John Woo miscast once again

Rating: 2/10 (14 February 2006)

Since arriving in America, John Woo has been miscast in every project. He managed to turn "Face/Off" around by rejecting the futuristic aspects and focusing on the relationship between Cage and Travolta. It is his best US film so far, but that's not saying much. "Mission Impossible 2" is way beyond awful and should have killed the series. It didn't. Woo forces his signature traits between the sprockets, but that only makes them seem outrageously gratuitous. Cruise, as always, plays Tom Cruise, in a self-conscious, vapid "hero" role we could care less about. The action scenes are ridiculous and the one sincere Woo moment (the spinning autos) is nicely staged but totally out of context.