fun and has some nice moments. The third act where you have three characters fighting on a giant wheel, it’s just a fun sequence that is very dynamic. But I think the movie definitely drags in the middle of the movie. Also, I think the 2 hour and 31 minute runtime definitely hurts the movie. Davy Jones doesn’t show up until almost an hour into the movie. So I wish they cut 15-20 minutes of the movie to tighten it up and have it move a bit longer. But besides that, this is just a very good movie in the franchise.
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: This is one of my favorite movies of all time. And I think almost everything about this movie works for me. First, I think the cast for this movie is just great. Of course, Johnny Deep’s Jack Sparrow being such a fun and quirky character that steals every scene that he is in. And this movie changed the trajectory of Deep’s career, and became this legend for a long time. But I think Jack Sparrow is such a fan favorite, everybody else in the movie gets under looked. Orlando Bloom, Kiera Knigtly, Geoffery Rush, Jack Davenport, and Jonahtan Pryce all do a very nice job. Davenport’s Norrington isn’t a villain, but he’s an antagonist and I always like those types of characters. It even has a young Zoe Saldana, before she became an a-lister. The action for this movie is handled very well, and there’s not a bad action sequence or a weak one. It’s also a super entertaining movie, it moves quickly, it’s never boring, and there is plenty of action and humor. But the main Pirates’ theme is just fantastic and one of the best movie themes of all time. And it elevates every scene that it is in. And it’s a theme that makes you feel like you are on a ship fighting Pirates. Easily, without question I think the first movie in the franchise is the best, and one of my favorite movies of all time.
There you have it, my ranking of the 5 Pirates of the Caribbean movies. What is your favorite movie of the franchise? Thanks for reading!
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