Into the Fire

Okay, here we go. Dead Men Tell No Tales is a grand scale pirate film filled with lots of sword fighting and killing, a cursed ghost ship plus a quick visit to The Flying Dutchman, a female astronomer who's accused of being a witch, a real witch, William Turner's son Henry, Captain Jack Sparrow as a younger man revealing how he got his name (the likeness to Johnny's Jack Sparrow is impressive; see picture below), chases on land and sea, an enormous gallery of special effects, an excessive amount of rum, and the human side of Captain Barbossa after seeing him at his usual worst.

Captain Jack Sparrow is a washed up drunk who can't maintain his dignity or his crew, still carrying around the Black Pearl trapped in the bottle where Blackbeard put her. When the young woman accused of being a witch reveals she's searching for Poseidon's Trident from her studies of a diagramed diary left to her when she was dropped off at an orphanage, Henry (Will Turner's son) finds her and the imprisoned Captain Jack Sparrow waiting to be executed. Henry believes in her ability to lead them to the Trident which will break the curse under which his father has lived on The Flying Dutchman along with all the mythical curses of the sea. Of course this is a search Captain Jack wants to undertake figuring there must be something in it for him. So after his old crew rescues them both from the executioner at the last minute, he takes his ragtag crew and his broke down excuse for a ship and sets out to sea.

Suffice it to say it's a busy movie with lots of moving parts – literally – and subplots. It's fun and it'll take more than one viewing to capture all the intents.

So here are the two things I didn't like about the production. Number one: Captain Jack Sparrow is a full blown sloppy drunk who's willing to trade a prized possession for a bottle of rum. It isn't funny anymore at that point as alcoholism never is. Fortunately he sobers up.

Two: you must remain seated through the extensive credits to see the surprise scene at the end. You might recall there was an "Easter egg" enclosed at the end of one of the other POTC films – I think it was the third one. This one is a touching scene, and, okay, yes, I felt the tears and had to discretely dab at my eyes. I'm a sap – can't help it. Those tears were quickly extinguished at the harsh reaction by Captain Jack and it ruined the moment. I've never liked it when the writers chose to make him a bad guy as they did in the second or third version.

Big surprise I didn't know about until the credits: Paul McCartney plays Jack's "Uncle Jack" in a cameo.

Other than the two unlikable occurrences, it was a rip-roaring pirate adventure and well worth the price of admission. I will be seeing it again.

Will there be more of these movies? Jerry Bruckheimer has said he'd love to do more if he can get Johnny on board and other cast members. One thing we've learned from past episodes: even when a semi-primary character is killed off, they can always come back. So there's that . . . but then Dead Men Tell No Tales.  

Father, you know my heart, you've heard my endless prayers. Please save souls. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.