Tom Cruise's charisma can only take this,overly mind numbingly stupid sequel,so far.

Rating: 6/10 (29 December 2009)

Mission Impossible II is full of cool looking Action stunts,Tom looks completely cool in his Leather Jacket,long hair,with his sunglasses,yet the film bored me half the time,rather then thrilling me. I have never been a big fan of John Woo's,I often find many of his films to be overblown,and unexciting,in fact the only film I've liked of his,is Face Off. Mission Impossible II is no different. It's overly loud,brash and not sophisticated like the 1st one was. Mission Impossible managed to thrill us,with perfectly orchestrated suspense,here it turns into an action lovers feast. There're shootouts,Tom and Dougray wrestling around on motorcycles,Tom avoiding bullets,unfortunately it's all highly unrealistic looking,and took away a lot of enjoyment for me. The fight scene near the end though,is shockingly well done. Tom showed quite the acrobatic skills,despite no Martial Arts training what so ever,it was all done to perfection. I also enjoyed how Thandie Newton's character was developed. She's completely unpredictable as Nyah|A bit too much at times,if you asked me| mysterious,we never know where she truly stands until the halfway point.
Mission Impossible II entertains at some points,but it's just much too stupid for it's own good,completely brainless stuff.
Performances. Tom Cruise's charisma is able to make this film a lot better then it should be. He is the epitome of cool here,walking around with a black leather jacket,expensive sunglasses,his hair all done up,he looks like a bad ass. Ethan Doesen't have the depth that he does in the 1st film,and this completely hurts Tom In the long run. Tom,however is able to bring his own brand of acting to Ethan this time around,to give us a character we can root for. His chemistry with Newton was also on the money. Thandie Newton is certainly good looking,that's for sure. As far as her acting is concerned,she managed to do a pretty adequate job,making her character as unpredictable as it comes. Dougray Scott is a decent villain. He's somewhat bland,but managed to get the job done when it counted. Ving Rhames is too cool for school. He added class,just like he did in the 1st. Richard Roxburgh is decent as Stamp,I liked his style for the most part. John Polson is funny as the other team member,basically the comic relief though. Brendan Gleeson is decent in his shady written part. Rade Serbedzija has a memorable accent,I'll say that.
Bottom Line. Mission Impossible II is a failure as far as a followup goes. On it's own it's a mildly entertaining sequel at best,I'll say it again,having John Woo at the helm was a big mistake. Worth a look,but don't expect the original,and you might wanna bring some aspirin with you,due to the utter stupidity of the plot sometimes.
6/10