Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Jack Sparrow ain't retired. He just biding his time. After numerous production snags, Johnny Depp's swashbuckling alter-ego is back for another 3D adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. It's more of the same yarns of swashbuckling supernatural shenanigans, for better or worse.

Our favorite Captain Jack is down-and-out after he and his crew botch a bank robbery. He's so glum that he barters his magic compass for a bottle of rum. The Compass doesn't like Jack giving it up so easily and releases his greatest fear. Said greatest fear is a crew of ghostly Spanish Pirate Hunters captained by Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem).

Meanwhile, Jack runs into Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites), whose father Will (Orlando Bloom) is the cursed captain of the cursed Flying Dutchman. Henry wants Jack to help him find the Trident of Poseidon, the MacGuffin that can undo the Dutchman's curse. An astrologer and horologist, Carnia Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), has a map to the Trident. Salazar wants the Trident to enact his undead vengeance on all the Pirates of the sea. Salazar ropes Jack's frenemy Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) into service to find Jack and the Trident. And some Navy jerks want it too.

It's a convoluted plot, that's for sure. But you'll be shocked to know that it runs for just 129 minutes. The directing duo of Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg (Kon-Tiki) keep things going quickly. It almost never drags its feet. It also helps that Captain Jack's antics are still amusing as always. We also have a memorable villain in the ghostly Captain Salazar. The supporting cast is a good bunch, even if some of their characters are superfluous.

There are questions that may make or break it. I've got a few. The film says Salazar is Jack's greatest fear. But how can that be if Jack can't remember his name? Why are the Navy guys in the movie if Salazar takes them out before they even see the Trident, and therefore, not an overall threat? I must also question when this film's supposed to take place, considering the guillotine's just been invented. It's still a wonder that it's nowhere near the elephantine 168 minutes of At World's End.

Its set pieces aim to top each other in rapid succession. There's Jack's opening bank robbery, which goes from robbing a bank vault to robbing the actual bank building. There's the daring double-execution save of Jack and Carina by Henry. All of it ends with the mainly undersea battle for the Trident. Salazar and his crew are realized by creepy CGI. The undead sea creatures are just as creepy. The physical makeup equally beautifies and uglifies the cast with ease. Paul McCartney's cameo was barely recognizable because of it.

Dead Men Tell No Tales promises to be the last of Captain Jack's big-screen adventures. But there's always talk of a sequel and the end credit scene hints at a long lost character's return. What more can there be? This movie ended what At World's End "started." I'm not holding my breath for Captain Jack's return. At least we have a decent matinee on our hands to get summer moving. It's not revolutionary but it's not dreadful.