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When star/producer Tom Cruise and partner Paula Wagner introduced John Woo to the idea of directing the sequel to Brian De Palma's original intricate outing, one could be forgiven for fearing that the $125 million budget would be blown on excessive action and little plot. In fact, the action scenes for Mission: Impossible II were mostly choreographed before the actual screenplay was finished and it was only until script doctor Robert Towne stepped in with actual substance in between the already fine-tuned action sequences that it seemed as if the film had a chance. Towne somehow infused elements of Hitchcock's Notorious into proceedings in a basic story surrounding three main characters: Cruise's hero Ethan Hunt is more combat-orientated than before, Thandie Newton's Nyah Nordoff-Hall is extremely Bondish in her sexuality and submissive mannerisms, and Dougray Scott's Sean Ambrose is the standard megalomaniac with a bothersome Scottish instead of the usual European accent. Conversely though, the whole premise of a romance and espionage hybrid in a Woo picture certainly plays second-fiddle to the Chinaman's action trademark - the flimsy story involving a lethal virus is about as present as the underused Ving Rhames. Indeed, Woo's checklist of visual flair including white doves before combat, slow-motion, and double-fisted pistol shootouts are all present in the glossy adventure and equates to Mission: Impossible II certainly being a bona fide exercise in action and not high level intrigue or suspense.
Woo has seemingly instructed Cruise to leave Hunt's cerebral tactics from the first film at home. The opening rock-climbing sequence is superb and Cruise actually does an excellent job with each of his insanely dangerous stunt scenes. One cannot help but feel however that he is acting like a boy racer who has just passed his driving test - he can be quite a respectable human being until he steps behind the proverbial wheel. With Woo as his director The Cruiser seems to think he has a free reign to go completely extreme on set and attempt amazingly hazardous stunts, making his stuntman redundant in the process. For the sake of screen realism one can understand his stance when it comes to intense filmmaking, especially for a Woo picture, but sometimes you just have to ask yourself if it is completely necessary or worth the risk.
The extras
During the fourteen minutes of "Behind the Mission", Ving Rhames states how the film is "not action for the sake of action!" Was he working on another production? This is mediocre stuff involving the cast's opportunity to pant over how great the film is. "Mission Incredible" is five minutes on the safety precautions of the stunts. "Impossible Shots" is over half an hour of behind-the-scenes footage looking at each action sequence from the film (eleven of the major scenes). John Woo's commentary is pretty respectable but it's completely Cruise-focused - like the introductions on the individual scenes in "Impossible Shots", Woo constantly states how terrified he was of Cruise getting seriously injured. Metallica's "I Disappear" music video is a nice and simple inclusion, the "Alternate Title" is a 35 second waste of time, but "Mission Improbable" is side-splitting. At the 2000 MTV Movie Awards, Ben Stiller pretends to be Tom Cruise's stunt double in an uproarious six minutes with welcome involvement in the hilarity from Cruise and Woo. Stiller pokes fun at Cruise's career gloriously to round off the typical Paramount release.
The summary
An action-heavy journey with beautiful locations and splendid action sequences. Unfortunately it plays out like a rejected Bond adventure with only Cruise's enthusiasm and certain Wooisms rescuing the pure escapade in escapism.
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