Really dumb and lazy film  barely manages to be fun at all

Rating: Null/10 (18 August 2002)

IMF Agent Ethan Hunt is sent on a seemingly impossible mission to capture a destroy the only existing supply of a deadly disease known as Chimera. However a group of terrorists, led by ex-IMF agent Ambrose also want the disease so that they can us it to infect the world as they have already got the only cure. Hunt turns to jewel thief Nyah to help him by infiltrating her ex-lover's (Ambrose) group to spy on them.
John Woo must have thought of the elements he needed to follow up the solid thrills of the original movie. Big action scenes? Yes. Slow-motion? Yes. Plot? Characters? Good theme music? Logic of any kind? Nope  won't be needing those! Or at least that's how it felt. The plot of the first film was clever despite being open to holes  the plot here makes the first one look like a watertight piece of genius! The story only really serves to set up action scenes and the like  I can barely remember the disease and can only recall rubbish action scenes!
For a director like John Woo I knew to expect slow-mo and OTT action, but I didn't know that it would all be so very superficial and weak. For example the car chase where Hunt and Nyah meet is just ridiculous and very annoying. The robbery of the disease is a pale shadow of the original film's robbery scene and the final motorbike chase is good but only a hint of what Woo has done before. The plot overuses the whole `face mask' thing  it must do it about 8 or 9 times  many of those time's there's no way Hunt could have made a mask of the people involved! It's another example of how silly it is.
While Cruise was cool in the first film, here he is slick and tough  an image that doesn't work. He was much better in the first film. Scott is non-existent as a villain and is pretty dull. Newton is sexy but no more than that. Rhames is good and Hopkins has an enjoyable minor role.
Overall this film is an OTT mess. The plot is a shambles and the action scenes are silly and often have no logical reason behind them! The overuse of the face masks just points to the total lack of a good script and Woo's slow motion just feels tired and unimaginative. Only the final action scene is enjoyable, but by then you're ony interesting in turning this off and watching De Palma's much better film instead.