Mission Impossible 2 is a mixed bag for me. In many ways it’s like getting a lap dance from a 72 year old woman with hemorrhoids. It’s fast and furious at times, but slow and boring others. I walked out of the theater with a stupid grin on my face and giggling like Robert Downey Jr. on coke. When I was watching Mission Impossible 2 I had no problems with it. As the days past and after a second viewing, I realized it really was not that good of a film. The plot is incredibly weak and mediocre. But it’s just an action movie. And a lap dance is just a lap dance. Sometimes that can be enough.
Now the perfect Mission Impossible film would have Tom Cruise playing his misogynist self help guru Frank T.J. Mackey, as seen in Magnolia. His mission, if he chose to accept it, would be this: Get laid. Beat the bad guy into submission (women in general). Conquer the female race. Now that would be the more entertaining and fun family film. Do we get that? No. What we have here is Tom Cruise playing nice guy Ethan Hunt. His mission: Get laid. Stop a super villain who posses a lethal virus. Get the girl. It will have to do.
Directed by John Woo, Mission Impossible 2 is one of the few films to be superior to it’s predecessor. The original Mission Impossible film had a plot so preposterous, that it is known for sending those with Attention Deficit Disorder reaching for the sleeping pills. The original Mission Impossible film had about as much as action as an episode of Pee Wee Herman. Mission Impossible 2 is filled with large-scale action sequences.
We have Mr. Cruise hanging for his life in the red mountains of Utah. Then Mr. Cruise and the ravishing Thandie Newton have a splendid car chase scene. Then the film dies down a bit, for about an hour or so. You could easily doze off for this hour, and wake up when the action begins again. You would have the same experience either way. The final act is what makes this film an above average action movie. The motorcycle sequence alone is worth the price of admission. My point is this, the last half of this film has enough action in it to satisfy any action buff.
Tom Cruise is adequate in the film I suppose. I admired him more when he did his previous, more daring films, Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia. Thandie Newton is gorgeous. Dougray Scott damn near steals the show as the evil wannabe bond villain Sean Ambrose. Anthony Hopkins and Ving Rhames are of course wasted. And we can’t forget to mention the lovely pigeons that John Woo throws in every five minutes. Fantastic job guys!
As far as action films go, this is how I rank Mission Impossible 2. For a John Woo film, it is considerably better then Broken Arrow. Yet it lacks the intensity of Hard Boiled and Face Off. It is defiantly Tom Cruise’s best action film. As far as the action films go so far this year, it tops the weak Shaft and the dull Gone In Sixty Seconds. Gladiator and The Patriot are both superior in quality and action though. Mission Impossible 2 is however the best James Bond film to come out the last fifteen years. Sorry Bond, but Ethan has you beat.
I’m sure most of you saw Mission Impossible 2 in the theaters this summer. So this review is not necessarily saying you should see it or not. I’m just saying a lot of people were expecting the second coming with this film. This movie is nothing more then popcorn fun. Don’t try and analyze it, just go with it. Most years I would probably go along with the bashing on this film, but not this year. This has been a very weak year in film. Mission Impossible 2 for as many flaws as it has, is one of the best films of the year. That’s pathetic. So when the MI:2 dvd comes out later this year, pick it up. It is what American movies are all about, mindless fun. So would I take Mission Impossible 2 over most action films? You bet. If it was between MI:2 and a lap dance from an elderly woman?
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