‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’
Directed by Joachim Ronning, Espen Sandberg
Starring Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario
Rated PG-13
The fifth installment of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie franchise isn’t so much a bad movie as a repetitive one.
The grandeur of seeing the old wooden ships has worn off, the humor of Captain Jack Sparrow’s drunken antics is wearing thin and even the monstrous villains are becoming old hat.
“Dead Men Tell No Tales” does a bit of a refresh, bringing in two youngsters — Brenton Thwaites’ Henry Turner and Kaya Scodelario’s Carina Smyth.
Turner should be a familiar surname — he’s the son of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, the couple played by Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley in previous movies.
Henry is looking for a way to save his father from his deep sea fate, being stuck as captain of the submerged Flying Dutchman. (If you want to catch up, watch the third movie, “At World’s End.”)
The only way Henry can think to save dear old dad is by finding the mythical Trident of Poseidon.
Carina joins Henry and Jack (Johnny Depp, doing his thing) on this quest. Carina is interested in being treated equally, despite getting brandished a witch because she’s into science.
Of course, you’ll also see old “Pirates” cast favorites Captain Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush, always a joy to watch) and Gibbs (Kevin McNally).
Hindering this quest is a group of ghostly, tattered sailors lead by Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem, generically evil), who, of course, are tied back to Jack.
Visually, the film looks great, with some sinister locations, and it’s always cool to see these ships in action. Salazar’s ship, in particular, is a feat of special effects, almost acting like a giant sea monster.
The new directing team of Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg — who previously worked together on another seafaring film, “Kon-Tiki” — and screenwriter Jeff Nathanson kept the movie moving and thankfully didn’t allow the run time to bloat like some of the previous installments did. (“At World’s End” clocked in at 169 minutes — 40 minutes longer than this movie.)
But if you’ve seen the previous 599 or so minutes of “Pirates” movies, you’ve seen them all.
You’ll have some swashbuckling, jokes about Jack’s freewheeling behavior — he likes rum, did you know that? — lots of cannon fire and some kind of mystical touch, be it sea monsters or barnacle-faced creepers.
Nothing much changes in these films, and that’s kind of the issue with “Dead Men Tell No Tales.”
There’s a scene early on in an island town where the pirates are robbing a safe.
It’s a spectacular visual — I won’t spoil the surprise — but it’s impressive and fun to watch, but interspersed with that action piece is the same old punch lines from Jack, the same shtick he’s been doing for 14 years.
And the Trident of Poseidon itself is a McGuffin of the highest order.
If you’re building a film around a magic gewgaw that can save the world just by existing, perhaps it’s time to go back to the drawing board, or, I suppose, to walk the plank.
