No Gold in Pirates 4

The latest Pirates of the Caribbean is more of the same, and it’s getting stale—but Captain Jack Sparrow remains somewhat compelling, critics say.

• It’s “exactly like what you'd expect: overlong (two hours and 20 minutes), overstuffed (with at least four separate beats that could count as endings), and extremely loud,” writes Dana Stevens in Slate. Plus, “I liked these movies better when you thought Capt. Jack Sparrow was gay.”

• Johnny Depp “shows admirable professionalism in a project that often seems more like a rock-band reunion tour than a blockbuster movie sequel,” notes AO Scott in the New York Times.
• The movie is “long, expensive, and bombastic,” and Depp and Penelope Cruz “are so over the top, they function as their own supporting characters,” writes Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times.
• Depp, observes Betsy Sharkey in the Los Angeles Times, “somehow manages to keep this ship of fools afloat. But just barely."

(More Pirates of the Caribbean stories.)