Should've tasted better, but thankfully you can still digest it!

Rating: 6/10 (12 July 2000)

There have been so many TV Series' converted into movies. Though not many of the TV to cinema translations have been successful with the notable exception of Mission: Impossible. An exception because this one now has a sequel.
The original movie made a massive profit even though it caused massive headaches with its confusing story. But this time around things have cooled down a little with a plot that can just about be followed if you give it your full attention. The mission here is to find and destroy samples of a new and deadly virus. Sounds simple enough, but this is of course Mission: Impossible, with the impossible element being that a group of terrorists being led by a former IMF agent (Scott) are also after the virus and need it for their own schemes. Things do get a little mixed up along the way but I don't think anyone is really going to care much to notice.
Things start off quite nicely with a hijack heist and then an impressive rock-climbing stunt! But moving on we then see that this is easily comparable to a Bond movie with a romantic relationship between all the action. Newton plays the love interest. She plays her role quite well at first as skillful thief, brought in to be part of Ethan Hunt's IMF team. But later she ends up having to be rescued in true James Bond fashion and doesn't do very much (or even talk) towards the end of the movie.
It's always good to see characters returning in sequels and Rhames making a comeback in this was a welcome sight. But, even though they aren't characters, there aren't a lot of those unique gadgets from the original, the kind you wish you had in the school playground, such as the glasses with a tiny camera and the explosive chewing gum. But to replace that there is an excessive amount of "cool" in this film such as fast cars and bikes, explosions, an array of sunglasses (which Cruise wears with great skill as they hardly ever fall off from his face). And then there's probably Cruise himself, looking impossibly like the whole "cool" package, getting whatever he wants (after all, he is also the producer as well as the main star). Unlike in the original he gets to use a gun this time around actually make that two guns! With John Woo as director you've got all his trademarks thrown in such as his famous two-handed gunplay, innocent looking children, lots of slow motion shots and not forgetting the white doves! The action is there but things don't warmed up till half way through.
In the end we just have an action movie with a story that tastes like cereal with beer. It's pretty much style over substance but at least it's John Woo's style! It is quite a disappointment (you seem to expect much more from such a film) but it's still a watchable blockbuster, which is fun at times yet it's far from being great. Thankfully this is better then the first film though only just.
My rating - 7 out of 10