pared-down john woo

Rating: 5/10 (29 May 2000)

When I first heard that John Woo was doing another movie, I thought great. When I heard that it was mission: impossible 2, I thought awesome. When I learned on Tuesday before it came out that 40 minutes had been cut out, I became leery. Yes, you heard me right, this is not the director's cut of the movie. OK, maybe it is, but it is not the first cut. Apparently the first cut was patent John Woo with more violence, going for an 'R' rating, and much less romance. It was John Woo, but then the studio brought in a guy who cut 40 minutes out, and added some romance between the two characters. But enough of that, the actual movie review:
This is not John Woo. It had some parts in it that were great, but the movie's pacing was sort of off, and the action scenes were a bit choppy. The rhythm that Woo generally has is absent. See the scene in Face/Off featuring Somewhere over the rainbow for a good example of that, or the church. But Woo is a master, and studios should not tough that. The plot is inane, but I didn't care. My point was that it should have been fun and more intense. Either way, I don't think that I could sit through this again, except for if they restore it. I can't wait for the DVD, maybe they restored the first cut, but until then see Gladiator. I sat through that twice, and would go again.----5