A step backward after the first film but makes you look forward to the next

Rating: Null/10 (30 March 2001)

There can't have been that many magicians in Sydney when the MI:2 team arrived to film. How else can you explain so few doves in a John Woo film. Slo-mos? Yep, they're here. Double gun action? Check. Check. The feeling that Woo is taking his material a shade too seriously? Definitely present and correct. And that's the problem. Woo is in danger of becoming like Tim Burton: a director so recognised for a particular genre and style that he comes perilously close to parodying it whenever he makes a movie. But this movie has about as much to do with Woo as it does to do with knitting. This is a Tom Cruise movie. More than that. It's a Tom Cruise movie produced by Tom Cruise. And while focus is mainly on giving the audience excitement and bang for their buck, the fact that every shot makes it abundantly clear that Cruise is doing all his own stunts gives you some idea of who the main participant is.
Now I liked the first movie. I know some don't. I know they find it too complex/too different from the series/too implausible. Well, tough. I thought it was excellent and was really looking forward to this. The fact that Woo was being given the reigns only added to the anticipation. The result is pacey, exciting and breathtaking. Sometimes. But nowhere near often enough.
This doesn't look like your normal movie. It's brighter. Clearer. Most of the lighting is natural and it gives the movie a very odd, almost comic book feel. The work of Jack Kirby rather than Frank Miller. Action movies have never looked this MTV and as an advert for film making in the Antipodes, (the film is set and shot in Sydney) it does more than Muriel's Wedding, The Piano and The Matrix put together. And it also gives you a clue as to the target audience. This movie was rated 12 in the UK and it shows in every frame. It's action without consequence. No entry wounds. As little blood as possible. And with instantly disposable bad guys that are as nasty as possible with out being nasty enough to want to emulate. This isn't automatically a bad thing but it's like comparing Westlife to U2. Alright in a safe, disposable sort of way but the grown ups are doing bigger and better things.
As much as Woo would like to think this is a romance, it ain't. You can see him trying to inject emotion and pathos into this story but the script just isn't strong enough and the middle drags forever. An opening air hijacking promises much and gets the blood pumping but then Woo seems to potter about for an hour waiting for something to keep him occupied. Just when one aspect gets good, something drops it down a peg. Key example: Cruise drops from a helicopter down a vertical air-shaft to wipe out the remains of the dread virus. And then spends 10 minutes walking around at Michael Myers pace instead of moving with more appropriate expediency and getting the job done in 2. It's not necessarily a problem with the plot. It features some clever twists and turns and generally keeps moving throughout but Robert Towne can write better dialogue than this. Ving Rhames pops up to keep fans happy and is then totally marginalised. Thandie Newton looks gorgeous but she's a little too wooden for comfort. The same could be said for Tom. Both of them are great actors but they're just spinning their wheels here. Dougray Scott's evil glint of barely controlled mania makes him the ideal foil for Cruise's clean cut hero and is easily the best part of the film. An evil leer is never off his lips but he lapses into panto bad guy just when we need true dispicableness. In short, we've seen all this before and we've seen it better. Hans Zimmers guitar led score is pretty damn pulse quickening though. Even if the occasional lapses into Enya-ism's and flamenco don't quite match the on-screen carnage.
But cometh the final act, cometh the action maestro. Doves, slo-mos, wooshing sound effects and all. If the middle 60 minutes go interestingly yet wearingly slowly, the final 30 assaults you with the energy of a bottle of lucozade and the force of a battering ram. With the last vestiges of plot quickly and neatly removed, Woo pulls in his stunt team and merrily explodes the set with gay abandon. If you saw anything you liked from the trailer, this is where it comes from. And yes, Cruise does his own stunts and looks too damn cool doing them. Perhaps not since Goldfinger has the life of an international espionage agent looked this enticing. Dark shades, leather jacket, loaded 9mm and black motorbikes fitted as standard. I wonder if MI5 are recruiting...
Of all his Hollywood films this is clearly Woo's most blatantly commercial. Every time Cruise is in frame he looks like a warrior god. Every time Newton walks down a street her derriere swings like a pendulum. A case of style over substance? More like cash over credibility. But does that make a bad film? No not really, just not a great one. It proves beyond doubt that this is a franchise with phenomenal potential, but maybe Cruise should let his ego take a back seat next time. If they really do rope Ang Lee or Oliver Stone in for part 3 then hopefully he'll just give them the money and let them get on with it rather than make sure he looks good in close up.