Mission: Impossible Woo.

Rating: 6/10 (30 March 2017)

Despite having a more than competent director in Brian De Palma, the first Mission: Impossible movie was a tad disappointing, it's convoluted plot and lack of action leaving this viewer struggling to remain focused. For the follow up, Hong Kong action expert John Woo took the reins, promising to pump some much needed adrenaline into Ethan Hunt's next adventure. But while many of the expected Wooisms are present and correct, the director's trademark high-octane thrills really only kick in in the final act, meaning that much of the film is just as tedious as DePalma's original, albeit thankfully a lot easier to follow.
Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt, spy extraordinaire, whose mission is to convince sexy thief Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie Newton) to resume her relationship with international criminal Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), who has recently acquired the antidote to a deadly virus, and who is now trying to get his hands on the virus itself, hoping to sell the combo to the highest bidder. Helping Hunt on his mission are IMF agents Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Billy Baird (John Polson), the latter acting as comic relief.
All of this is fairly humdrum—the old 'Earth threatened by a deadly virus' plot holds very few surprises—and much of it is silly (I lost count how many times the rubber mask trick came into play), but the film finally delivers the good stuff in the final reel, when Hunt gets to shoot at lots of bad guys, go wheel to wheel with Ambrose in an exhilarating motorcycle battle, and then duke it out with the boo-hiss villain on the beach. It is only then that Woo gets to really show what he is capable of, although the action is a little light on the blood squibs for my liking.
6/10. Marginally more enjoyable than the first film, but still not great.