Mission-Impossible-a-Thon, Part 2 - Mission: Impossible II (2000)

Director: John Woo

Cast: Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton, Ving Rhames, Richard Roxburg

Country: United States

Rating: PG-13

Run Time: 123 minutes

Mission: Impossible II did so many things different than Mission: Impossible. For starters, the budget was amped up to $125 million from the original's $80 million. Than, the sequel replaced the original's clever and smart plot with a dumb action packed plot complete with lots of nonsensical romance. All of Brian De Palma's stylistic tendencies, tense heist sequences, and storytelling techniques were completely scrapped as well. With De Palma out of the director chair, the greatest action director of all time stepped in. That being, John Woo. 

Woo brings all of his action mastery and love for doves (there is literally a dove on the poster!) to the film and crafts the best action scenes of the entire franchise. However, Woo, screenwriter Robert Towne, and star and producer Tom Cruise completely forgot that a Mission: Impossible film also needs an engaging story. Cruise and Woo must have spent so much time crafting action scenes that they completely forgot that the original film was extremely tense and suspenseful. The sequel is nothing like the original film at all. Besides the presence of Ving Rhames and Tom Cruise, there are almost no similarities between the two films.

I have noted that many non-action fans hate this film (due to the departure of actual spy tactics and smart storytelling) and that many action fans love this film (due to the increased amount of gunfire, car chases, and explosions). Interestingly enough, I find my opinion somewhere in the middle of these two consensuses. I hate that the film abandons the smart plot of De Palma's original in favor of dumb and generic blockbuster storytelling. However, I absolutely love the action scenes in the film and think that the shootouts are incredibly well choreographed, shot, and edited for a PG-13 film. You have to remember that John Woo is arguably my favorite director of all time as far as action filmmakers come. But even my love for Woo can't hide my disappointment with this film. Mission: Impossible II is kind of a red headed step child for me. I hate the darn thing because it's so annoying but have to love it at the same time because my boy John Woo directed the heck out of the action scenes.

Trademark Beretta Woo Gunplay.

Mission Impossible II opens with Dr. Nekhorvich (Rade Serbedzija) stealing a virus named Chimera from a lab. While traveling on a plane, the doctor meets with his friend Dimitri (who is actually Ethan Hunt). But when Dimitri arrives, he kills the doctor and pulls off his face mask to reveal that he is actually the villain of the movie, Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott). He and his henchmen escape the plane and send it crashing into the side of a mountain. 

We than get reintroduced to the real Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) as he free climbs along the side of a cliff while listening to reggae music. When he reaches the peak of the cliff, an IMF helicopter shoots a tube toward him. He opens it and pulls out the lamest sunglasses you have seen since the year 2000 and puts them on to reveal a video inside of the lenses. IMF informs him of his newest mission: Ethan must assemble a team in order to stop Sean Ambrose from obtaining the Chimera virus. However, he must get a thief named Naya (Thandie Newton) to join the team no matter what. 

What follows is one of the most boring hour and fifteen minutes in movie history. Ethan strikes up a relationship with Naya, sends her in as a mole to infiltrate Ambrose's hideout (they had a former relationship), and than spends the rest of the film worrying about her being amongst Ambrose and his dangerous henchmen. It takes one hour and fifteen minutes to get to the first action scene in the film. An hour and fifteen minutes! Once the action arrives, Mission II finally becomes a good film. But one and hour and fifteen minutes of nonsensical romance and boring dialog is unforgivable. Shame on you Tom Cruise and John Woo.

Please shoot her!

I cannot stress enough how truly boring the first hour of this film is. There is no tension or suspense at all. I got so bored within the first 15 minutes of the film that I honestly considered fast forwarding up to the action scenes. But than I decided against that because I know I can't properly review the film without having seen the entire thing. The first problem I have with this film is that there is a lot of romantic nonsense between Thandie Newton and Tom Cruise. The two strike up an interest immediately upon meeting and kiss one another within the second time of seeing one another. I am sorry, but these characters and actors have absolutely no chemistry with one another. Their romance is completely forced.

Another big problem is that the film reveals characters' true identities far too often. As seen in the first film, agents can don a mask in order to make themselves look like a completely different person. The first Mission: Impossible film sparingly uses these masks and uses them well. We see them used once at the very beginning and than a second time during the film's finale. The uses of these masks work well because they aren't over done and they come as a surprise too. But than Mission: Impossible II throws that logic to the wind and has a dramatic mask reveal every half hour. I counted five times when characters take a mask off of their face in order to reveal their true identity. Five times! The film borders on self parody by the fourth or fifth mask reveal. And how are these characters whipping up masks so quickly? During the final action scene at the island compound, there is a mask reveal where a character literally had to have had the mask in their jacket pocket to whip it out in time.

But the problems don't stop there. Unlike the first film's cast, I could care less for any of the heroes or villains in this film. Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames do a fine job as their respective characters from the first film. But they aren't given good material at all. The worst offenders, Thandie Newton and Dougray Scott, are dreadfully boring in their roles. They don't have any chemistry with each other or with Cruise. They both come off as lazy, boring, and over the top. You'll be begging to move onto Mission: Impossible III's characters after you spend 30 minutes with these characters. Anthony Hopkins also pops up in a wasted cameo as the new director of IMF. If you ask me, Hopkins is my least favorite director of IMF in contrast to the other directors that pop up throughout the series.

"He put a hole in my Versace. Oh now I'm mad."

