Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Cast: Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton, Ving Rhames, Richard Roxburgh, John Polson, Brendan Gleeson, Rade Sherbedgia. Writers: Robert Towne, from a story by Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga. Director: John Woo.
Review by Scott Hunt. Visit me at Movie Hunt http://netdirect.net/~hunt/index.html
Rating: Rating: Near Miss (2 out of 4 stars)
Towne and Woo take some chances with the burgeoning Mission Impossible franchise and I'd like to say they pay off handsomely. Fact is, they might owe you some change back. The pair, under the supervision of producer Tom Cruise, have tried to make the movie more intimate, cutting down the multi-character team concept of the series and previous film, into an american version of the Bond franchise. It's a star turn for Cruise and he projects a sinewy sexiness with the material at hand. It's just a shame he didn't have more to work with.
In paring down unessential elements, Towne neglected to strengthen what was left. Relationships are left one sided and motivations are murky. They've tried to make a humanistic spy film, but stopped short of fleshing out the characters. Even the main story is simplistic, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Mission Impossible agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is called upon to recover a package stolen by renegade IMF agent Sean Ambrose (Scott). IMF knows nothing about the package, save it is of value and a potential threat to the world. In a prickly meeting with his supervisor (an unbilled and Machiavellian flavored Anthony Hopkins), Hunt is told he can assemble any IMF members he deems necessary to his mission, but first and foremost, he must enlist the aid of master thief, Nyah Hall (Newton). Eventually, we're shown that the package is the antidote to a lethal super virus code named Chimera, which was developed under the supervision of an evil pharmaceutical supervisor. Ambose aims to loose the virus upon the world, holding the only cure in is possession. It's not the most muscular of premises, but it's solid and has potential.
Rather than have the audience simply "oh" and "ah" at the special effects, Towne has admirably tried to set up some intriguing character motivations. Hunt and Ambrose have a history from their IMF days. It's one filled with mutual dislike and perhaps a touch of jealousy on Ambrose's part. Nothing more is said about it. Ambrose has a homicidal hatred of Hunt and properly explored, could have given their confrontations far more impact that good guy fights the bad guy. It's a tango performed with shoelaces tied. It's a dance of death in which both sides stumble. Why does Ambrose hate Hunt so? What made him leave IMF? Was Cruise recruited to go after him because of the unspoken past history? These are questions left unanswered.
Ambrose is unremarkable in his villainy. He is simply a petulant, greedy and clever man. He isn't given any idiosyncrasies that make him particularly fearsome or memorable. Seeing Hopkins brief visage, I couldn't help but think of the menace of his Hannibal Lechter character and how this film could have benefited from such a chill inducing villain. Instead we're treated to meglomaniac-lite.
Cruise and Newton not only are requisite gorgeous to look at, they draw you in with their "you are my soul mate" looks they give each other. They share a primal attraction that is tastefully shown. There are no shots of bare breasts, or lingeringly filmed, titillating sex scenes. They don't seek to learn much from each other, content to bask in each other's presence. If not for the strength of Cruise's personality and the waif-like vulnerability of Newton, the scenes, wispy as they are, could have fallen flat. As it stands, there is a certain charm to watching their interaction. Heaving a huge stone into pond of their relationship is the revelation that Nyah once was Ambrose's lover. Instead of this fact causing a ripple effect with later events, it makes nary a splash.
Another misstep by Towne and Woo is that we aren't shown why Nyah would have been attracted to Ambrose. Because of this, their encounters are drained of dramatic tension. Just as with Hunt and Ambrose, the dramatic impact is dulled by not having more back story on the pair. For Ambrose's part, his attraction seems based upon a pure animal lust, evidenced in an almost comical scene where Nyah disrobes in front of him and his jaw drops in glassy eyed lust. I felt as if I was watching the Big Bad Wolf sizing up Goldilocks.
At times, the scenes of exposition with the characters becomes clock watchingly slow. Fortunately the action scenes, which are back loaded at the end of the movie are gripping, beautiful and just plain fun to watch. Hunt breaks into the pharmacy company in a sequence that whispers of the memorable Pentagon break-in scene in the first Mission Impossible movie. Hunt, time and again, dispatches foes with Woo's trademark, slow motion, ballet style martial arts. Here's where the film really flexes it's muscles.
Woo throws it all at us, explosions, car chases, motorcycle chases, two fisted gun battles underscored by classical music, each done in his distinctive style. Older time Woo fans will smile knowingly at his usage of religious backdrops and birds on the wing. There's an engrossing fight between Hunt and Ambrose that is thrilling not just due to the camera work, which shows you the impact of each blow, but the lack of music. It's a mano a mano fight where all that is heard for periods are the sounds of kicks landing and grunts of pain. Hunt doesn't dispatch Ambrose easily. It's fight in which there is a sense of failure on Hunt's part, no mean feat.
In stripping away the team feel of the movie, Ving Rhames, in particular gets the proverbial short end of the stick. A resourceful and powerful screen presence, he is reduced to being a one dimensional sidekick. It's painful to see the big man shoehorned into such a miniscule role. His character seems to be around only as a link to the first film. Despite it's flaws, his portrayal of a good agent finding redemption was a nice side story to the first film.
MI:2 is a fun, thrilling to watch film when it's not dragging itself through the mire of exposition. With the talents behind such films as Chinatown (Towne), the Killer and Face/Off (Woo), I expected a bit more. It's entertaining fare, but hardly the stuff of memorable movie going.
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