Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
2000 was a weird time. I was 16 years old and I feel like I was the target audience for a lot of the "cool", "edgy" stuff that was done. Remember the fonts used in that year? The ones that come to mind when I think of that year are some variations of monospace families. I found a fun resource for fonts in use in the 2000s that shows off some of what I mean.
So of course Mission: Impossible 2's mission was to make an edgy, cool movie. 1996's Mission: Impossible had great action sequences, yeah, but it was more of an intellectual spy thriller (I love that movie). You gotta make something cooler than that to hit bigger audiences.
I'm guessing based entirely on feelings here, it's not rooted in any actual fact. What I do know is how I feel about the movie, which is: it's not a good movie at all.
Except that after watching it in full for the first time last weekend, I think there is a decent movie hidden beneath the slow motion sequences and motorcycle fight1.
My memory of this film is that it's basically Tom Cruise doing everything by himself2. That's sort of true, but upon a re-watch he does rely on a small support team that contribute to the overall plan in their own way. Cruise is just the one that does all the hard stuff. That's consistent with the other films in the series, although I don't think the team has ever been as fully involved as it was in the first movie when they were breaking into the CIA vault.
But the plot is decent enough. The MacGuffin is a deadly virus that was created, and subsequently stolen so that a pharmaceutical company could make tons of money by releasing the virus and being the only ones with said cure. That's pretty evil but frankly in line with how pharmaceutical companies actually conduct business. The motivation for the antagonist (Scott) is purely money. Not revenge or anything - he just wants to make A LOT OF MON-AY3.
What brings the movie down for me are the action sequences. There is far too much slow motion used here; I'm not sure why they brought John Woo onto the project (that production note is missing from the Wikipedia entry), but the movie feels like a parody of everything he's known for. There's a strong presence of characters wearing each others' faces which seems derivative of Face/Off (I haven't seen that, and now I want to) but is consistent with Woo's general themes in his movies.
But what happens is that the sequences are drawn out far too long - you don't need a couple of cars spinning around excruciatingly slowly 5 times with character reactions spliced in between. But that's what we get.
I think the writing could have been tighter, and Cruise probably shouldn't have been a Ninja Warrior in the film, but overall the bones are there for a good film. The sequence at the race track is low-key thrilling, and the action sequences that AREN'T delivered in slow motion are great.
I've hated the idea of watching this movie for a long time, and it's still the worst film in my rankings of the others, but for a piece Of Its Time it's worth a watch.
Now this morning I think I'm going to listen to the 1996 soundtrack because that score was amazing and you're never going to get me to listen to Limp Bizkit's interpretation of the M:I theme ("Take A Look Around") ever again.
Reply by email Share this post Mastodon Bluesky
Yeah, if you haven't seen it, go watch it for the ridiculous fight sequences if nothing else. The action sequences are top notch and are very well done. Be warned, Dougray Scott is not enjoyable in this film - although that serves to make him into a very hateable antagonist.↩
Including appearing to free solo a mountain (in reality, he wore a harness and wires, but no safety net). Apparently Cruise insisted on this sequence, which I guess is the first "crazy stunt I have to do" moment he's known for now.↩
Exaggerate that line in your head with a thick Scottish accent.↩