Strange....but great (spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (3 November 2000)

I've now seen the film 3 and a half times, and I still don't know whether it's actually any good. I mean, it's got fantastic, better-than-any-other-film action scenes, but what it lacks is a plot.
While 'The Matrix' had a final act of sheer mind-blowing amazing action, which MI2 surpasses, it had an interesting and provocative plot. Face/Off, which I would have to write a book on to do it justice, makes up for the unlikely central conceit with an almost Greek-tragic view of humanity and sin. MI2, on the other hand....has a plot in which a villain wants to TAKE OVER THE WORLD! What a revelation! Except it's not a Bond film, so his domination is financial, rather than physical.
Cruise doesn't really register in this film. In the first film, which is better but not as much fun, at least you got some sense of his betrayal by Jon Voigt and the IMF. Here, the IMF are great again, with only Anthony Hopkins' misogynistic comments showing any kind of negativity. But, to be fair, Cruise does a fine job as an action hero, although not quite as great as Willis in Die Hard, Keanu in The Matrix or Cage in Face/Off. You don't really care all that much. Thandie Newton's OK, but it's a bit convenient as to how she doesn't infect anyone else with the virus. Dougray Scott....well, he's a different kind of British baddie. I prefer the upper-class, Jason Isaacs/Alan Rickman types, but still.
So, does it seem any good. Hell no. Is it good? Hell yeah! Why? Because of the last 45 minutes, which top Face/Off and The Matrix comfortably, in the sheer hysterically OTT Woo-isms. Remember the shoot-out in the loft in Face/Off? Well, there's one of those in a chemical weapons facility, with the obligatory huge body count. There's a scene where Cruise infiltrates the baddie's hideout, a la any Bond film, but the Bond films didn't have a scene where Bond blows a door open...and SENDS IN A DOVE!!!! It's a fantastically stupid bit, and sums up the entire film. Woo is an absolute genius at the stupidly baroque, operatic and theatrical and MI2 is a perfect example of all this.
And then there's the bike chase (best ever on film) and the final mano a mano showdown (one of the best on film- it's all real!). And then Cruise catches a gun in mid-air, kills Scott, saves Thandie Newton and the film ends. The audience, over and over again, jumps up and down. It is a brilliant example of how, with a genius filmmaker like Woo, a rubbish plot matters not. Yeah baby!