Review of Mission: Impossible II (2000) by Stuart D — 02 Nov 2013

This time we see Tom Cruise be assigned to retrieve a deadly synthetic virus stolen by rogue agent Ambrose. To get close to him he requires the help of his ex-lover in the form of Nyah Nordoff-Hall, who is required to get close to him and infiltrate his headquarters.

Under John Woo's direction, the complicated plot of the original is dropped in favour of a much more conventional plot. Indeed, the plot in clichéd to the extreme and full of illogical components.

For instance, despite Ambrose being fully aware that Nyah turns up at a very convenient time and is in all-likelihood spying on him, he allows it because, as he puts it, he likes to 'gun her'.

Furthermore, the whole story surrounding a renegade operative stealing something and someone being sent to get it back (think Broken Arrow) has been done a hundred times. Aside from the plot, the level of acting is somewhat mixed.

While Tom Cruise puts in a promising performance, Nyah's acting skills are extremely poor and the only reason she was probably casted was due to her favourable looks. Despite all this, this sequel is a marked improvement over the original, thanks in large to those crazy action sequences.

The action scenes are inventive, incredibly well choreographed and set in beautiful scenery. By this point all you want to see is Tom Cruise kick the bad guys' asses. The film delivers that, but if you are after an interesting plot or character development then look elsewhere.

Score=6.25/10.