Mission Impossible 2

December 11, 2004

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 126 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Movies For Guys’ Original Review of the Theatrical Release

Mission Impossible 2

Got Woo? “Mission: Impossible 2″ certainly does! When I first heard that there would be a sequel to the 1996 production of “Mission: Impossible,” I was not exactly overjoyed. Sequels are rarely better and I thought the original was just a 3-Star movie.

Then I noticed that John Woo was directing this new effort and my attitude about this new flick immediately improved. I’m a hardcore John Woo fan and I knew that he could make this movie better than the first. Was it? Yes. Was it as good as I’d hoped for? No.

As I sit here typing, I feel as though I’ve watched a really good movie. At the same time, however, I have no real desire to go back and see it again. I don’t know; maybe I’ve just seen too much Woo over the years, but this movie seemed almost like a re-run. It is packed with John Woo’s usual cliches…and maybe that’s the problem for me.

The action is well-paced, the stunts are breath-taking, the cinematography was masterfully done, and the babe was hotter than hot. Sounds like a great movie, eh? Well, it is. But if you’re a hardcore John Woo fan like me, then you know how high he’s set the bar with his previous masterpieces and so you probably won’t be terribly impressed.

The plot involves a stolen mega-virus that makes Ebola look like a summer cold and Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is tasked to re-form his IMF team and recover it. The catch is that it was stolen by one of IMF’s own operatives. From there, the chase is on.

Anthony Hopkins appears as Swanbeck, Ethan’s new boss at the IMF, and Ving Rhames is back as Luther. You may as well call both of their appearances as cameos, however, as they only have a handful of lines.

Dougray Scott does a credible job as Sean Ambrose, the bad-boy of the IMF whose weakness seems to be beautiful women. Or, to be more precise, he pines heavily for the babe of the movie, Thandie Newton. Given that she’s one of the most exotic & beautiful women I’ve seen in a long time, I can’t say as I blame him one bit, either.

If you’re in the mood for some action and you can forgive a little bit of unoriginality, then this is definitely your movie.

Posted by Alex | Filed Under 4 Stars, Action, Anthony Hopkins, DVD, Dougray Scott, PG-13, Thandie Newton, Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames