Mission: Impossible II Reviews

"Mr. Hunt, this isn't mission difficult, it's mission impossible. "Difficult" should be a walk in the park for you."

With Hong Kong action filmmaker extraordinaire John Woo at the helm, Mission: Impossible II is a radical change of pace from its 1996 predecessor. Rather than a densely-plotted spy thriller, M:I-2 is a bit more straightforward, retaining the espionage business whilst letting Woo engage in his favourite past-time: staging elaborate bullet ballets. M:I-2 is undoubtedly the black sheep of the Mission: Impossible series, yet it's nowhere near as awful or unwatchable as its harshest critics contend. Certainly, it is subpar if perceived as an adaptation of the 1960s TV show, but as a standalone action movie, it does have its merits, hollow though it may be.

The Biocyte Pharmaceutical Corporation has developed a deadly new virus known as Chimera, which has the ability to kill infected hosts twenty hours after exposure. Russian bio-chemical expert Dr. Vladimir Nekhorvich (Rade Serbedzija) wishes to deliver the lethal pathogen to the IMF (Impossible Missions Force), but the package is intercepted in transit by rogue agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), who hopes to unleash the virus on the public and make a fortune by manufacturing the antidote. The IMF assigns Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) to uncover the extent of Ambrose's scheme and prevent him from achieving his goals. For assistance, Hunt calls upon old friend Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Australian pilot Billy Baird (John Polson). Added to this, Hunt is forced to recruit Ambrose's ex-girlfriend Nyah (Thandie Newton) to spy and provide intelligence back to the IMF.

Woo's original cut of M:I-2 reportedly clocked in at a mammoth three-and-a-half hours, but the studio balked at such a length. Extensive editing was therefore conducted to reduce the runtime to a more serviceable two hours, and the final product does bear the earmarks of a longer film that was truncated in the editing room, as various transitions do feel rushed and awkward. The screenplay, penned by Robert Towne (Chinatown), does bear several narrative similarities to Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious, though there isn't a great deal of complexity or intelligence here. Surprisingly, the first hour or so of M:I-2 is dedicated to set up, espionage and exposition; there is practically no action until about the seventy-minute mark when Woo is finally permitted to cut loose and orchestrate plenty of pulse-pounding action sequences. It's undeniable that the movie is less successful in its early stages, with so-so pacing and storytelling, but the effort to do something more than pure action is appreciated nevertheless.

Whereas most movie franchises maintain a similar tone and aesthetic throughout each entry, the Mission: Impossible series is a different beast, recruiting a new director for each instalment, and wildly changing up the formula. M:I-2 is a John Woo action movie first and foremost, with the foreign filmmaker being called upon to put his indelible cinematic stamp on the material. There are plenty of firearms here, on top of slow-motion shots, doves taking flight, a pulse-pounding, rock-oriented soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, and even some impressively-choreographed fisticuffs. It's all standard-order stuff with extended shootouts and some vehicular mayhem, but Woo's style does elevate the material above the ordinary. As long as you can excuse the silliness of the entire enterprise, M:I-2 is an enormously entertaining sit. A number of action beats do feel neutered, however - the picture was originally rated R, but the violence was reportedly trimmed considerably. The action sequences in Brian De Palma's original movie were fine within the constraints of a PG-13 rating, but it's undeniable that Woo's bullet ballets would have been more enjoyable and coherent with the freedom of an R rating.

The portrayal of Hunt here is vastly different compared to the first film. For this second instalment, Cruise plays a charismatic, highly-capable killing machine; a cartoon with an itchy trigger finger. In short, he's a stock action hero. There isn't much emotional or dramatic depth to the role, with the trademark love tangent failing to take flight in any significant way. Still, Cruise definitely puts his best foot forward here, coming across as believable in the role. Cruise is surrounded by a decent supporting cast, with Scott doing fine as the villain, while Newton doesn't make much of an impact as Nyah. More successful are Hunt's under-utilised colleagues; Rhames is an amusing treat reprising his role of Luther, while Polson adds plenty of colour to the proceedings. Anthony Hopkins is even present here, giving a bit of gravitas to his small, uncredited role as Hunt's mission commander.

Mission: Impossible II lacks the smarts of the first movie, and it is definitely the weakest of the M:I movies to date, but one cannot help but be thrilled by the chutzpah of Woo's action scenes; they definitely ensure that the feature is worth a look. Indeed, once the movie kicks into high gear and that iconic theme kicks in, it's a total gas.

