Review of Mission: Impossible II (2000) by Juan C — 07 Jul 2011

This is a decidedly different turn on the franchise, but still a sufficiently entertaining one. Instead of all the intrigue and tense situations, we are treated to a rather large helping of shootouts and action sequences.

Being that it is a John Woo production, these sequences are intricately choreographed and displayed in glorious slow-mo so we can observe all the wonderful damage being caused. Tom Cruise takes Ethan Hunt and has even more fun with him, becoming just about an unstoppable force of skills.

The character transforms into a more standard action hero, both a good and bad thing. On the one hand, he's totally awesome and on the other hand he's not nearly as vulnerable as he was in the last installment.

Still, it works as a great sort of individual manifestation of the Mission: Impossible concept. It's great to have Ving Rhames back and Thandie Newton as the new love interest. Essentially, this one makes Hunt more of a Bond-like character, as in more something of a playboy.

The villains in here are really great as well, all played to perfectly diabolical and despicable heights. This of course, makes it all the more enjoyable to watch Hunt strategically disassemble their plans of massive viral disease.

However, the fact that it goes off the beaten path of the highly suspenseful spy thriller that was the first one is a little unfortunate in some ways. Though there seems to be less stakes then there were in the first, even though theoretically there's a lot more at stake, it's a terrific action film in a way only John Woo could conceive.

He loves slow-mo, epic hand-to-hand combat, explosions, and insane acrobatic stunts, and by the time the movie is done so should you.