S10 Reviews: Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

Rating: 8/10 (16 April 2006)

The hunt is back on when Impossible Missions Force operative Ethan Hunt (again played by Tom Cruise) takes his team out to find an ex-agent who has snagged a viral bug of nearly biblical proportions. Hunt and his team (including the lovely Thandie Newton and returning hacker Ving Rhames) must stop the madman (Dougray Scott) before he looses the bug and knocks off Australia.
Action-master John Woo (The Killer, Hard Boiled) takes over the reigns in this even more action-paced and outlandish sequel to the 1996 hit. Woo brings his bullet ballet style to the franchise with some spectacular action setpieces and stunts. It's interesting to see Anthony Hopkins and Tom Cruise in their few scenes together (Hopkins glorified cameo seems almost like Hannibal eyeing a snack sometimes) but I think Newton gives the best performance of the film, Cruise seems to move in two modes: determined and cocky. A solid sequel that's slightly better the original but could have used a tighter pacing.