Mission unplausible

Rating: 5/10 (18 December 2001)

The problem with "Mission Impossible 2" is not that the movie is absurd. The trouble is that it is unplausible. We may accept with fun the supernatural acrobacies and the preposterous technology, as we are used to do in 007 movies.
But the main flaw, the unlikely behavior of the guys on the screen, cannot be swallowed. I mean: along the movie, the good guys has several opportunities to kill the bad guys, and very easily, too. Why they don't just do that? Moral scruples of the good ones? When the villains are threatening the survival of the whole human species? Come on! Dead men don't harm: any spy (or what else Ethan is) should fruitfully apply this axiom.
Personally, I was also annoyed by the so politically correct choice of the main bad guy and bad institution: a former CIA agent and a pharmaceutical company, respectively.
A little appeal: John Woo is very often called the new Sam Peckinpah. Please, don't say that! Please!
"Mission Impossible 2" has some merits. The cinematography is magnificent.The movie is (moderately) entertaining. Tom Cruise is nice and acts adequately (but, since he's a beautiful man, he is commonly considered a bad actor: a little unfair cliche). Thandie Newton is gorgeous, really a splendid girl endowed with an out-of-standard beauty. The action scenes and special effects are very well made, although excessive and over-done. You know: for kids...