Film Review: Mission: Impossible II (2000)

(NOTE: Capsule version of the review is available here.)

If in 1996 someone had claimed that the sequel to Mission: Impossible, the major cinematic hit directed by Brian de Palma, would be helmed by legendary Hong Kong director John Woo, many would have greeted the news with approval. Four years later, however, most would be far more cautious, given that Woo’s Hollywood output in the 1990s, to put it mildly, amounts to a string of disappointments (with the exception of Face/Off), and his subsequent reputation sat somewhere on par with Michael Bay, Tony Scott, and other directors from Jerry Bruckheimer’s stable. Mission: Impossible 2 waited nearly three years to enter production—not only because lead actor Tom Cruise was occupied filming Eyes Wide Shut, but also because he sought to transform Mission: Impossible 2 into his personal project, aiming to prove to every studio executive that his mere presence could guarantee a summer blockbuster. By all accounts, he succeeded, judging by the film’s outstanding commercial results—though the $200 million earned in the American market might also be attributed to a relentless marketing campaign, bolstered by constant rotations of Metallica and Limp Bizkit music videos on MTV and similar channels.

The plot kicks off when scientist Dr. Nekhorvich (Rade Šerbedžija), who designed the deadly ‘Chimera’ virus, decides to infect himself with it to test an antidote called ‘Bellerophon’. The plane he’s flying to Atlanta, where he intended to present his findings to American authorities, becomes a target for hijackers who kill him and all passengers, stealing the antidote. The top-secret government agency IMF decides to activate its best agent, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), tasked with retrieving the antidote and preventing a gang led by former IMF agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) from seizing ‘Chimera’ and using it to blackmail the world. A fortunate coincidence is that Ambrose once had a romantic liaison with expert thief Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie Newton), so IMF bosses believe they can exploit this connection to extract vital information and the ‘Bellerophon’ antidote via Ambrose’s bedroom. Hunt manages to contact Nyah and, after much persuasion, convinces her to accept the mission. The problem is that he himself has meanwhile succumbed to Nyah’s charms, meaning jealousy will render this mission truly impossible.

Mission: Impossible II is one of those films that simply isn’t what it should have been. Firstly, this film was meant to be a cinematic adaptation of the cult 1960s TV series of the same name, yet it completely discards the key elements of all its episodes. The teamwork of IMF agents is discarded in favour of Cruise’s ego, as he prefers playing the lone hero. The intricate plots from the original series are replaced with an idiotically simplistic and highly predictable scenario (Robert Towne himself admits he crafted the entire screenplay around the action sequences previously conceived by John Woo), riddled with illogicalities and implausibilities that fall below even the usual standards for a Hollywood summer blockbuster.

Some critics (including Roger Ebert, ever partial to such Hollywood ventures) have argued that Ethan Hunt, as envisioned by Tom Cruise, could represent a modern replacement for the long-outdated James Bond. Of course, this disaster doesn’t even reach Bond’s ankles, as the Bond formula is applied superficially and inconsistently. We get a couple of exotic locations and a few interesting hi-tech gadgets, but both the Bond-style villain (portrayed by Dougray Scott as an easily forgettable and poorly executed caricature) and the Bond girl (Thandie Newton, known to us from Jefferson in Paris) fall far short of Bond’s standards. To compound matters, Towne, Cruise, and Woo completely discard Bond’s hedonism and amorality, instead subjecting us to an unconvincing and nauseating romantic subplot responsible for some of the most cringe-worthy dialogue heard in recent years.

Woo, on the other hand, injects the film with his customary dose of top-notch choreographed shootouts, along with a couple of car and motorcycle chases—but all of this becomes predictable and tiresome long before the closing credits roll. In short, packed cinemas demonstrate that the marketing campaign for Mission: Impossible II was far more successful than the film itself, granting it an audience it scarcely deserves as a prime example of Hollywood dross.

RATING: 2/10 (-)

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