Years ago when I was old enough to know better but young enough to do it anyway, I watched Mel Gibson as the Road Warrior in the first three Mad Maxx films. I don't remember anymore whether I saw them on video, or HBO, or what -- but I wouldn't see them again. In some sense there was something powerful there, and even in that role in that depressing milieu Gibson was a very likeable screen presence, easy to identify with. But I can't say I was particularly blessed by the movies. That kind of graphic violence stirs things in me that don't need to be stirred. I saw one of the Lethal Weapon movies on an airplane a few years ago, the third one I think. Again, Gibson's character was very likeable despite his vulgarity (lots of censoring on the airplaine version) and antisocial behavior. If this is what our heroes have become, no wonder the makers of the Lord of The Rings movies couldn't present Tolkien's characters in Tolkien's way. They couldn't even comprehend them. I considered seeing Signs when it was out, mostly so I could discuss it with a couple of young guys who saw it, but didn't get around to going. It's funny that my sons sometimes see movies like that and then give me a critique as though thinking I need to be sheltered from seeing it myself. I expect many of us will someday come to regret many of the things we have seen. I do. The images are a permanent part of the psyche.

Gibson has said in interviews that the "passion" accounts in the gospels have powerfully impacted him when he was spiritually adrift (paraphrasing). It will be interesting to see where that has taken him, and I may go to see the movie when it comes out.

• "The Passion" as Urban Legend