Mission: Impossible II (Widescreen Edition)

Mission: Impossible II (Widescreen Edition)

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DVD Reviews of Mission: Impossible II (Widescreen Edition)

DVD Review: Comparing the first to the second is Mission: Impossible
Summary: 4 Stars

All gripes aside, M:I2 is a good movie, especially for what looked like a mindless action flick compared to the first. The plot is (disappointingly) simple: Tom Cruise reprises his role as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, who is tracking fellow IMF agent Sean Ambrose, played by Dougray Scott. Hunt is trying to recover a fatal genetically-engineered virus which kills whomever it infects within 20 hours. Ambrose has stolen both the virus and its antidote for financial gain, £37,000,000 to be exact. In order to find out Ambrose's plans, Hunt sends his ex-girlfriend, Nyah Hall (whom he has already fallen in love with...and slept with), played by Thandie Newton. Personally, I think the romance between Ethan and Nyah was totally unneccessary. It didn't add much to the plot and it seemed very generic.

At first I didn't like the fact that you know who the bad guy is, until the infiltration scene, where Ethan must sneak into the building where the virus is being kept and detroy them. I realized then why they did it. You see, Ambrose had been Hunt's impersonator (this isn't a spoiler, we find this out early in the movie) and because he know Hunt's way of doing things, it creates a spy vs. spy scenerio where one is always one step ahead of the other one. You never know who's going to come out ahead.

What M:I2 lacks in sophistication and emotional substance, it makes up for with great action and suspense. This comes as no surprise, because that is what John Woo is best known for. The hand-to-hand(-to-flying-kick) fight scenes were really intense. Just when it looks like Ethan's winning, his opponent manages to turn the tables on him, and vice versa. This worked well especially in the final battle.

Woo does overuse use his slow-mos. There's at least one every five minutes. It's almost as if the movie wasn't long enough so he decided to play it in slow-mo. He does use them appropriately however, and they do create the effect he was going for, but they do get a little irritating after a while. His use of colors is a little techno-ish. They are always bright and vibrant no matter what's happening in the movie. He does occationally separate colors to set moods, like blue lights for suspense and things like that, but for the most part the movie is very colorful, certainly a contrast from DePalma's infiltration scene, where everything was black and white for a neutral effect.

The music, by Hans Zimmer, was a bit excessive. Also, I didn't like the techno-metal score alone, but again, it worked very well for Woo's style. I prefer Danny Elfman's more soothing, emotional, percussion-driven score from the first movie; but I will admit, I am a bit biased since Danny Elfman is my favorite composer.

And I can't write this review with out mentioning the chase scenes, which were some of the most exciting I've ever seen outside of a James Bond film. The scene in the beginning where Ethan and Nyah are playing cat-and-dog in their high-class sports cars was intense, especially since they were on on windy cliff-side road and there were actually civilian cars for them to avoid. The motorcycle chase at the end wasn't as original as the train scene in the first M:I, but it was easily just as exciting.

All in all, this is a great movie. It has a great plot, great action scenes, and enough surprises to keep on your toes. I missed the intricate plot twists like in the first M:I, and I didn't exactly walk away from the movie in awe, but it held my interest and kept me on the edge of my seat. Some of the lines were kind of corny, especially Ambrose's, who is basically your run-of-the-mill bad guy, only with some foresight; and as I mentioned before, the romance between Hunt and Hall was useless and hardly integral to the plot, the movie would have worked fine if their relationship remained professional. These things aside Mission: Impossible II stands alone as a fun and exciting film which doesn't disappoint...as long as you don't try comparing it to the first. I only wish Anthony Hopkins had had a bigger part in the film.

P.S. There are a lot of great bonuses on this DVD, along with the typical trailers and music videos, there are also many "making of" videos, including in-depth documentaries on every major stunt (99% of which Cruise did himself...the movie is worth watching just to see the actor do all his stunts, including the scary knife-to-eye scene). Also, as has already been mentioned before, there is the very funny Mission: Improbable from the MTV Movie Awards. (Ben Stiller loves making fun of Tom Cruise, I guess. He did a parody of the first M:I at another MTV Movie Awards)

In closing, I highly recommend this DVD. It's fun to watch, and though lacking in substance, excels in action and enjoyment.

Description of Mission: Impossible II (Widescreen Edition)