60 Percent Good, But Last 40 Ruined It

Rating: 6/10 (29 October 2006)

The first 60 percent of this movie was pretty good; the last 40 percent was mostly action and mostly so hokey, so stupid, it was an insult for any viewer with a brain. Too bad, the first Mission Impossible was excellent and I hear the third film was good. However, this second one was a stinker by comparison.
I except most films to have that "Rambo mentality," as I call it, where hundreds of bullets are fired - and missed- at the hero, while he or she hits everything in sight. That was here but so overly done that is was absurd and downright annoying after awhile.
Tom Cruise, our hero, should have been shot so many times I lost count. This is director John Woo, for you, who always overdoes action and sometimes makes it ridiculous.
The good points are slick photography, interesting characters, good surround sound, low profanity and a very good soundtrack. Thandie Newton is attractive heroine and Dougray Scott is satisfactory as the main villain.
The movie plays more like a James Bond film, although it still has MI touches such as the fake rubber masks we saw in the first film. More realism in that 40 minutes would have made this a far better film than it turned out to be. Oveall, a bit disappointing.