Mission: Impossible II

This movie was a lot more exciting when I was 17, before I went to university and studied film. While there, I took an Asian Cinema class and now I see just how much of a Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo is. The cinematography and action of “Mission: Impossible II” is very reminiscent of Hong Kong cinema. These days, the movie is unfortunately not as good as the first film because unlike the first film, we known too much that the characters don’t. The action and not the story is the central feature of this movie. There is also an overuse of slow motion and quick zooms. "Mission: Impossible II" is the one blemish in an otherwise well-crafted action movie franchise.

Hong Kong action films uses a lot of flashy stunts. During fight sequences, the villain is standing conveniently still and this gives the hero the chance to hit him in slow-motion. Fast zooms are also typical in Hong Kong action cinematography. We see all these elements in “Mission: Impossible II” and after seeing the film multiple times, they become a little silly. A good action film is fun every time you watch it because the story does its part to entertain alongside the action and this movie is less exciting for me after numerous viewings. In the first film, we really had to pay attention to the story. This mission starts out with our heroes a little in the dark but the audience for the most part is not. This sequel gave the audience too much info so as to be one step ahead of those on screen. Things weren’t as fun as in the original film. “Mission: Impossible II” also overused the story device of masks. Now that I have given my criticism, I will point out some good qualities of the film. I like the song choice for Ethan’s reintroduction as he is rock climbing. Tom Cruise does much of his own stunts like on the first film and this trend would continue in the franchise, getting more impressive with each instalment. I find that a fun element of the five films. Ethan Hunt becomes more like James Bond in this sequel due to the love interest. I believe Nyah decides to help Ethan stop Shawn Ambrose because she really does like Ethan and wants Shawn to pay for the lives he took. I am really glad that Luther is reprised in the sequel. He was an entertaining part of the original film. Ethan and the IMF think that Shawn has Chimera but in fact he only has the cure. If they kill the virus, they win. Once Shawn becomes aware of Ethan’s presence and Nyah’s espionage, he sees the opportunity to kill Ethan when they both sneak in to Biocyte. Shawn needs the virus that he didn’t get from Nekhorvich and Ethan needs to destroy it. I don’t mean to toot my own horn but I could tell that Nyah was going to inject herself and that was a pretty good twist. I knew it was coming because I watched the Disney movie "Hocus Pocus" as a kid. I also like the “death” of Ethan but how did the characters change clothes so fast? Hans Zimmer is the composer of the film’s score and he did a nice job portraying the desired feel of this sequel. Because of the female vocalist, the score had some resemblance to that of “Gladiator”, which Zimmer composed the same year. My favorite part of “Mission: Impossible II” was Sir Anthony Hopkins’ cameo. His gives us one of the best lines in the franchise: "this isn't Mission: Difficult…it's Mission: Impossible". When you compare what the other films in the franchise have to offer, that line is about all that the second film can offer to match. Hopkins really played his character well. I had first seen Brendan Gleeson in “Braveheart” five years earlier but in this movie, I didn’t recognize him. That is a compliment to him.

This was the highest grossing film of 2000 but don't let that fool you. “Mission: Impossible II” may have some good points and it was fun to watch the first time but after a while, it has lost much of its appeal because of its glamorized action and over-the-top cinematography. As the franchise has continued, there have been no references to the events of this sequel and none of its new characters were reprised in later films. In other cases, Benji has been in every film since the third installment and Brandt was carried over from the fourth film into the fifth. It seems that those in charge of this franhise now realize that mistakes were made in the making of "Mission: Impossible II" The story was not as fun as the original film. This show is what happens when Hong Kong cinema meets Hollywood and the result was only moderate. Fortunately, the franchise was not over.

3 Stars