"You've gotta be kidding."

Rating: 5/10 (2 June 2000)

This distressingly inept no-brainer is not only a bad sequel - it's a bad film in its own right. The essential problem is a mismatch of talents. Robert Towne is a wonderful writer, and this "Notorious" knock-off might have worked in a different franchise, but as a "Mission: Impossible" scenario it's too dated, too simple and too slow. Similarly, John Woo is master of a certain kind of action, and he shines momentarily in the few opportunities the script gives him, but for the rest of the time he's struggling. The result is a film that's plain boring. Ugly and boring. Hans Zimmer's rhythmic score is about the only thing to keep you interested. But even that fails in the tragic/romantic moments when Zimmer shamelessly rips-off his own work from "Gladiator" and thereby suddenly makes you realize how emotionally disengaging this film is by comparison. For Australian audiences, "M:I-2" offers some particularly exquisite tortures: a great actor like Richard Roxburgh murdering a South-African (?) accent; well-known Sydney locations trying to pass for Seville; and the mind-boggling casting of John Polson which, in retrospect, is probably quite appropriate - the finished film has the amateurish look and feel of a mediocre entry for 'Tropfest'. It gives us nothing we haven't seen before and considerably less than we deserve. Doing a better job wouldn't have been impossible. Not even difficult. It just would've required better judgement.