Guest Movie Review: Mission Impossible 2

Story: Unlike the first Mission Impossible (directed by Brian DePalma) which I didn't see, but reportedly had a very confusing story line, M1-2 has a very simple one. The bad guy, Sean Ambrose (played by Dougray Scott), plots to control both a deadly virus and it's antidote in order to make billions through pharmaceuticals. Biological warfare and greed replace world domination and greed in this updated version of the tried-and-true formula action movie. Ethan Hunt (Cruise) of the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) is called upon to save the day. Hunt's job becomes more difficult when he falls in love with Nyah Hall (Thandie Newton), a professional thief who is Ambrose's ex-girlfriend -- she is used by the IMF as bait in their mission.

This is a supercharged action movie with all the over-the-top car chases and fireball explosions that can be mustered using gargantuan budgets and digital technology, and then some. I love Tom Cruise and I love action movies so I was predisposed to liking this film....but I didn't. Director John Woo (Broken Arrow, Face/Off) is a masterful choreographer of action, but he doesn't know when to call it quits. Looking forward to action scenes that would be tense, exciting and emotionally satisfying, the action climax scenes instead became funny. Woo also uses a lot of repeat-action and slow motion, which I find annoying. There was one glaring continuity problem. Robert Towne's (Chinatown) script is filler between action scenes -- in total it probably doesn't amount to 40 pages of dialogue. There are a few good jokes, though.

Acting: Tom Cruise, as usual, gives his all and is wonderful to watch. The rock-climbing sequence at the beginning is a visual treat -- both he and the scenery are spectacular to look at. The martial-arts scenes are amazing -- who knew Tommy could move like that? Dougray Scott as the villain gives a sneering, one-note performance. Ving Rhames (who I love) is back as the #2 good guy in a thinly written-part. Anthony Hopkins is fine in a cameo as the IMF boss. Thandie Newton (Beloved) as Nyah Hall is exotic and believable at first as the love interest, but her hair always looked dirty. Later in the film she becomes (unintentionally) funny as the pathetic victim love-interest.

Pets: Hundreds of sheep in the farmland of Australia.

Visual Art: Some modern art in the villain's lair -- large canvas paintings, abstract sculpture and black and white photos. The cinematography in general is spectacular and adds to this category.

Soundtrack: Ranged from innocuous techno-pop during the action scenes to some surprisingly bad Enya-esque music that made me laugh at scenes that were supposed to be dramatic.

Theater Audience: Quite ethnically diverse and almost 50/50 male female.

Oscar Worthy: no

Length: exactly 2 hours

Walsh Whistles: 4