Cast your mind back to Gore Verbinski’s The Curse Of The Black Pearl, a wildly successful franchise-starter that sparked a cracking rivalry between Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and Captain Jack Sparrow, the eccentric, swashbuckling hero brought to life rather effortlessly by Johnny Depp.
Fast forward a decade and change and it seems that tension between Barbossa and Sparrow is still simmering beneath the surface, as the all-new action shot from Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales attests. Coming to us by way of Empire, up above you’ll see Geoffrey Rush’s mad-eyed seaman draw his sword on Sparrow for reasons unknown, though we imagine the two will find common ground to square off against the impending Salazar (Javier Bardem).
In tandem with the reveal, Empire also posted a brief quote from co-director Joachim Rønning, who considers The Curse Of The Black Pearl to be the best entry in the Pirates franchise to date.
I like all of the films in the franchise, but the first one is my first love. For me, it was important to come back to a character dynamic where it is about relatable, real people — some of the people are real, at least — then Jack Sparrow comes in and crashes the party. It was also very important to bring more comedy back in. I feel like they lost some of the humor. This is Buster Keaton on steroids.
The strife between Sparrow and Barbossa isn’t the only thing that Disney is bringing back in time for Dead Men Tell No Tales; as this morning’s international trailer confirmed, Keira Knightley’s series stalwart Elizabeth Swann also has a part to play in the maritime sequel. Hardly surprising, given that her son Henry (Brenton Thwaites) proves to be one of Sparrow’s unlikely allies once the dead have taken command of the sea.
Known as Salazar’s Revenge in the UK, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is due to sail into theaters across the globe on May 26th. For those venturing out to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on day one – and let’s face it, who isn’t? – Trailer Track reports that a five-minute preview of Dead Men Tell No Tales will screen beforehand.