NB as previously mentioned, the focus of this blog will diverge somewhat from the original C S Lewis focus and include reflections on various things going on in contemporary society. This will include film reflections and reviews. NB Daniel Blackaby posts excellent Christian film reviews here which I recommend https://thecollision.org/
Caution: minor plot spoilers.
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning part 1 is what it says on the label-a high octane Tom Cruise actioner. If that’s what you want, you won’t dare ask for your money back! But it wasn’t the action sequences that really impacted me. Caution minor plot spoilers.
As with the recent latest (last?) episode of the Indiana Jones franchise, much was predictable. Double-crossing politicians, dangerous women (see below), guns, fights, jeopardy of various kinds, amazing ‘Q’ style spy tech etc. The camera lingered over several photogenic/iconic global scenes including the Arabian desert, Dubai (I think), Venice and the Alps.
The producers of the inevitable extended car chase pantomime seemed to have been tasked to break all records, exceed the drama of all previous film car chases, smash huge numbers of vehicles, drive down the most angular stairways, etc. It’s getting a bit dull. Honestly, one of these days someone is going to produce a spoof car chase perhaps with real pedestrian injuries set to the Benny Hill theme.
There are a few jokes in the very long car chase, and as my mate Ash remarked, one of them resembled the ‘tuk tuk’ scene in the last actioner we saw. A few scenes later, I thought to myself, ‘Oh no, not ANOTHER fight on the top of a fast moving train rolling through Alpine scenery…!’. But there you go.
The opening sequence (which I advise viewers to study carefully as it has keys (literally) to the unfolding plot) is set in a Russian submarine below the polar ice cap. It really scared me, I won’t say more other than that it introduces us to the film’s main theme, which is a rogue Artificial Intelligence (AI) programme that is set to take over the world. All major world governments want to control it in order to achieve world domination.
One scene in an airport shows the good guys using a different set of AI to hack in to the airport security camera system and scan the faces of all passengers. It’s able to change faces effectively enough to deceive pursuers. Masses of personal information can also be called up by the spooks in a few moments to match the faces. I pondered that facial recognition scanning technology is already with us whether we like it or not. OK it might be used to catch criminals and fine motorists now, but if a truly evil government came to power, the AI power already invented and deployed would give them monitoring and surveillance tools beyond the wildest dreams of Stalin, Mao, Honecker etc. And that’s before we get to The Entity (which is what they are calling the rogue AI program). Cruise’s character refers to it as ‘god’ at one stage.
Anyway. ‘it’s only a film’, right? That’s what my Mum used to say when I was scared by the Daleks when I was a kid in the 1960s. Trouble is, a heck of a lot of what was then only science fiction fantasy has come true. I remember sci fi short stories and films about AI taking over the world in a bad way-War Games and The Terminator are perhaps the best known, and of course the murderous HAL computer in 2001 a Space Odessy, not to mention ‘Deep Thought‘ in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
I recall a sci fi short story from around 50 years ago in which the world’s scientists collaborated to build a mega computer. After it was turned on, the first question they asked the Machine was ‘Is there a God?’. There was a rumble of thunder and the Computer said ‘There is now!’
Anyway, the production values, CGI and acting was as good as you would expect, just as the action sequences were as over the top as you would expect! More serious than the average summer blockbuster, in my vulgar opinion. I look forward to the dénouement, part 2.
The big theme of the film was that there were dark and powerful forces conspiring to take over the world and extinguish liberty, perhaps extinguishing most or all humans while they were at it. There wasn’t much point looking to our rulers for help, as they were either ignorant and impotent, or else in it up to their necks, whether they were bribed and compliant, duped by false promises of peace, stability and security, and some of our ruling elite were neither dupes nor hirelings but active perpetrators. Readers of this blog will recognise that the same kind of huge but hidden background threat was central to the plot of That Hideous Strength, the C S Lewis book I most often reference here.
