Much, much worse than the first one.

Rating: Null/10 (25 December 2000)

When I sat down to see M:I-2 my expectations weren't very high, the trailers I'd seen didn't seem to promise much. Still, after having seen the film I was quite baffled over how enormously bad this movie was. The first M:I film was criticised for having a plot that was very hard to follow and this one certainly is no improvement.
From the very beginning I found myself wondering a lot of what, why, and who's until I just didn't care anymore. The villain's reason for doing what he is doing, (and just what that is), is never really properly explained. And while I felt that the first film at least was shot in an appealing way and added a dark touch to the secret agent story, M:I-2 is nothing but an orgy in effects and Woo's unimaginative, and ugly, slow motion action sequences. To call it action is probably an overstatement too as nothing really happens for the first hour of the film.
Those who expect to see some cool gadgets will also be disappointed since the film just contains a multitude mask changes and the same kind of Cruise-hanging-from-a-rope scene from the first film. As for Cruise's character Ethan Hunt, he has gone from being an agent to a comic book action hero with superhuman powers. In general, the film and characters are just silly, and the ending looks more like it belongs in a Steven Seagal flick.
As 1 is the lowest rating on IMDb, that's what I give it, but of course it's really too high.