Better than the first part, but I expected much more of John Woo

Rating: 6/10 (12 July 2000)

Agent Ethan Hunt has to stop an enemy agent who stole a killer virus. That`s the (very simple) plot of "M:I-2". It is better than the first part, but I expected much more of John Woo. There was just one of his famous shoot-outs, plus a a car-race, a karate-fight, the freeclimbing-scene and the motorbike-chase. Nearly every action-scene appeared in the last forty minutes. The other time there was the spy-story (thrilled a bit) and the boring lovestory between Tom Cruise and Thandie Newton as jewel-thief Nyah Hall. Boring because the characters Hunt and Hall were unbelievebable flat. Hunt was just a James Bond without irony, Hall was too weak and uncaring for a tough jewel-thief. A very clear sign of the flat characters and the James-Bond-influence is the scene, when Hunt and Hall met for the first time. They lie on each other in house Nyah just broke in (so no guard can see them of course). This scene could appear in every 007-adventure. Why the movie isn`t bad? The last forty minutes. These minutes are full of unbelievebable stunts and breath-taking action. Especially the motorbike-chase showed me, that I was watching a John-Woo-movie.