Drastic change in tone

Rating: 6/10 (24 July 2015)

Mission: Impossible is a great spy thriller, the first in the Mission: Impossible series is one I really enjoy, mostly due to the directing and very suspenseful scenes. This brings me to Mission: Impossible II's biggest flaw: It's an entirely different movie than the first one.
This film was directed by John Woo, and it really shows. Watching this movie, you simply have to praise the beautiful shots, the score by Hans Zimmer and the action sequences are very well shot and really exciting. But, simply but, the movie is just dumb. Things like Tom Cruise jumping off a speeding motorcycle against another man and not dying and pretty much all the stunts during that bike sequence make absolutely no sense whatsoever. The movie is eye candy, though. Every scene looks beautiful.
Like I said, the main problem I have with this movie is that it was established in the first Mission: Impossible what kind of character Ethan Hunt is. The man's is a spy who is very focused on his work, always takes that very seriously and, although he is a very charismatic person, he always takes his job very seriously. He's a vulnerable person, as well, not some invincible man who can do a million stunts and take on 100 guys and not die. In this movie, it seems they just tried to make him this old school James Bond, playboy, not worried about anything type of person. Why was he rock climbing in the beginning of the movie? To show a cool shot of Tom Cruise rock climbing with no ropes, of course. After having established who the character of Ethan Hunt was going to be, this movie just takes all the good things about the original and just craps on them.
Overall, I can still find some enjoyment in Mission: Impossible II, but the movie works a lot better if just viewed as a straight-up John Woo shoot-em up action movie than a Mission: Impossible movie. Not a strong entry in the series, this one can be skipped.