How can people hate a film that has got bouncing sand?

Rating: 6/10 (13 August 2009)

It seems that everyone on the Mission Impossible II board hates the film for all the John Woo stuff, and everyone on the John Woo board hates it for being Hollywood and not enough John Woo. Isn't that sad? Hopefully, I will eventually find someone who likes it as much as I do.
I grew up with this film, and I loved it as a kid. When I rewatched it a couple of years ago, I realized how crappy the plot is and how silly some of the scenes are. At first, I was a bit disappointed, since I'd always thought of it as a very good film, but then it started to amuse me. Today, I think it's a lot of fun for the same reasons for which I love the fridge scene in Indy 4.
I guess the main reason why people don't like this film is because they take it too seriously. They complain about the weak plot, the lame characters and all the things that don't make sense. But the plot is irrelevant in a movie like this. John Woo handed some action scenes to screenwriter Robert Towne, and he developed a plot around them. So forget about the plot, which is just Notorious combined with De Palma's "Deus ex machina" masks, and instead focus on some of the hilarious, nonsensical John Woo action scenes.
First of all there's the great opening with Cruise hanging from a high cliff without any ropes. And the nicely unnecessary car chase whose only purpose seems to be to destroy some expensive sports cars. Then there is the entire last act, which is a chaotic montage of unrealistic, staged action. It's just John Woo having fun with all his Hollywood gear. Firstly, you've got Tom Cruise attacking blind guards, who ought to have seen him miles away. Then he's using his motorcycle as a shield while skating the asphalt. At one point Woo has even inserted a medieval duel on motorcycles.
The best thing, though, is when Ambrose pulls a "Die Hard" and suddenly turns out to still be alive and points a gun at our unarmed hero. Now, what do you do in that helpless situation? Of course, you notice a gun at your feet, turn around, while you kick in the sand so the gun bounces up in the air, you catch it and shoot the enemy. All done in such a fast and sudden motion that Ambrose doesn't have time to react on it. Isn't that beautiful?
8/10. Even by the standards of the action genre, this film makes little sense. But then again, this franchise is called Mission Impossible, and is actually about what all action films are about: Impossibiliy made possible. It's just an incoherent mix of a lot of impossible, but funny situations.