Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge review: Precisely what you want from a summer blockbuster

It’s a good-natured romp of a film with enough action and humour to disguise its own shortcomings

Dir: Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg, 129 mins, starring: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem, David Wenham, Kaya Scodelario, Brenton Thwaites

Salazar’s Revenge is a surprisingly sprightly and enjoyable late entry in the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise. It should make just about enough money at the box office to keep its spendthrift star Johnny Depp out of debtors’ prison for a few more years yet and the likely success will no doubt spawn yet more sequels.

Norwegian directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg – hitherto best known for chronicling Thor Heyerdahl’s 1947 journey across the Pacific on a balsa wood raft in their film Kon-Tiki – use their reported $230m budget inventively enough, combining swashbuckling action, comedy and family melodrama in a generally sure-footed fashion. It helps, too, that the film, unlike some of its predecessors, has a more or less coherent screenplay.

There are lots of little sub-plots here and all the characters have different motivations. Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) wants to break the curse that keeps him apart from his father Will Turner (Orlando Bloom, seen only fleetingly), while Carina Smythe (Kaya Scodelario) is determined to prove her mettle as an astronomer.

The ghostly villain Salazar (splendidly played by Javier Bardem) is looking for revenge against Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) – and Sparrow himself is out to reclaim at least a little bit of dignity and self-respect. There’s a magical compass, a trident with special powers that can only be found on a “blood moon,” and lots of hokum about the dead “taking command of the sea”.

The playful, bawdy tone is akin to that found in Richard Lester’s old Three Musketeers films. Jack Sparrow is first spotted slumped drunk inside the vault of the Caribbean bank he is trying to rob. A woman is in there with him. “Who’s that trollop?” roars the British commander trying to thwart the robbery. “Sir, I believe she’s your wife,” his lieutenant informs him.

Sparrow’s seductive powers may be intact but he is in a very sorry state. “Face it, Jack, bad luck dogs you day and night,” the pirate is told by his own crew mates. He doesn’t even have a ship to command.

As ever, Depp plays him in louche, posturing fashion, as if he is a cross between an ageing rock star and a lecherous uncle in a 1970s British sitcom. He’s permanently sozzled. We see him face down in pig shit.

When he learns that Carina is a “horologist,” he can’t help but snigger. (He thinks it is a posh way of saying “prostitute.”) Given his venality and general hopelessness, it’s hard to understand how he has managed to provoke such wrath in Spanish commander and pirate hunter, Armando Salazar (Bardem), now one of the undead.

Bardem was one of the most memorable Bond villains in recent times and he makes a very convincing heavy in this otherwise lightweight film. With lank hair, horribly scarred face and growling voice, he is an intimidating figure. “Always leave one man alive to tell the tale,” is his motto as he and his ghostly army of the dead come after Jack, slaughtering almost everyone they encounter.

One challenge the filmmakers don’t overcome is how to combine a dark, gothic story with the playful, tongue-in-cheek elements. Midway through the movie, some zombie sharks are unleashed to hunt Sparrow down.

With their skeletal, see-through frames and huge teeth, they’re genuinely frightening creatures: the best that Hollywood technicians using CGI and memories of Jaws can build. Nonetheless, Sparrow is so preoccupied with ogling Carina that he seems hardly to notice them. The tension in the scene therefore dissipates.

The supporting cast is packed to the gunnels with character actors giving rum, eccentric and often flamboyant turns. Angus Barnett has a hint of Kenneth Williams about him as the leering, conceited but very cowardly Mullroy.

Geoffrey Rush is tremendous as the long bearded, one-legged Captain Barbossa, someone so sly and calculating that he can retain his composure and cunning even when being hung upside down.

Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani looks as if she has slipped out of an episode of Game Of Thrones as the shaven headed, tattoo-covered witch. Apparently, Paul McCartney also puts in an appearance – but he is as hard to spot as a celebrity stormtrooper in a Star Wars movie.

In the end, when all the characters converge on a mysterious island to fight over the trident, Salazar’s Revenge (aka Dead Men Tell No Tales) becomes very silly indeed. There are lots of revelations about hidden relationships between the main protagonists, old friends put in appearances and the movie begins to list and sink under the weight of its own growing mawkishness.

No-one is going to pretend that this is a masterpiece. However, for most of the running time, this delivers precisely what you want from a summer blockbuster. It’s a good natured romp of a film with enough action and humour to disguise its own shortcomings.

‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge’ hits UK cinemas 26 May