More Boo-hoo than Woo-hoo

Rating: 5/10 (29 January 2002)

After watching "Mission: Impossible II" I realized I had made one critical mistake while watching the movie - I possessed a brain which was working. You shouldn't use your brain while watching this idiotic fare.
Now it may be that MI:II was an action pastiche. Certainly you must wonder how Cruise could deliver some incredibly hammy lines - how he'll find the love of his life (whom he knew for about five minutes), how he'll stop the bad guys, etc. - without cracking up at the absurdity of it all. The plot too is laughable - it's Mr. Killer Virus and his friend The Antidote! Oh my can we guess who's going to be infected with the virus and force Cruise to get the last bit of antidote? Original and clever, it ain't. People complained the first one was too difficult to follow? Don't worry, you'll have no problems here...Oh and as a plot device the "face mask" must win some award for being the most over-used plot tool ever.
So there's no acting or script to speak of. What's left is - of course - the action scenes. This is where the real humour (it must be) kicks in. Ethan (Cruise's character) demonstrates degrees of athleticism that would merit a place in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" as he back-flips and cavorts his body all over the place, knocking down the baddies aplenty. His skill is not limited to martial arts as he engages in gunfights using the "infinite ammo" cheat to dance (in slow motion of course - this is John Woo directing) around knocking off small armies of henchmen without being grazed himself (couldn't muss up that hair could we?). And I thought it was bad enough - but get a load of that final car/bike chase. It gave me a good laugh if nothing else.
Once the laughter died, I decided I hadn't seen a very good movie. Sure Woo may make it slick using his renowned slo-mo visual style but it can't help save the plot or script or general nonchalance I felt towards the whole movie. Must try harder. 5/10