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Mission: Impossible 2

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A Techtite Review

The Film : When the first Mission Impossible movie was released, there was a lot of flak about it. Some even jested that understanding the plot, in itself, was "Mission Impossible." Lots of tongues started wagging when Tom Cruise took it upon himself to help produce a "better" sequel, along with film director John Woo. The end result is, indeed, much easier to understand than the first...though not any better.

The story involves a virus stolen by a mercenary pretending to be Agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise). The villain does this with the same "mask" technology we saw in the first film, which is the start of this sequel's many mistakes. After the first film, as well as Face-Off, this mask effect has pretty much run its course. It also hasn't done much, in the past 5 or so years, to enhance its plausibility, even as science-fiction. Could anyone just don a mask, and a "voice chip," and be Tom Cruise? Can I get this mask on special order?

It's imperative for our heroes to find the stolen virus, and destroy it. Aiding the real Agent Hunt in this case are three operatives. One of them is Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, who's the only other member of the original film's cast to return in the sequel (no surprise there; most of the other co-stars were either arrested or killed). There's a second operative --I forget the name-- who's apparently on hand merely for an Aussie accent, for scenes filmed in Australia. In addition, there's "expert thief" Nyah Hall, played by Thandie Newton. Newton doesn't seem very involved in her role at all, which is unfortunate, when the suspense of the entire final reel revolves around empathy for her character. Such empathy is greatly diminished, due to a not so stellar performance.

One amusing difference from other Hollywood films, is the way the film makes Australia the target of the terrorism, and not the U.S. itself. People native to Australia should have filmed these scenes, though; not John Woo. While I'm not an expert in the geography of Australia, most of the action seems to be miles away from any major city, if filmed in Australia at all. This affects any feeling of suspense, and when the final battle occurs on a beach --with no sign of civilization for miles and miles-- the overall feeling is, "So what?" Aussies may know this beach as being just 5 minutes from civilization as they know it, though there's no sign of it in the film. This final battle should have occurred right in downtown Sydney, yet it wasn't. For all we know, this could be the backyard of the producer's beach home. So much for building up suspense.

On the other hand, this is belittling the scenes that do work in the film. There are enough suspenseful moments, gadgets, gizmos, and "impossible missions" to make the film worth a matinee ticket. Its chase scenes are acceptable, as are the shoot-outs and other staples of action film making. This might be a disappointment to some, yet acceptable to others just looking for typical summer movie fluff. Things blow up, bad guys get shot like Swiss cheese, and all the good guys live...yay!

In truth, the biggest flaw here is that this film has to follow the likes of Gladiator. While MI:2 was supposed to be the opening of the summer movie season, it was already begun several weeks earlier, and action film fans have Russel Crowe fresh in their minds. Special FX are snazzy enough, and the appeal of the main cast (and an amusing cameo by Anthony Hopkins) pulls the film firmly into the marginal- thumbs- up region. Even so, the script and suspense of this second "M.I." film could've been much better. On the bright side of things, it's far better than the first!

The DVD : First the specs for the film itself, as offered on the DVD: Widescreen anamorphic format, Dolby Surround Sound, and closed captioning available for the hearing impaired. The commentary offered is by director John Woo, though I would've appreciated a more contributive comment track, from Tom Cruise, Anthony Hopkins, and the like. Gee, guys; it's not like two hours in a sound booth, talking about your film, is an "impossible mission" in itself!

There is, however, a 15 minute "Behind the Mission" special, which offers exclusive cast and crew interviews. Such interviews included are of John Woo, Tom Cruise, the stunt coordintator and others. A five-minute "Mission Incredible" featurette offers a look at the stunts performed for the film. Metallica's "I Disappear" music video is also preserved on the disc, as well as an alternate title sequence. Lastly, and perhaps most enjoyable of all, is a clip showing the amusing parody of the film titled "Mission Improbable," as shown on the MTV Movie Awards show. The skit includes John Woo, Tom Cruise and...Ben Stiller! One of the more inspired skits for any awards telecast leads to this being a DVD you may want to check out, presuming you liked the film itself.

	Final Rating : Small Crater. Better than the first, though it still has a way to go, before it truly salutes the classic TV series as it should...
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