People laugh and sneer about conspiracy theories, but, I ask, which would be the most strange-the existence of real conspiracies or their non-existence? for what is a conspiracy? It is nothing more than a plan which two or more protagonists have made which involves the lives, property, liberty and well being of one or more third parties. That’s all. I was in on a conspiracy once, it was to hold a surprise 50th birthday party for a co-worker and friend. We all knew about it and made our plans, she knew nothing about it until she arrived home from work to find 20 people in her living room and celebration food and drink. It was necessary to keep her in the dark so there would be a surprise. It was a good conspiracy, but still a conspiracy.
If anyone reading this thinks all conspiracy theories are nuts because some are, I will ask a few questions. Firstly, where is the best place to hide a pebble? Answer-on a beach. Where is the best place to hide a book? In a library, or better still one of the huge rambling used book warehouse style shops in Hay on Wye (see above-we visited Hay in May and found many gems but probably missed many more). So the best way to hid a REAL dirty and dangerous conspiracy is in among a jumble of obviously stupid conspiracy theories. Of these there are many well known daft theories with quite a few followers-chem trails, alien abduction, fake moon landings, flat earth and all the rest. People laugh at these, rightly so, and lump other conspiracies in with them that may carry some truth, maybe a lot of truth. Isn’t that what a real conspirator would want?
Some people believe that homeopathy works (it doesn’t) or that cannabis cures cancer (if it did, clinical trials would have shown this by now and it would be in use globally). Conspiracists assert that the global pharmaceutical industrial complex is sitting on all sorts of natural remedies and preventing them from being deployed as it would affect their profits ‘(sorry, their ‘obscene!’ profits. all profits are ‘obscene’ to Socialists and Greens).
Others have very grave accusations to make about the Covid vaccines. Now this is starting to get interesting, because we are beginning to touch on areas where there are genuine questions to ask and in some cases we have to say ‘I don’t know-more research needs to be done’ or ‘Maybe there is some truth in that.’ It is genuinely possible that Covid vaccines might cause harm and people shouldn’t be shouted down as ‘deniers’ because they question the official narrative. But the realities need to be established or otherwise by independent scientific investigation, not by conspiracists screaming about individual case reports OR by folks shouting ‘Conspiracist! Denier!’ at those who ask inconvenient questions. The genuine conspiracy nut always brings their world view to the problem and interprets things to fit it, so they can stay comfortable in their certainty. The honest sceptic says ‘Well, can we take a careful look at the evidence and see which way it points?’ And some folks say ‘No conspiracy, trust the government, nothing to see here, move along and do as you are told.’
But, human nature being what it is, it is inevitable that conspiracies will exist. The Mission Impossible film I have just reflected on (I wouldn’t call it a proper review) is centred on a supposed conspiracy which I find believable. Within the film are several sub plots and sequences involving arms dealing, targeted assassinations, theft, impersonation etc which are all things we know very well do happen in the real world. And there really are Deadly Russian submarines patrolling the world’s oceans and as we have seen, the Russian State has no mercy and no respect for international law, human lives, property or the environment. Maybe one reason many of us like to watch this sort of film (and the Marvel superhero fantasies) is because we know what a dangerous and uncertain world it is and we like to comfort ourselves that there is a Tom Cruise, James Bond, Indiana Jones or Thor who will save us from disaster. Sorry folks, there is only One Superhero who can save us! There is salvation in no-one else, and no other name under heaven given to man by which we must be saved.
So, a lot to think about. I am myself convinced that there are a number of conspiracies going on which are designed by various bad actors, including the Devil himself, to push society in directions that are not in my interest or yours, but it would be very hard to prove this. I’m also convinced that the presence of so many daft conspiracy theories and theorists make it much easier to hide the real conspiracies from public eye-and no accident. And sometimes things can be hidden in plain sight. Bad actors of all kinds habitually and by design tell lies and sow false trails and deploy distractions so you can’t see what they are really up to. Isn’t this obvious enough? Enough for today.
Old Hampshire C S Lewis Society 