Review of Mission: Impossible II (2000) by Matthew D — 10 May 2018

The worst Mission: Impossible movie rife with cliches and overacting.

Mission: Impossible 2 is a lackluster sequel to Mission: Impossible. John Woo did his best job to up the ante to no avail as Woo's direction pales in comparison to Brian DePalma's original film. Mission: Impossible 2 completely fails to capture the genre of the first movie's spy thriller, opting instead for a lame action movie.

The occasional cool shot is offset by hilariously over-exaggerated close-ups and goofy zoom in shots. The cinematography can be really intense, but constant quick cuts at the most inappropriate times with campy slow motion sequences take you completely out of the movie.

Script-wise, Mission: Impossible 2 is nowhere near as clever or original as the debut feature. There are few if any interesting twists with none of the political spy intrigue or intelligence. The narrative is as cookie cutter cliche as can be for an action movie. The plot is muddled while also being filled with plot holes. For example, when we see a character infected with a virus for 20 hours walking around fine, when the audience saw earlier in the film a person infected with the same disease visibly bed ridden once exposed for the same time.

Mission: Impossible 2 notably takes a distinctly more languid pace than its predecessor. It is a slow paced bore compared to the stealth espionage vibe from the first film. You initially get high tension scenes with great stakes where anything can happen, which turns into meaningless explosions with no suspense in this sequel.

For an action movie, there is little action until the ridiculously overdone finale that ruins any suspension of disbelief you might have had left. M:I 2 opens with a thrilling and genuinely impressive feat of strength from Tom Cruise wherein he is hanging off a cliff with his hands. It looks as cool as anything in an action film. It immediately establishes how strong and skilled Cruise's Ethan Hunt character is, but then the rest of the movie goes into explosions and back flips that remove you from the film experience. It is too bad they could not do better than the opening sequences that seriously thrill.

Next, the score from Hans Zimmer is not nearly as cool or iconic as Danny Elfman's entry from Mission: Impossible. Initially a mesmerizing soundtrack that keeps you engaged, devolves into Zimmer playing up a highly ill fitting score into each scene. Many of the musical cues do not match the tone of the scene. Tense scenes will suddenly launch into odd parades attempting epic stature, but feel so out of place. Likewise, tender moments will go from romantic to laughable in seconds thanks to the score. Elfman just did a nicer job composing Mission: Impossible when you juxtapose the music Zimmer composed for Mission: Impossible 2. Zimmer did not accompany this movie's atmosphere appropriately.

Finally, I must mention the acting. While the first film takes it time laying out intense scenes of excellent acting, M:I 2 reverts into cheesy one-liners and bland exposition. The poor basic writing is part of the problem, but this cast plays their parts with such dull enthusiasm. Tom Cruise is the only saving grace. He clearly is trying to convey emotion while jumping from serious and thoughtful to distraught emotionally. Cruise as Ethan Hunt is the glue that holds this franchise together. Thandie Newton is terrible as the love interest thief to Cruise's eccentric Hunt character. She is so deadpan that you never believe her emotional scenes. Her delivery is pretty horrible honestly. Ving Rhames is fun as always as the Gucci and Versace loving hacker partner to Hunt. The Australian comedy relief is rather forgettable and makes for a poor replacement to Jean Reno's hilarious character from Mission: Impossible. The villains are all poorly cast and never threatening. They essentially act like evil Ethan Hunt caricatures. What a waste of the excellent actors Anthony Hopkins and Brendan Gleeson.