I enjoyed the first "Mission: Impossible" movie. I found it very entertaining, and I thought that Brian De Palma did a great job directing a very confusing script. Unfortunately, purists of the "Mission: Impossible" TV show hated it. They were outraged with certain things about the movie. The movie totally betrayed what Bruce Geller created with the TV series. My parents, both of whom were big fans of the show, refused to see the movie after hearing about those certain things. To be honest with you, I can't blame them. Imagine that in 30 years, there was to be a movie based on "The X Files" TV show with a new male/female duo. No more Scully and Mulder, it's all new characters, more in keeping with the times. So obviously, no David Duchovny or Gillian Anderson. This time it's some Hollywood hunk-type and a supermodel-type. Also, rather than the creepy investigations and clever, serpentine storylines, the movie is a very slick, but common, action film. In addition, imagine that a character from the TV show makes a return in the movie, and the character has a complete change in personality from how he/she was in the TV show. See my point? Still, on it's own, I liked the first "Mission: Impossible." As for the second one. Well, I liked it. Maybe even a tad bit more than the first one. But those purists of the TV show better keep away. Far, far away.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for Tom Cruise. He's a terrific actor, and I think he's got real integrity. A lot of you may not think so, but look at his work in "Magnolia" (a small role for little money) and "Eyes Wide Shut" (keep in mind that when Tom Cruise decided to do "Eyes Wide Shut," Stanley Kubrick's notoriously intense and exhausting shoots were already very well-known). Sure, Cruise will ALWAYS wanna collect his fat paychecks, but more than anything, he wants to work with brilliant filmmakers. He's worked with Francis Ford Copolla, Tony Scott, Ridley Scott, Martin Scorsese, Barry Levinson, Oliver Stone, Ron Howard, Rob Reiner, Neil Jordan, Cameron Crowe, Stanley Kubrick, Paul Thomas Anderson, and now John Woo with "Mission: Impossible 2." One of Cruise's next projects, "Minority Report," is to be directed Steven Spielberg. Should be a great one.
Along with Tom Cruise, this movie has Thandie Newton. I've never seen her before, but I know that she was in "Beloved," which I never saw. My God, that woman is gorgeous! Good actress, too. Ving Rhames returns as Cruise's computer genius partner, and Anthony Hopkins is Cruise's boss. He's all over the trailers and commercials, but the role is more of a cameo than anything else. The main villain guy is played by Dougray Scott. You may remember him as the Prince in Drew Barrymore's "Cinderella" retelling, "Ever After." What a huge difference! He's pretty nasty in this movie, and despite his good guy role in "Ever After," he's a very convincing villain here.
Unlike the first "Mission: Impossible" movie, which had about 72 million writers involved, the sequel had only one: Robert Towne. Robert Towne is a very well-respected writer in Hollywood. He was involved with "Shampoo," "Chinatown," "The Firm," "and even the first "Mission: Impossible" movie. He's also done tons of uncredited writing. It was a decent script, but not all that interesting to me. John Woo did a hell of a directing job with it, though.
John Woo's Hong Kong movies (especially "The Killer," "Hard Boiled," and "A Better Tomorrow") are considered classics. When he came to the U.S., he had a rough start. He did the crappy Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, "Hard Target." Thankfully, his next film, though flawed, was much, much better. That movie was "Broken Arrow." After that was "Face/Off," and he suddenly became an A-list director in America. When it comes to action, nobody is a better director than John Woo, and I'm not just saying that. I honestly feel that way. The action sequences in "Mission: Impossible 2" are fantastic. Unfortunately, despite how the trailer made it seem, there are only a few action scenes in the movie. Don't get me wrong, the chases, the fights, the break-ins, they're all great. The stuff in between wasn't all that interesting, though.
The action
scenes are incredible, and because of those scenes, I liked this movie.
I just wish it didn't have so many slow moments. Also, it got pretty corny
at times. That's alright, though. You gotta see the movie just to see John
Woo do what he does best.
Scale of 1-10: 8