Film reviews: Pirates Of The Caribbean, Interlude In Prague and more

But I bet he had no idea he was about to coin a new phrase. Four decades later, “jumping the shark” is widely used to describe the moment a hit series goes spectacularly off the rails. 

Did Winkler’s acrobatics flash through Johnny Depp’s mind when he read the script for the fifth film in Disney’s Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise?

After Jack Sparrow’s last lacklustre adventure, he must have known his biggest money-spinner was beginning to take on water. Now his sozzled pirate was about to stumble across a school of zombie sharks.

Yet somehow, the scene works. Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge has its rocky moments, but its outlandish action-sequences keep it afloat.

Directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg – the Norwegian duo whose seafaring adventure Kon-Tiki was nominated for a foreign-language Oscar – keep things moving at a fair rate of knots. 

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge (12A, 137 mins)

Directors: Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg

Stars: Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario

They reintroduce us to a rum-addled Sparrow as he wakes up inside a giant safe at the grand opening of a colonial bank.

“Could someone explain why I’m here?”, he asks a group of shocked dignitaries. 

As his cronies tow bleary-eyed Jack and the entire building through St Martin’s streets (this could be cinema’s most literal bank robbery), Depp’s purpose becomes clear. 

Before we get to the undead sharks (they’re surprisingly lively), the actor gets another chance to show off his well-honed slapstick in an ingenious sequence involving a spinning guillotine. These set-pieces are as thrilling as anything in the previous four instalments but the Norwegians’ slickest move was to plot a course away from the events of the last film. 

Instead of building on the bewildering mythology of On Stranger Tides, they have turned back the clock to 2003 and the series’ first and best film The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Once again, Sparrow teams up with two plucky youngsters. A prologue introduces us to Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites), a handsome young sailor who is seeking a way to break the curse that has left his dad Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) stranded on a sunken ship. Apparently, the mythical Trident Of Poseidon and Jack Sparrow offer a way to bring Bloom’s career back to life.

Soon they’re joined by Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), a feisty astronomer who is on the run from the British after being accused of witchcraft.

As the pair are very similar to those played by Bloom and Keira Knightley in the earlier films, comparisons are unavoidable. Thwaites turns out to be a perfectly serviceable hunk but it’s Scodelario who provides the ballast. If this series is to have a future, I suspect she’ll have to take the wheel in the next instalment.

There’s also a sense of deja vu about the new villain – Capitán Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem) – a ghostly Spanish Naval commander who has been seeking vengeance ever since a young Sparrow blew up his galleon. 

Salazar’s spooky shipmates are a little too similar to the ghostly crew in the second film  but great work from Bardem and impressive CGI combine to chilling effect.

We also get a smattering of salty lines and a surprisingly uncringewothy cameo from Sir Paul McCartney, who pops up to offer advice as Jack awaits execution: “If it’s a disembowelling ask for Victor, he’s got the softest hands,” smiles Jack’s kindly Scouse uncle.

Sadly, the clever Norwegians don’t manage to exorcise all the ghosts of the previous sequels. References to Jack’s mystical compass, his magical shrunken ship and the barnacle-encrusted Flying Dutchman had me wracking my ailing memory cells. And when Geoffrey Rush’s Barbarossa and David Wenham’s British captain join the fray, the film begins to creak under the weight of its own cast list.

After the guillotine scene and the heist, the CGI-heavy finale feels a little underwhelming but this franchise hasn’t jumped the zombie shark yet.

Interlude In Prague (15, 103 mins)

Director: John Stephenson

Stars: Aneurin Barnard, James Purefoy, Samantha Barks, Morfydd Clark

After Amadeus swept the board at the 1985 Oscars, no film-maker has been foolish enough to attempt another Mozart biopic. 

To avoid unflattering comparisons, John Stephenson has taken inspiration from another Oscar-winner for his take on the composer. Like Shakespeare In Love, Interlude In Prague inserts a fictitious story into real events in the life of the artist. 

The superstar maestro (Aneurin Barnard) is in the Hasburgs’ capital, Vienna, to write a daring new opera called Don Giovanni. He is there under the invitation and patronage of the wealthy Baron Salok (James Purefoy). As the score plunges an octave whenever he appears, we’ve never in any doubt about his dastardly intentions.

“Never be alone with him,” one soprano warns another. So perhaps the married Mozart should have known better than to start an affair with his fiancée Zuzanna (Morfydd Clark).

The costumes are gorgeous, it’s nicely shot and the operatic scenes are beautifully staged. The only bum note is the romance. 

I found Mozart, who has left his grieving wife in Vienna, impossible to root for and despite the musical cues, I’m was never convinced that Salok was the only villain of the piece.

VERDICT: 3/5

Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (U, 110 mins)

Director: David Bowers

Stars: Jason Drucker, Charlie Wright, Tom Everett Scott, Alicia Silverstone

You might think women get a rough deal in Hollywood but spare a thought for the plight of its child actors. After sterling work in the last three adaptations of Jeff Kinney’s hugely popular pre-teen novels, Zachary Gordon (now 19) and Devon Bostick (now 25) have been thrown onto the scrapheap.

Thankfully, Jason Drucker and Charlie Wright have the charm as well the looks to play hapless Greg and his dimwitted rocker brother Roderick.

Sadly, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul isn’t the strongest in the series. While the original Wimpy Kid focussed on Greg’s very relatable challenges on his first days at big school, this one delivers broad laughs.

Still, there’s plenty of innocent fun for youngsters to enjoy as Greg leaves a carnival with a baby pig, dyes himself orange in a hot tub and becomes an accidental YouTube sensation.

VERDICT: 3/5