(John) Woo-hoo!

Rating: 8/10 (9 July 2000)

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to stop a renegade from unleashing a deadly virus on the unsuspecting world. Possibly the most basic plot of all time provides the scaffold on which John Woo hangs the action in this second M:I film.
Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt, sent to steal the Chimera virus back from baddy Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), with the help of master thief Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie Newton).
What follows from this is typical Woo; big explosions and balletic action sequences skillfully blended together. Pure, unadulterated eye candy.
The three principal characters put in workman-like performances although characterisation, like the plot, doesn't seem to have been top of the directors list. Newton especially is relegated to a background roll pretty quickly, although she does provide a pivot around which the last third of the film revolves. Scott as Ambrose is fantastic, although Cruise seems bemused at times by all the action going on around him. An honourable mention must also go to Ving Rhames.
The pace is frantic from start to finish, lagging only when the plot takes even a slight turn or when the next big action sequence is being lined up.
A good film, but not a great one.