Johnny Depp and crew are back
as Captain Jack Sparrow and a bunch of bafflingly yet inextricably linked
seafaring types in the newest installment of Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer's Pirates franchise. Looks like Jack
Sparrow ran afoul of a Spanish captain named Salazar (a wonderfully spooky
Javier Bardem) some years ago and, as is the style of these films, that means
supernatural curses for some reason and more acrobatic adventure for the likes
of the formerly-also-cursed Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), Henry Turner (the son of
Orlando Bloom's Will Turner from previous films as played by the incredibly
conventionally handsome Brenton Thwaites from Gods of Egypt) and a brilliant if brash young scientist named
Carina (The Maze Runner's Kaya
Scodelario).
Young Henry wants to save his
dad from service on the ghost ship Flying Dutchman, but he'll need the fabled
trident of Poseidon's to do so. According to legend, anyone who's got that
thing is basically the king of the sea. The only catch is that to get that bad
boy he'll need a "map no man can read." Good thing Carina is a woman (and also
conveniently has the map), so they join Jack Sparrow to get that danged
artifact while Salazar nips at their heels totally ready to kill everyone cause
he straight crazy.
Whereas the series took a
bizarre turn many films ago and chooses to favor ghosts and stuff over good
old-fashioned pirating, Dead Men
isn't as bad as you'd think. This isn't to say it's great by any means—more
like you'll probably never find yourself bored. Depp is … fine as Sparrow, but
we've of course grown accustomed to his Keith Richards-y bumbling and damn-near-unbelievable
ability to piss off every fucking ghost and curse victim throughout the Seven
Seas. Bardem is brilliant as always and actually provides a fun villain, it's
just that everything else is fairly predictable at this point. Paul McCartney's
cameo, however, is a pure delight, and we would have watched a whole movie just
with him being a goofball. Still, pirates get stabbed, and what else are you
doing?
6
+ Ghost pirates!
- Ghost pirates…
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Directed by Joachim
Rønning and Espen Sandberg
With Depp, Rush, Bardem, Thwaites and Scodelario
Regal, Violet Crown, PG-13, 129 min.
Santa Fe Reporter