Now it's time for explosions and gunfire!

Rating: 7/10 (1 February 2016)

"Mission: Impossible 2" is to "Mission: Impossible" what "Aliens" is to "Alien". Which is to say, it's almost nothing like it.
The first film was a mystery. This film's plot is mostly known before the opening credits. In the first film, Ethan Hunt subverted the enemy with masks, floppy disks, and laptops. Here, he does it with Berrettas, Glocks, and grenades. In the first film, Ethan is an all American overachiever. Here, he's a wannabe James Bond.
In short, the first film was directed by Brian De Palma, and has his style all over it. This film is directed by John Woo, master of guns and doves, and it's one of his most creatively un stifled American films. How much you enjoy this movie is pretty much dependent upon whether you find Woo's signature blend of slow-motion gun play, campy melodrama, and unlikely bird nests enjoyable or not.
It's certainly fair to say Hollywood wasn't kind to Woo, and this was his second to last American release. Indeed, this film seemed to make Woo a household name, and it's filled with all his hallmarks, which were largely ridiculed afterwards.
Worthy of ridicule? Probably, but hardly unenjoyable. Displaying even more debt to Alfred Hitchcock than the original film, this one "borrows" entire scenes and dialogue bits from Hitchcock's Notorious. Ripoff doesn't do it justice. This is an unlicensed remake.
Now, there are worse films you could rip off than Notorious. Unfortunately, both films premise of a woman going undercover at the request of her government agent lover to spy on an ex-boyfriend with nefarious plans isn't helped here by the ludicrous relationship between Tom Cruise's Hunt and Thandie Newton's character. James Bond-ish sexual innuendos and "fooling around" is somewhere along the line confused with romance. They exchange bad sexually-charged puns, get in a car chase, get laid, and five minutes later they're having lover's quarrels like an old married couple. It also doesn't help that the two have no chemistry whatsoever.
The only thing holding the film's central premise together is Dougray Scott as the film's villain, and Newton's ex-lover. While Cruise and Newton flatline, Scott looks like he's having way too much fun playing his renegade IMF agent as one part Bond villain, one part Hannibal Lectre, and one part abusive boyfriend. He's a butt-hurt psycho with a snarly grin and slightly unfocused, dead eyes. He sells the entire love triangle even though he's only one third of it.
Whereas the first film subverted the structure and characters of the TV series, this film seems to be content to just ignore it, and be an adaptation in name and rubber mask only. Like the first film, this is not an ensemble, but a star vehicle for Cruise.
Back to the story... Hunt is climbing a cliff in Utah without a rope for fun when a helicopter flies by and shoots a pair of Oakley's at him. He puts them on and receives his mission: help uncover the truth behind the theft of samples of a deadly virus with the help of a professional cat burglar who looks like a supermodel. Later he learns from Anthony Hopkins the thief is in fact the ex-lover of a rogue IMF agent who's stolen the virus for unknown reasons. She is to seduce her still obsessed ex, while uncovering why he would want this zombie apocalypse inducing virus in his possession.
The first 80 minutes of this movie are dedicated to character development and plot. Perhaps not terribly faithful to the old TV series, it at least switches things up from the first movie by at least attempting to develop it's characters. Sure, Cruise and Newton fail, but Cruise isn't any worse here than he was the first time out. And again, Scott is excellent.
Luther Stickell is back, similarly likable as he was in the first film.
It's when you hit that 80 minute mark that the film takes a turn, and the rest of the movie sees John Woo cutting loose with nonstop car chases, gun fights, and a bizarre motorcycle jousting match which turns into a kung-fu fight.
Not that any of this is unenjoyable. Whether you are invested in the love story or are laughing at it, whether you are thrilled by the action sequences or slapping your knees because it's all just so ridiculous, the film is undoubtedly entertaining.
Much as I wrote about the first film, this one was under appreciated. As the 2000s would wear on, M:I-2 is commendable for it's old-fashioned stunt-work in lieu of CGI. It's particularly noticeable when compared to the next installment, which opts for the digital over the practical. This movie was in many ways representative of the end of the old way of action filmmaking. And it's a thrill to watch, however ludicrous.