More entertaining but less captivating

Rating: 6/10 (10 September 2015)

As this movie is a sequel, it would be very hard to not succumb to the temptation of comparing MI2 with the first installment of the series. Personally thinking, I much prefer the first one which was deep and kept me in throughout the story. This one is more raw and gives much less space to brains.
The biggest fault is the plot which is as most basic as we can get. This is all about stunts and shooting. While it's beautifully shot with slow motions and fireworks, leave your brain home because the storyline is inexistent and we already know who are the good and bad guys since the very first scene of the movie. Brian De Palma had the good taste of keeping the suspense to the very end, revealing who was the real bad guys at the very last scenes. But here there is no suspense. We all know how this gonna end. This is a John Woo movie and Brain movies are not really his style. This cost him the 4 points.
But Mr Woo is also an expert on action staging and this is what saved this movie. The action scenes are beautifully shot, a lot of them in slow motion which is one of the pillars of John Woo style. Those make the movie quite enjoyable to see. The pace is high and keeps us entertained. The locations are breathtaking (Grand Canyon, Sevilla and Australia). With John Woo, everything is focused on the visual and MI2 is not an exception to this rule. The casting performance is not that bad either even if Ethan Hunt lost a lot of personality between the two movies.
So here it is. I give it a 6 out of 10 which is not a bad mark but not an excellent one either. I would have wished this movie to be smarter but John Woo sacrificed it for fun which is not a bad idea if you want to enjoy a nice moment at the theater but is if you wish your movie to be remembered.