Mission: Impossible II Review

After the critical and commercial success of Brian De Palma's first Mission: Impossible film, of course we were going to get a second one. Tom Cruise said that he wanted to have a different director for each installment to give them all a fresh feel. Thus, De Palma did not return to helm the sequel. Instead, action connoisseur John Woo was selected as the director for Mission: Impossible II. A lot of people don't like this movie because of that, particularly fans of the franchise. Woo deviates quite a bit from the tone of the original, giving us a hyper-stylized action movie rather than a suspenseful spy thriller. When I was younger, this was my favorite of the series. As I've grown older, I am able to realize its flaws, and it is now clearly the worst of the franchise in my mind. However, it still retains value as a guilty pleasure for me. I always have fun watching it.

The film again centers around IMF agent Ethan Hunt who gets involved in an operation to stop the outbreak of a deadly virus that is also being chased down by a former IMF agent known as Sean Ambrose. Ambrose, who already holds the cure for the disease, has formed a plan to acquire the virus and spread it all over the world, thus creating a demand for the cure he possesses, earning him quite a lot of money.

Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt. This time around, he's more of an Americanized James Bond than what he was in the original film. And this is what rubs a lot of people the wrong way about Mission: Impossible II. It changed the series from being a spy/espionage thriller into an action blockbuster complete with a myriad of explosions and plenty of slo-mo shots; it's basically what you'd expect from a movie directed by John Woo. A lot of people simply view it as a lame James Bond rip-off.

I, for one, am still able to enjoy myself despite the jarring tonal change from the first one to the second one. Woo knows how to handle action sequences; they're filled with blood-pumping excitement and there are plenty of impressive stunts to feast your eyes upon. If you simply take this film for what it is, it certainly has entertainment value. If you go in expecting more of what you got from the original, it'll be a letdown.

The action, while thrilling, does not come as often as I'd like. There's very little at all during the first half hour of the movie, which in my opinion is the most boring and pointless half hour of all the Mission: Impossible films. Not much happens, and the movie seems intent on depicting Ethan's relationship with the master thief turned IMF employee Nyah, played by Thandie Newton, rather than giving us what we really want: spy stuff. There are portions of the film throughout that lose focus on the espionage elements that we're looking for and focus instead on the convoluted plot or the love triangle between Ethan, Nyah, and Sean Ambrose. These parts of the movie are the least interesting to me.

There are a handful of scenes in this movie that are similar to the first one in style, and I actually really love these particular moments. There's a sequence at a horse race track that I really enjoy, as well as an entire sequence involving the infiltration of a lab by Ethan in order to obtain and destroy the virus before it is retrieved by Ambrose. This culminates in my favorite moment of the film when Ethan is forced to leave Nyah behind after she injects the virus into herself. Hans Zimmer's beautiful "Injection" soars in the background as Ethan must choose whether to kill her, preventing Ambrose from spreading the virus, or leave her behind and search for a way to get the cure into her system before she dies from the virus itself. There's a tension during these moments that I wish was present throughout the rest of the film.

The script isn't too impressive, the film greatly diverges from the original in terms of its tone and style, and there are patches of the movie that are simply boring. And despite these flaws, I am always entertained by Mission: Impossible II. The action sequences are terrifically and thrillingly filmed, and if you turn your brain off, you can have a good time with it. If you want more of what the original gave us, then you will be disappointed. Again, just take it for what it is: a dumb, fun action romp. This is, however, my least favorite of the franchise, and I'm glad the series took a different direction with the next two sequels.

B-