Laughably incompetent

Rating: 2/10 (9 April 2010)

While I was not a fan of the initial overrated film adaptation of the popular TV series, the discovery that new director John Woo was taking over the helm made me decide to give this sequel a chance. Unfortunately, the end result is a laughably incompetent action film. Between this and the equally lamentable Broken Arrow, I am at a loss as to why Woo has any reputation in Hollywood. Tom Cruise returns as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, who matches wits with terrorist Dougray Scott who plans to release a biotoxin in Australia. Ving Rhames returns as Cruise's able-bodied co-hort and Thandie Newton is along for the ride as the token love interest - a cat burglar and former girlfriend to Scott. The screenplay is haphazardly plotted and not especially interesting or suspenseful. There are so many sequences of people ripping off their faces to reveal that they are in reality someone else completely that the effect long since loses any relevance. It also introduces a rather obvious issue that if the person you are impersonating looks to be 6'3" and you look to be 5'6" in height why does no one wonder why you have suddenly shrunk? Cruise spends the film glowering, showing off his athletic prowess by doing back flips at the drop of a hat and glaring intently at Newton in a desperate attempt to convince that they have chemistry. Although Scott seems a physical match for Cruise, he is one of the more boring villains in recent memory. Woo directs scenes between Newton/Cruise and Newton/Scott as though he were filming a Calvin Klein ad with endlessly arty filtered shots of blowing scarves and swirling images that nearly border on lampoon. His action scenes definitely qualify for lampoon with the adversaries flying through the air, smashing into solid objects at ridiculous speeds with nary an injury and assorted Road Runner-esqe foolishness that inspires far more titters than adrenaline. The end result is a laughably tedious exercise not worth anyone's time.