Review of Mission: Impossible II (2000) by Jeff B — 26 Aug 2015

Wrongly shouldered with a reputation for being stylish over substantive as if that ends up to be a bad thing in this specific case, the second Mission: Impossible puts action before espionage, but effectively advances IMF from small to big screen with enough sexy cool to keep the team going. Indeed, the eye-popping spectacles leave the convoluted web spun by the first chapter in the dust, successfully setting up a winning template for the more mental and muscular episodes to follow. The only conspiracy here is against time. Clocking in at over two hours, what should've been a lean mean fighting machine overstays its welcome.

In this PG-13-rated spy thriller, a secret agent (Cruise) gets sent to Sydney, to find and destroy a genetically modified disease called "Chimera.".

Sure, more persnickety moviegoers laugh at the balletic ballistics of Hong Kong director John Woo, but the excitement rarely lets up. Going solo after the muddled mission in the first adventure, screenwriter Robert Towne presents a straight-shooting spy game. It's not rocket science but it does make the audience pump their fists and laugh in all of the right places.

Bottom line: The Woo Sell Out.