Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

With the sequel to Mission Impossible, they had to do things bigger and better, and for that John Woo was brought in to Direct the picture. Woo with his style of action films seemed to be the perfect fit for this film, and with Cruise reprising his role as Ethan Hunt it was surely set up to be a box-office smash. The first film had been a little bit confusing to some fans, so the plot to this one had to be much simpler, and was actually joked about at one point in the film. This time around, a virus has been created that could be the worst thing since the plague, and it kills without mercy in less than 2 days time. The only thing that can destroy it is the cure that has been concocted simultaneously by a pair of scientists. Now a drug pharmaceutical company wants to release the virus on the public, in order to make money off of selling the cure. It seems like a plan that will make them a lot of money; the only problem being that they are about to cross paths with Ethan Hunt (Cruise).

As I was watching the DVD again last night, I couldn't help but think that the sequel resembled the original television show much more than the first Mission: Impossible film. There were levels of intrigue, and scenarios that were played out which could have come directly from TV. The opening of the first film did touch on what they would normally go through, but the level of intrigue caused them to veer to a more dramatic approach. With this film, instead of sticking with the original formula, there are many intense action sequences thrown in to bring up the pulse-level of it. Some might not even be deemed as being necessary to the central plot, but at the same time there were several that were pretty exciting to see. This includes a motorcycle chase where Cruise puts the bike on one wheel while turning and shooting across his body. This is pretty innovative, because we haven't seen something like that before. There are however, too many instances where John Woo tried to take hints from the Matrix film and put in too many stop-action scenes where Cruise is doing flying kicks against the bad-guys. It just lacked some believability at points.

While Cruise was brought back as Ethan Hunt, the only other returning character from the first film is Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell. Stickell again only has bit parts as the computer genius who must help Hunt through his obstacles. Thandie Newton (Crash, ER) plays a professional thief who is brought on to the team for some special skills that she possesses. Throw in a cowboy helicopter pilot and there is your new team of agents that has to stop this virus from hitting the public. In a bit part as Hunt's boss, Anthony Hopkins comes in to give a few quick one-liners that establish him as a hard-nosed agent. I think that he was perfect for the part, but would have liked to see more of him in a movie that could have used a little more in the acting-chops department. Cruise is his normal over-the-top self, with a few scenes were he annoyingly over-acts, but all in all he wasn't that bad. Dougray Scott though was much better as the villain Sean Ambrose, and this is the type of character that can truly send chills down your back if you get too involved in the film.

While the film is called Mission: Impossible II, and while there are elements of intrigue that hark back to its days on television, this movie could just as easily been called something completely different and worked. It seemed that at the center of the plot there wasn't too much "Impossible" about this task that we haven't seen in a million other action films, and it really didn't have that something extra to set it apart from the crowd. It is the type of action movie that is fun to watch, has an interesting story, blows a lot of stuff up, and has a unique hero, but at the end of the day doesn't leave a lasting impression on you. I think that it wasn't even as good as the first one, and while there were a couple of sequences that will stand out to me for a while, the way the story is carried out, and how the ending occurred won't be getting any extra points in this review. It is an exciting film, but there are lulls in the story that some might find too tedious to sit through more than once. I did like the film on the whole though, and I do recommend it, but I do so with reservations. Cruise and the franchise could have done better in my opinion.


The First Mission Impossible Film











Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD