Adding to the dilemma of the state of their world is a fallen system. The roiling seas were a common image for the political powers of the day—in this case, the British Empire under the guise of the East India Company. Their colonialist mentality is a conquest mentality that works by making other cultures, other ways of life, less than human—debasing “the other” while exalting “their own.”

“I can set you free, mate.” –Jack

Intoning that “the song has been sung,” various signs, portents, and prophecies point to the return of the one who can solve all of their problems: Captain Jack. His resurrection, having died for the “sins of others” in the previous Pirates of the Caribbean installment, takes a bit of work. Trapped in a place of eternal punishment, a Sisyphean sequence that goes on a bit too long in the movie, the crew comes to let him know that it is time for his return. The world needs him back as much as he needs his crew, his brand of disciples, or his Brethren Court, his brand of a church, a motley lot most times true only to their own agendas.

“What is it you want most?” –Davy Jones

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). We don’t trust freedom and we certainly aren’t comfortable with this whole idea of liberation. Too many people want to be told, they want the black and white system of rules and hate (or at least distrust) anything that smacks of gray. Freedom goes against our sense of control, and ultimately, that’s what the extra rules that make up our walk boil down to. Pirates stand for freedom, for standing outside and against how the Empire says we should live.

A gospel of freedom speaks to the disinherited, the poor, the disenfranchised, the oppression of the weak by the powerful. This gospel would also be an offense to the rich and powerful. It’s the death of their ideas of wealth and power, those priorities. Bring new life to men, the scales of their old ways, their old, self-serving mission, falling from them as they get redeemed bodies. No longer bound to their old way of doing life.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End may be the last entry in the successful (and critic-proof) franchise, a wonderful spectacle that can entrance you with the richness of its details (like watching Davy Jones tentacles every time he was on screen). One can’t help but think the spectacle and sight gags are meant to distract you from the fact that not much is really going on. Its dense, convoluted plot tries to do too much, the charms of the movie buried under layers of poor storytelling and unclear characterizations. For all of the action they manage to squeeze in, there is a sense of too little swash and too much buckling.