Pirate movies are one of those ideas that should be huge in theory but are actually rather disappointing in execution. For most of the second half of the 20th century, few swashbuckling movies made a dent with audiences, and some infamous failures like Cutthroat Island all but sank the genre to the depths of the cinematic ocean. Then, in 2003, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl came out and revitalized the genre for the next decade or so.
The film was a certified hit that proved pirates could still sell movie tickets, and there was indeed room for some weirdness in mainstream filmmaking. It spawned a highly successful franchise, including three movies that practically defined blockbuster cinema in the 2000s, and two subsequent efforts that undid all the goodwill its predecessors had achieved. But which Pirates of the Caribbean movie is the best? Nostalgia will certainly play a significant part in this ranking, but there should be a consensus on which the best and worst entries are. We might all love the first three movies, but we can also tell when the franchise started going downhill and why.
5
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’ (2017)
Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is the latest entry into the franchise as of 2026. The plot sees a down-on-his-luck Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) on a race to get the Trident of Poseidon while pursued by the ghostly Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem), who recently escaped from the Devil’s Triangle alongside his crew. Joining Sparrow on his quest are Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), an astronomer accused of being a witch, and Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites), the son of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), who seeks a way to break his father’s curse.
There are very few redeeming qualities to Dead Men Tell No Tales. There’s some witty humor, Bardem brings a ton of panache to what is otherwise a very simple role, and a few action set pieces manage to impress — at the very least, the franchise remained explosive until the very end. However, everything else is terribly tiresome: the love story between Henry and Carina is as bland as plain oatmeal, and the plot is somehow an uninspired retread of the franchise’s previous stories and an overly convoluted mess of ideas, none of which ever amount to anything coherent. Worst of all is Johnny Depp’s buffoonish, exhausting performance as Sparrow; what was once a wildly original and unpredictable character becomes a proper mockery of itself, a joke without a punchline. By this point, it was clear the franchise was way past its prime, and the box office reflected that, with the film becoming the lowest-grossing entry since the 2003 original. Talks of a sixth film are still ongoing, but judging by this last entry, the Pirates saga is best left at the bottom of the sea.
4
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’ (2011)
Penelope Cruz and Al Pacino in Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger TidesImage via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is the fourth film in the saga, and the first attempt to start a new story away from the overarching narrative of the original trilogy. Here, Sparrow encounters an old fling from his past, Angelica (Penélope Cruz), and the two board the legendary Blackbeard’s (Ian McShane) ship in search of the Fountain of Youth. Meanwhile, Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), now a privateer in command of the HMS Providence, is also in search of the Fountain, putting him into conflict with Sparrow once again.
On Stranger Tides is all noise, no substance. Depp’s performance isn’t as exhausting as it is in the follow-up, but Sparrow was already starting to wear out his welcome. His romance with Cruz’s Angelica is nothing particularly special, even though the chemistry is actually strong. McShane and Rush are just going through the motions, putting little to no pizzaz into their performances, and the supporting cast is not much better (there’s a Judi Dench cameo that’s pretty fun, though). As for the plot, it’s more contrived than ever, only coming across as sillier considering how unambitious it is. Overall, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a completely forgettable movie, the equivalent of children playing with wooden ships, clashing them against each other and accompanying the action with louds “Booms” and “Bangs.”
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
3
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’ (2007)
The conclusion of the original trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is a strong contender for the defining movie event of the 2000s. Picking up where its predecessor left off, the film sees a crew of pirates, including Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, and Barbossa, heading towards Davy Jones’ Locker to rescue Jack Sparrow. Meanwhile, Davy Jones (Billy Nighy) himself is under the control of Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), wreaking havoc across the seven seas. The pirates prepare to gather the Brethren Court and launch one final stand against the East India Trading Company to secure the future of pirates and their way of life.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is far from a perfect movie; in fact, it’s terribly flawed. The plot is needlessly convoluted and makes little to no sense, trying to do too many things at once and failing to provide a satisfying payoff to most of its narrative points. The movie also lags in the middle, to the point where you might start to wonder what you’re watching. However, the climax is so exhilarating that it almost makes up for the larger missteps—almost being the keyword. The climactic battle aboard the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman is one of the most thrilling sequences in Disney history, enhanced by incredible visual effects and Hans Zimmer‘s thunderous score. It has many moving parts, too many things happening at once, but the sheer spectacle of it all is more than enough to fully immerse you in the action. Davy Jones’ tragic ending and the conclusion to Will’s story with his father, Bootstrap Bill (Stellan Skarsgård), further elevate the ending and the film overall.
2
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’ (2003)
Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley look in the same direction as soldiers in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
As previously mentioned, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl started it all. The plot centers on blacksmith Will Turner, who joins forces with the eccentric but surprisingly capable Captain Jack Sparrow to rescue Elizabeth Swann, the governor’s daughter who has been kidnapped by a band of pirates. As it turns out, the pirates, led by Captain Barbossa, are actually an undead crew looking to break their curse by reuniting the pieces of the cursed Aztec treasure behind their misery.
Hardly anyone expected anything from a movie based on a theme park attraction, which is why The Curse of the Black Pearl was such a pleasant surprise. The film is quirky, delightful, and action-packed, featuring a near-perfect balance of humor and thrilling action, the likes of which we seldom see anymore. The romance story between Will and Elizabeth is charming and perfectly utilized, bolstered by the strong chemistry between Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom. For his part, Rush is having the time of his life as the undead Barbossa, a villain equal parts compelling and off-putting. The highlight of the movie, however, is Depp’s Oscar-nominated performance as Jack Sparrow, a truly original creation unlike anything fans had seen before. Sparrow was like a breath of fresh air, a complete subversion of what people expected a pirate to look and sound like. Over twenty years later, The Curse of the Black Pearl is still a perfect adventure movie and the peak of the swashbuckling genre.
1
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’ (2006)
Davy Jones plays the organ in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s ChestImage via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
The Curse of the Black Pearl is pretty perfect as a standalone adventure, but the film that truly represents the franchise at its best and most ambitious is Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Picking up a year after its predecessor, the film sees Jack Sparrow hunted by the ruthless Davy Jones, the captain of the Flying Dutchman, to whom he owes a blood debt. Meanwhile, the wedding of Will and Elizabeth is interrupted by Lord Cutler Beckett, who arrests the latter while forcing the former to locate Sparrow’s magic compass, meaning to use it to locate the legendary Dead Man’s Chest.
Dead Man’s Chest features a lot of the franchise’s overall flaws: it’s overly long, needlessly convoluted, messy, and bombastic. Yet, it’s also ambitious, unrestrained, bold, and creative, a larger-than-life effort that perfectly encapsulates the true meaning of cinematic spectacle. The main trio is in fine shape, and the unexpected flirtation between Elizabeth and Jack is a welcome change. However, it’s Davy Jones who’s the real star of this show. Played by an Oscar-worthy Bill Nighy, Davy Jones is among the best cinematic villains of the noughties and a strong contender for the best and most original character of the decade as a whole. Visually, Jones is striking and incredibly realistic, marking a new peak of visual effects that has rarely been matched, let alone surpassed. In terms of performance, Nighy devours the scenery whole, actors and all, becoming a literal acting kraken. The result is an incredible, timeless villain in an incredible, timeless movie. Is it flawless? No. But Dead Man’s Chest is the best Pirates of the Caribbean movie, the epitome of everything the franchise ever hoped to be.
