Mission Impossible II

Plot

Ethan Hunt is called to find, Sean Ambrose, a former agent, who stole the cure for a dangerous man-made disease ‘Chymera’, . Hunt is tasked with persuading Ambrose’s old girlfriend Nyah to join his team to assist getting it back before he sells it to the CEO of a pharmaceutical company.

Direction

John Woo’s chaotic action feel is front and center, with an overabundance of his cliche’ car chases, shootouts, kung-fu, slow motion and doves… oh the doves.

Cast/Characters

Cruise is fine as usual, but I felt his hands were a bit tied with what he could and couldn’t do.

Thandiwe Newton is just okay as the love interest. She gets a little to do in the beginning, but sort of trails off towards the middle and end.

Dougray Scott is good as the villain, and he is joined by his head honcho Australian actor Richard Roxburgh (who does a South African accent he borrowed from Lethal Weapon 2).

Ving Rhames is back as Luther, and Cruise’s real life cousin William Mapother is one of the villains. Anthony Hopkins appears unbilled as the new IMF boss.

Screenplay/Setting/Themes

The screenplay is a bit convoluted at times and a few meaningless moments that last minutes (like Nyah going to prison). Ethan and Nyah getting together is minutes into the film feels rushed and unbelievable.

The traditional wearing of masks is used a lot here, but when the 183cm villain is pretending to be the 170cm hero and no one notices the height difference – this seems a bit impossible.

John Polson as new agent Billy – the Aussie must have been cringing every time he had to say ‘mate’ – don’t play a drinking game when he says it. You’ll die.

There is a couple of moments I thought I was watching an ad for the product that they were using too.

Score/Soundtrack

Hanz Zimmer’s score is pretty noticeable and decent, but at times a little over done and manipulative

Overall

While I’ve loved Woo’s over the top action in the past (some movies I’ve yet to review like Broken Arrow and Face/Off), it doesn’t work here. This should have been an Ethan Hunt/Tom Cruise movie. It’s no wonder it took six years for there to be a third instalment in the franchise. Just skip this one, you won’t miss much in the Hunt arc.

And who the eff was Dmitri?

1.5/5