Impossible not to enjoy

Rating: 7/10 (2 June 2000)

As a Tom Cruise vehicle, this is as good as it gets. As a John Woo flick, this is his best work since leaving the low-budget confines of Hong Kong. A lot of hard work has left Tom a lean, mean, fighting machine, and it shows with stunts and martial arts that we've never seen him perform before. The movie far exceeds its predecessor on the 'impossible' stakes and it is worth seeing for the final motor cycle chase alone. Thandie Newton is quite the sex kitten, and the only real complaint is that they didn't use Ving Rhames's considerable talent enough. Nevertheless, MI:2 is the best action flick you'll see all year: short on storyline, long on action - impossible to miss.
Note: it also continues the long-standing tradition of when a movie is set in Australia, the Sydney Opera House must be shown as many times as possible. So it loses a mark for that.