If lots of boring dialog and useless shots of the characters' surroundings wasn't enough to annoy you, there is a single scene in Mission: Impossible II that easily ranks as one of the most ridiculous, unnecessary, and stupid scenes in movie history. After Ethan fails to convince Naya that he needs her help on a mission, he decides to track her down in his sports car. Ethan finds Naya driving in her sports car as well along a road that runs next to a cliff. When Ethan smiles from along side her, Naya rams her car into the side of his to prove that she wants him off of her tail. The two than partake in a ridiculous chase as the two bash into each other's cars and dodge oncoming traffic.

After Naya nearly hits an oncoming car, her car spins out of control. Ethan rams his car into the side of her car to prevent it from going off of the cliff and their two cars begin to spin next to one another. As their cars spin out of control, Ethan and Naya look at each in slow motion with loving eyes and have a sexy stare down. Finally, Ethan and Naya look up to see that their cars are spinning toward the edge of a cliff. By luck, Naya's car stops right at the edge of the cliff. When Ethan goes to check on her, Naya is hanging off of the cliff from her car's side door (what the heck caused her door to open up and for her to fall out?) Ethan pulls Naya up on top of him while sitting in her front seat. The two embrace one another and kiss each other because they are both two hot sexy people who just survived a life or death incident (just like the moment between Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves in Speed, but forced instead of earned). Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the stupidest scenes in movie history. Moving on.

"I'm the villain!"

Mission: Impossible II is unfortunately more interesting to discuss than to watch. Viewers will notice that each Mission: Impossible film represents the stylistic tendencies of the director attached to it. Therefore, it is quite easy to spot the markings of director John Woo. There are slow motion explosions, Beretta hand guns, double fisted gun play, doves, and even helmet clad motorcycle riding henchmen. However, these aspects of Woo only apply to the action scenes. None of John Woo's typical themes of honor, friendship, or loyalty pop up in the film at all. While I love any action scene that John Woo directs, his action is made far better by the themes and characters found in his Hong Kong films. His American films only represent half of why he is a great filmmaker. This is probably why Woo was chosen to direct the film. The producers saw one of his shootouts from Hard Boiled and flipped out. Or the producers saw Face/Off and thought, "Hey! This guy made a pretty good action movie with characters wearing masks of one another's faces. Let's do that but in a Mission: Impossible movie!"

Mission: Impossible II is John Woo's biggest financial success in his entire career. The film grossed a whopping $540 million worldwide on a $125 million budget. It was also the highest grossing film in 2000! Man, I am so sorry for all of those people out there who had to sit through one of John Woo's most problematic films. On the other hand, I am not sorry that they got to sit through the action scenes because they are absolutely fantastic!

Mission: Impossible II is one of two PG-13 John Woo films (the other being Paycheck). Therefore, the film doesn't display Woo's graceful eye for slow motion blood letting. All of the action is tame and blood-less. However, the choreography, editing, and photography more than makes up for the lack of blood. The two big action scenes in the film are a shootout inside of a close quarters laboratory and a final chase scene involving motorcycles, guns, flipping cars, and a fist fight by the sea. It's a shame these excellent action scenes come so late into the film. You'll be brain dead by the time Tom Cruise finally fires a gun.

Richard Roxburg plays a decent right hand man.

The lab gunfight is filled with plenty of John Woo action shots. Ethan slides on his side and fires two guns in slow motion, Ethan fires two guns into a goon who rushes him, and Ethan runs down an exploding hallway filled with sparks and fire (much like Chow Yun Fat during the hospital finale in Hard Boiled, minus the baby). Unlike the first Mission: Impossible, Ethan racks up a hefty kill count that is more akin to what you would find in a body count heavy John Woo film.

But it is the motorcycle finale that ranks as one of the great cinematic action sequences. Once Ethan gets his hands on a motorcycle, he tries to out run Ambrose and his men's many vehicles. There is some great stunt work in this scene, especially a moment where Tom Cruise leaps off of his motorcycle and hangs onto the side while driving in order to avoid oncoming gun fire! He even looks at his rear view mirror to aim down his gun's sights in order to shoot it backwards! I could rave forever about the slow motion editing and stunt work in this chase scene. It's so fantastic that it makes up for all of the crap that comes before it.

Even though Mission: Impossible was released in 1996, Mission: Impossible II is easily the most dated entry of the entire franchise. The soundtrack and score are incredibly silly (hard rocking Hans Zimmer and Limp Bizkit doing the Mission theme) and the outfits are atrocious as well (Cruise's lame leather jacket and long gross hair don't help). The action sequences are top notch though and still hold up.

Cruise "kicks" it up a notch.

Mission: Impossible II, where to begin? I've said enough about this film so I'll sum it up in short. The first hour and fifteen minutes are boring as hell. Watching them could make for a good torture method. But the final hour of non-stop action and stunt work is entertaining as hell. Is it worth it to sit through the whole film just to get to some great action? In my opinion, no. But, I would recommend the film to fans of John Woo and the series. Woo's action scenes are truly some of the greatest shootouts ever made for a PG-13 feature. But the rest of the film is trash. It's sad to see such a smart franchise turn dumb so quickly.

Rating: 6/10 - Mission: Impossible II is a dull sequel that fails to replicate what made the original film so great while packing a lot more action for the action fanatics to drool over.

Franchise:
Mission: Impossible (1996, dir. Brian De Palma)
Mission: Impossible II (2000, dir. John Woo)
Mission: Impossible III (2006, dir. J.J. Abrams)
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011, dir. Brad Bird)
Mission: Impossible V (2015, dir. Christopher McQuarrie)