Review of Mission: Impossible II (2000) by Rainer K — 16 Dec 2011

Mission Impossible II adds more action and therefore sacrifices finesse. Calm, cool, clever Ethan Hunt turns into a Martial Arts specialist and pistolero mostly thanks to new director John Woo.

I'm not sure if it have been these ingredients that missed in the franchise - I even think it's the opposite. So the sophisticated genre mix of mystery/suspense/action/heist develops into a simple action film that resembles a classic Bond movie in structure and body count.

It has all the franchise's usual features: a bunch twists, high tech glasses, these silly artificial faces (neat but unrealistic gimmick in the first film that was heavily overused here), a mid-film heist and a cruisin' Tom Cruise (with ugly long hair).

Except for the amazing rock climbing scene at the beginning (one of the few moments of the film I remembered before I rewatched it, and certainly one that'll stick in my memory for a long time) the film starts quite slow but adds some pace in the second act, beginning with the lab heist and has a nice finale.

Not as good as the first film but decent entertainment with plenty of action.