Zero emotional tension - great stunt work

Rating: 6/10 (26 May 2000)

I found Mission Impossible 2 to be a sad disappointment. I enjoyed the first Tom Cruise version of Mission Impossible very much. I gave the original a rating of 8. I thought it was very entertaining. Mission Impossible 2 is a whole different ball of wax.
In spite of the great stunt work and polished visuals, Mission Impossible 2 lacked tension, credible characters, or a believable story line. John Woo's signature is all over the screen, but this time it looked as if he scribbled it to cover for the lack of an interesting screenplay. No matter how spectacular the explosion, it doesn't matter if the audience is bored by paper thin non-existent character motivations.
There was -zero- emotional tension in this movie. All the money went into the gadgetry and none of it went to story development or dialogue. The story and acting get close to a zero, and the stunt work gets an 8. All in all this movie deserved a 5 rating.