6.6/10

Mission Impossible 2 is a very difficult film to review, because for the most part, it's let down by a single issue: it's unspeakably boring. It seems that director John Woo was more interested in directing a generic love-story than a spy flick, resulting in a weirdly slow (and uneventful) first hour. During the second hour, Woo must have realized how crushingly dull the first half of his film was, and crammed as much action as he could into the second hour. But even then, these action scenes only add up to lots and lots of mindless shooting, a car/motorcycle chase that lasts far too long, and a well-choreographed (but ultimately tedious) hand-to-hand fight scene. The first hour is a bore, but the second is so mindlessly constructed and even pointless, that one almost wishes to return to the plodding first half.

In the process of recruiting Nyah Nordoff-Hall, agent Ethan Hunt falls in love with her, creating an unfortunate complication. The complication is that Nyah is to go meet up with an old love named Sean Ambrose, in hopes of attaining a dangerous virus that Ambrose plans on releasing into the world.

I'm all up for a good romance, even if I was expecting an action-packed thriller. But when a romance is written as poorly as this one, it's hard to hold one's interest (some lines are even cringe-worthy). The problem here, is that everything about Ethan and Nyah's relationship is predictable and familiar. There is nothing unique or intriguing about their relationship, nor the circumstances surrounding it, ultimately dooming the first half of the film.

The second half focuses far less on Ethan and Nyah's love-story, and chooses instead to hone in on the primary strength of the first film; meaning action sequences. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, the action sequences (while generous in screen-time) are criminally tedious. One extended sequence literally just involves people shooting at each other, to the point where it's impossible to tell what's going on.

And, as mentioned, there is a chase sequence where Ethan Hunt is trying to get away on a motorcycle, but it quickly becomes monotonous and repetitive. With this sequence, and a car chase from Jack Reacher in mind, I can only conclude that chase sequences should be banned from any and all Tom Cruise films to limit extended periods of boredom.

As far as positives go, I suppose it's notable that the plot isn't even close to as convoluted as that of the first. However, the first half of the film actually goes to the extreme opposite, with a plot and script so simplistic, it's legitimately insulting. The sweeping cinematography might be worth praising too, had it not been for the excessive amount of slo-mo.

All the actors involved seem to be on auto-pilot (with a single exception). Thanks in part to bland, and lifeless characters, Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, and Thandie Newton fail to make any lasting (or even temporary) impressions in their performances. Only Anthony Hopkins (as Mission Commander Swanbeck) is especially notable, and in any other film, he might not have been. His two scenes provided more entertainment than the rest of the film combined.

The score, composed by Hans Zimmer, is simply, terrible. It's the worst score I've heard in a very long time. Emphasizing on electric guitars (and even wailing middle-eastern vocals), this rock-oriented score is nothing short of unbearable. It also commits one of the worst crimes a musical score can be found guilty of. And that, of course, is hurting the film itself. I was tempted to hit the "mute" button on multiple occasions, out of sheer disgust of the repulsive rock music. Also interesting is the lack of Lalo Schifrin's original theme- making only two, fleeting appearances.

Mission Impossible 2 just isn't any fun. The script is bad, the performances are weak, and the action sequences are a total snooze. While it's not as needlessly convoluted as Brian De Palma's original, it also lacks the over-the-top fun that the first at least sporadically achieved. I can't recommend it for much more than an antidote for insomnia.

This movie is easily the least appreciated installment in the Mission Impossible franchise but I think it doesn't deserve such a bad rep. Indeed, it was the most successful installment (until 2012 when the 4th movie came out) and it was even the highest grossing movie in 2000. Of course, it has barely anything to do with Mission Impossible and it was basically a one-man-show by Tom Cruise but it didn't bother me. What bothered me was that, once again, the whole plot was based on a rogue agent, just like the 1st movie. Couldn't they come up with something else? However, their biggest mistake was to make Ethan Hunt fall in love with a female member of his team. It terribly dragged down the whole story and it was just a bad idea. There is reason why James Bond never falls in love with any woman he meets (all right, except for 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' and 'Casino Royale'). Still, in spite of these flaws, I still think it was an entertaining action flick. Above all, the masterstroke was to hire a director with a total different style than the style used in the previous movie. Indeed, you can say whatever you want about John Woo but the guy knows how to direct action scenes and there were some gorgeous shots out there. To conclude, even if the story is rather preposterous and disappointing, it remains an entertaining and well made action flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in John Woo's work.