At least the writing is better than Face/Off.

Rating: Null/10 (30 May 2000)

I suppose I won't win any popularity points for saying this, but I actually enjoyed Brian DePalma's concept for the first MI film. The technobabble was present, but not pressing with lots of fun gadgetry and the suspense and intrigue one might associate with a film about espionage. Unfortunately, John Woo flushes all those elements in the first twenty minutes of his Mission Impossible concept. Instead of gadgets, we have everyone running around in latex masks pretending to be someone else, and theatergoers (many of whom didn't look particularly shiny) audibly guessing at the obvious "plot-twists" that the writers of this fetid pile of filmmaking would have us believe passes for intrigue. All I saw was tired, uninspired dialogue with poorly executed timing on the parts of actors who should know better (well, maybe not Dougray Scott - he's not too shiny either). It became very obvious that Paramount spent so much of the film's budget letting John Woo blow sh*t up that they didn't have enough money to hire a decent script doctor. The first half hour, I was wondering when Cruise was going to stop romancing the love interest and start getting on with the mission. In short, a giant waste of time IMHO, but don't take my word for it. One recommendation though, you might rent Armageddon before going to see MI:2 - oh, you remember that one from two summers ago that everyone was carrying on about how lame the story was and how it was an insult to the collective intellect of the masses: yeah, MI:2 makes that look like the Godfather by comparison. Seeing is believing, but I would wait to see MI:2 on video. (4 out of 10 stars)