Warmed over Woo fails to escalate a very buff Tom above typical action movie plotting and execution.

Rating: 1/10 (24 May 2000)

I thought the first Mission Impossible movie was awful -- this was an improvement but only marginally so. The movie starts well, with Cruise tredding on James Bond territory but as the movie wears on the somewhat interesting plot gets disposed of in favor of typical action movie cliche. Instead of building suspense we get no less than 4 "countdown clock" sequences. The supporting cast is wasted in this Cruise vanity project -- they barely contribute to the mission at all. Woo doesn't really attempt anything new here -- it's been a bit of deja vu with him since the fabulous "Killers". My real complaint is for the use of the computer graphic "masks" that play a prominent part in the plot. It's a far too convenient plot mechanism designed to move the story forward -- and very arbitrarily at that. It reminds me of how grade school students might write their way out of a story -- deux ex machinas!! This from the great Robert Towne and Brannon Braga (of Star Trek TNG fame). Smells like writing by committee. Mission Implausible Too.