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#479 - Mission: Impossible II
John Woo, 2000
A secret agent must go up against a rogue agent who is planning to acquire a genetically engineered virus by any means necessary.
Another Mission: Impossible sequel that kind of makes me regret rating the first one so low when I reviewed it a few months ago, Mission: Impossible II is generally considered the weakest film in the franchise. In order to follow up the high-tension balancing act that Brian de Palma did in combining complex plotting with dangerous action sequences worthy of the source series' title and theme music, the powers that be decided to enrol acclaimed Hong Kong action director John Woo. While Face/Off definitely demonstrated that Woo was able to handle a Hollywood picture full of implausible action set-pieces and complex plots involving treachery and face-swapping, that didn't exactly translate all that well when it came to actually making M:I-2. Much like the first film, I was young enough when I first saw it that even now I can't help but look at it through a nostalgia filter, but I don't deny that it's still a very lacklustre film.
Plot-wise, the film treads into Bond territory as it sets up Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) against a former colleague (Dougray Scott) who plans to steal a genetically engineered virus for his own gain. This amounts to recruiting a thief (Thandie Newton) who also happens to be Scott's ex-girlfriend, which is naturally part of the plan to gain information. This makes for one especially contrived romantic love-triangle between these characters that only serves to drag things down a bit rather than generate much in the way of genuine intrigue. All the fun parts are generated by the action more so than any genuine attempts at building suspense or tension. Woo's theatrical sensibilities bleed through into a lot of the scenes, even in scenes that emphasise stuntwork more so than his trademark affinity for gunplay. The opening sequence where Hunt free-climbs a mountain without any gear is still decent enough, though the attempt to do a fancier variation on the cable-drop from the previous film leaves a lot to be desired. The same goes for the film's attempts to emulate Bond with chases involving cars and motorcycles. When the film does occasionally resort to a gunfight, the results are still rather underwhelming even without comparing them against Woo's best work.
Woo's capacity for composing elaborate action scenes that are organically tied together by sufficiently complex stories and characters is part of why several of the films he's directed have ended up becoming favourites of mine. That fondness for his best work extends to me giving M:I-2 something of a pass - at least enough so that I was willing to re-watch it even though I had no reason to expect it had gotten better in the decade or so since I last watched it. Learning that Woo's original rough cut was three-and-a-half hours in length goes some way towards explaining the haphazard development of the plot, with its emphasis on some rather weak characterisation that can't quite be saved by the actors no matter how good they may be. The film also has a tendency to overextend itself, most notably through the franchise's notoriously realistic rubber masks (I'm pretty sure none of the other films relied on masks as much as this one did). Hans Zimmer delivers a rather by-the-numbers early-2000s action film score that mixes his usual fondness for orchestras with elements of nu-metal and flamenco (not at the same time, fortunately). While I can see how people do consider it the worst of the series, I still sort of like it in spite of its many flaws. Not nearly enough for it to even qualify as a guilty pleasure, of course, but it's strangely tolerable for a film that has as many popcorn boxes as it does.
John Woo, 2000
A secret agent must go up against a rogue agent who is planning to acquire a genetically engineered virus by any means necessary.
Another Mission: Impossible sequel that kind of makes me regret rating the first one so low when I reviewed it a few months ago, Mission: Impossible II is generally considered the weakest film in the franchise. In order to follow up the high-tension balancing act that Brian de Palma did in combining complex plotting with dangerous action sequences worthy of the source series' title and theme music, the powers that be decided to enrol acclaimed Hong Kong action director John Woo. While Face/Off definitely demonstrated that Woo was able to handle a Hollywood picture full of implausible action set-pieces and complex plots involving treachery and face-swapping, that didn't exactly translate all that well when it came to actually making M:I-2. Much like the first film, I was young enough when I first saw it that even now I can't help but look at it through a nostalgia filter, but I don't deny that it's still a very lacklustre film.
Plot-wise, the film treads into Bond territory as it sets up Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) against a former colleague (Dougray Scott) who plans to steal a genetically engineered virus for his own gain. This amounts to recruiting a thief (Thandie Newton) who also happens to be Scott's ex-girlfriend, which is naturally part of the plan to gain information. This makes for one especially contrived romantic love-triangle between these characters that only serves to drag things down a bit rather than generate much in the way of genuine intrigue. All the fun parts are generated by the action more so than any genuine attempts at building suspense or tension. Woo's theatrical sensibilities bleed through into a lot of the scenes, even in scenes that emphasise stuntwork more so than his trademark affinity for gunplay. The opening sequence where Hunt free-climbs a mountain without any gear is still decent enough, though the attempt to do a fancier variation on the cable-drop from the previous film leaves a lot to be desired. The same goes for the film's attempts to emulate Bond with chases involving cars and motorcycles. When the film does occasionally resort to a gunfight, the results are still rather underwhelming even without comparing them against Woo's best work.
Woo's capacity for composing elaborate action scenes that are organically tied together by sufficiently complex stories and characters is part of why several of the films he's directed have ended up becoming favourites of mine. That fondness for his best work extends to me giving M:I-2 something of a pass - at least enough so that I was willing to re-watch it even though I had no reason to expect it had gotten better in the decade or so since I last watched it. Learning that Woo's original rough cut was three-and-a-half hours in length goes some way towards explaining the haphazard development of the plot, with its emphasis on some rather weak characterisation that can't quite be saved by the actors no matter how good they may be. The film also has a tendency to overextend itself, most notably through the franchise's notoriously realistic rubber masks (I'm pretty sure none of the other films relied on masks as much as this one did). Hans Zimmer delivers a rather by-the-numbers early-2000s action film score that mixes his usual fondness for orchestras with elements of nu-metal and flamenco (not at the same time, fortunately). While I can see how people do consider it the worst of the series, I still sort of like it in spite of its many flaws. Not nearly enough for it to even qualify as a guilty pleasure, of course, but it's strangely tolerable for a film that has as many popcorn boxes as it does.