There's no 'I' in 'Team', someone forgot to tell Tom Cruise

Rating: 7/10 (21 June 2000)

As with most overly hyped films of late, MI2 failed to live up to the lofty heights people (including myself) had built it up to. However, it was still a good action film, as one expects from anything that John Woo puts his name on. The final bike sequence, and the resulting fight between Cruise and Dougray Scott were both very good, but several sequences lacked the typical John Woo flair and originality that marked films like Face/Off and Hard Boiled. Still, it satisfied my desire for a decent action film. All of John Woo's trademarks were evident, from the slow motion photography (over used I thought) to the appearance of a dove (a trend started in Face/Off) to the odd religious reference, which were good to see, although a bit out of place at times.
The acting was decent, the characters were cast quite well (Thandie Newton is SUCH a babe!), but the major flaws were in plot and concepts. As with the first film, MI2 ignored the whole team philosophy of the TV series and concentrated almost entirely on Ethan Hunt, Cruise's character. The other two guys with Cruise were merely helping him along, they lacked any real cohesion or sense of working towards a common goal together. This was a disappointment, as was the threadbare obvious plot. A major highlight of the first one was that despite the lack of a team concept, you couldn't tell where it would go next. It did confuse a bit, and have one too many twists, but the unpredictability was good. Not so here, every last 'twist' I could pick immediately, as everyone I talked to also did. Yet another Hollywood film that pays little attention to script, plot, or screenplay and tries to cover these shortcomings with pyrotechnics and stunts. NEWSFLASH HOLLYWOOD: We are on to you!!
But for all its shortcomings, John Woo has provided a good ride, and a healthy dose of escapism, which we do need every now and then. 7 out of 10.