Impressive? Impossible!

Rating: Null/10 (25 May 2000)

Obviously, J. Woo has seen the film "Matrix", perhaps more than once. But his attempt to duplicate the brilliant cinematographic style of "Matrix" falls on its face, flat and embarrassed in MI-2. Woo is also too much enamored of a dramatic device he overworked in "Face-Off," and works to death here - so much that scenes intended to shock gasps from the audience are instead stiflingly predictable.
This was NOT a joyful romp of special effects and fireworks - the action sequences could have been lifted untouched from James Bond episodes filmed in 1967. The movie features (grab something now) a car chase! Some explosions! Guns firing! Oooo!!
Neither plot nor editing had the least sheen of imagination; the entire production is the stale amalgamation of worn out thriller cliches. And forget the dialogue. Even Marvel comic books have dialogue more representative of how people actually speak, or feel (of course, selecting Tom Cruise for a role requiring emotion demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of Tom Cruise' thespian abilities).
No surprises (Woo thought he was creating some, but alas, his situations all had only one possible outcome, glaringly apparent, unless he was willing to abandon the deep rutted paths of Hollywood narrative and do something imaginative. He never did).
Pass this one up - believe me, you aren't missing a thing.