I just got back from watching the latest Mission Impossible film. While it was definitely an improvement on the latest Indiana Jones, it still struck me as a pile of absolute silliness. We had disappearing submarines, as well as magic keys which resemble crucifixes: nobody knows what the key does or what it unlocks, but it still has the power to end the world – the Christian iconography was so overt it was nauseating. We had computer programs which are intelligent and can somehow determine what truth is. It was mysteriously called The Entity, a name which to me sounds vaguely like the Lacanian notion of “Das Ding”, which in turn recalls Hitchcock’s McGuffins. And to top it all off there was  a runaway steam train. At one point it was full of passengers using modern stuff like mobile phones even though the train was still powered by steam, but they all suddenly disappear after the train falls off an exploded bridge.

I know it’s only entertainment and that you’re supposed to take it with a pinch of salt. I also realise that as a massive James Bond fan perhaps I shouldn’t be too critical, but this really was pushing the limits of what we, as viewers, can be expected to  accept. I think the bottom line is, can someone please tell me precisely when Hollywood got this absurd?