A movie for idiots.

Rating: 3/10 (12 July 2000)

Many people criticized this movie for having no plot. Which is a result of many people criticizing the first for being too complex. There's just no pleasing some people but this movie could have made up for it by having some class or a formidable villain. Dougray Scott is pretty much one of the worst villains ever and a poor representation of Scottish actors.
John Woo uses some wonderful Australian scenery but fails to inject any sense of excitement to the fight scenes. The gun battles look too damn staged and the fist fights are all done in slow-motion, which robs them of any realism or hardcore. Seeing as how this is a PG-13 the action is also pretty damn tame. Which is a shame since Woo is a pro at this. You hardly see any bullets even enter bad guys never mind exit. It's all done off screen. If people wanted tame violence why on earth did they hire Woo to direct? It's a bit puzzling.
Although it IS tame it is still darker and harder than the original. But the duff biochemical warfare plot is pure video game crap. I can't believe Robert Towne had a hand in writing this. It's like a rejected plot to a Solid Snake PS1 game. There's seems to be some focus on making it a James Bond/Die Hard wannabe instead of respecting the source material and offering us any iconic or memorable set-pieces.
Another major thing that is wrong with this movie however is Zimmer's score. For a movie that is 124 minutes long we get about 30 minutes of music. Zimmer is known for his talent of creating ambient and versatile music. But NONE of that is present in MI-2. This was movie was made around the time of his decline into mass-produced soulless stuff. Which is a shame.
It's the wrong plot, the wrong director and the wrong approach that turns this into a movie for idiots. They really under-estimated the audience and fumbled the ball with this one.