Hunt's body in mid-flip, upside down and just off the ground. This stuff is purely eye-candy, as impossible in real life as any James Bond stunt. But when we see Ethan Hunt on his motorcycle, jumping and flying down a ramp and through the traces of flame left by an enemy's destroyed car, we are enrapt. Simple fight scenes now require expertise in martial arts, and often it's like watching an aggressive dance in which the combatants come off the floor without bruises or even exhaustion. As Nyah Nordoff-Hall, the professional thief, Thandie Newton plays it a little too simply.
Newton does, however, show spurts of very solid acting.
Dougray Scott is very good at playing this baddie. He adopts such nonchalance that we hate him without effort. In a particularly suspenseful sequence, Ambrose anticipates Hunt's moves and motivations, attempting to thwart Hunt's destruction of the virus. In a quietly menacing performance, Scott leads us to the inevitable confrontation between the two super-spies. Ving Rhames is back as the techie, Luther Stickell.