Mission: Impossible II

Directed by John Woo, Mission: Impossible II follows Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt as he teams up with professional thief Nyah Hall (Thandie Newton) to prevent rogue agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) from selling a deadly virus to the highest bidder. It’s fairly disappointing to note, ultimately, that Mission: Impossible II rarely comes close to replicating the consistent thrills and excitement of its vastly superior predecessor, as filmmaker Woo, working from Robert Towne’s less-than-dense screenplay, delivers a mostly-static endeavor that fares especially poorly during its lackadaisical first half – with the movie, at the outset, devoid of the big action set-pieces that have come to define this ongoing series. Woo’s oddball directorial choices, including an almost disastrous overuse of slow motion cinematography, certainly exacerbates the opening hour’s less-than-engrossing feel, and although Cruise is as captivating as ever, Mission: Impossible II suffers from a lack of compelling supporting characters that does nothing to alleviate the somewhat hands-off vibe. (This is especially true of Scott’s hopelessly bland turn as the movie’s far-from-fearsome antagonist.) There’s little doubt, then, that Mission: Impossible II benefits substantially from an action-heavy third act that’s admittedly bursting with enthralling bits of over-the-top mayhem, and it is, in the end, difficult not to wish that everything preceding this stretch had been similarly high-octane in its execution – which ultimately does confirm the picture’s place as a watchable yet curiously uninvolving entry within a rather erratic franchise.

**1/2 out of ****

Leave a comment