I know why people want to hate this... and sadly, the complaints are sound

Rating: 6/10 (2 January 2010)

The first was good as a spy thriller, and poor if considered to be related to the show. When this took such a different approach(heck, upon seeing this, some might have realized how great De Palma's attempt was), I can imagine many being disappointed to see it move further away from the series(I'm referring to the original one, which is what I understand to be the best times for this franchise). This is about what we expect from Woo. He does stylistic action really well, and is famous for his particular brand of it, with use of slow-motion that is so effective that he seriously schools anyone in Hollywood in that practice. At best, they can hope to be a pale imitation. He does, however, require something very important(I mean, apart from someone to tell him that, regardless of how awesome it looks... and it does, I'm not arguing that... agents do not, in fact, do over the top Kung Fu kicks and such). And that is a script. Oh, they had one. One written based around the exciting sequences that he wanted to do. Yeah. That's not a positive thing. The plot holes and continuity errors seem to be the result of the finished thing being cut down to almost half its initial length, but, let's be honest, this was never Face/Off. In place of drama and compelling characters, we get an Ethan Hunt that now just appears to be addicted to the rush, and who does insane stunts for *fun*. While the charm is still there somewhat, it's now about the only likable quality to him. You know, the *lead*. The rest of the cast aren't given many attractive traits, either. This also seriously needed to weed out the concept of using masks; for a bit of it, it literally comes off like every scene ends with someone revealing their true identity(typically only to the audience). That makes an otherwise *extremely* straightforward story excessively convoluted. The acting is reasonable, and the villain is cool enough. Editing and cinematography are well-done. The pacing is a letdown, probably mainly because this thing is not all that engaging. This has a well-composed score, and I personally like the new theme by Limp Bizkit, and fans of them most likely will, as well. For some reason, the music video on the DVD is a Metallica song instead. It has an informative director's commentary track(though he doesn't talk all the time, pity), a handful of well-done featurettes, an MTV parody(that I will review on its own page) and alternate opening credits. I recommend this to those into John and/or Tom's movies. 6/10