Mission: Impossible Stunts 2

Rating: 3/10 (12 March 2009)

Mission: Impossible 2 is loaded with stunts. From the very first sequence, this movie is jam-packed with action and gravity-defying stunts. Too much for its own good, as a matter of fact.
First of all, let's start with the simple fact that Tom Cruise cannot act that well. He's decent, but never convincing in his role. His romantic interest, played by Thandie Newton, was absolutely horribly cast! I've never heard such unnaturally stressed sentences before! The only bright spot in the entire cast is Dougray Scott as the villain. The rest of the cast is either flat-out terrible or just mediocre.
Now the plot: it was O.K. Trouble is, it called for one trick far too often. Countless times during the film, someone puts on a flesh mask and with an electronic device alter their voices, and pass themselves off as someone else. Now, the first time this was done, it was flat-out great! But by the time people began impersonating dead people, it got far too predictable and asinine.
John Woo's direction? He focused mainly on the stunts, which I have to admit, were pretty good. But he's no "acclaimed action director" like it says on the back of the DVD box. He's a second unit who got lucky!
Yes, I was fooled by the nice DVD box that this was a movie worth buying. I hope no one else makes the same mistake.