In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

for about twenty minutes into mission impossible 2 director john woo ( the killer , hard boiled , face off ) appears to have made an exciting , elegant , charming spy thriller , kind of a post millennium james bond adventure with a strapping american ( read : unsophisticated ) hero more willing to drop kick villains than out fox them .
sadly , as the picture progresses , the final product begins to bear a closer resemblance to a souped up , two - hour long episode of magyuver .
and not a particularly good one at that .
what went wrong ?
mi2 begins flashily enough , that initial flash leading us to believe that it 'll soon give way to something of a plot , but it only gives way to more flash , then digresses further into a presumably unintentional parody of itself with much slo mo posturing and countless action set pieces wherein bad guys seem to deliberately leap into the way of tom cruise 's firing gun just so they can die really cool .
early on , during a car chase between soon to be lovers ethan hunt ( tom cruise ) and nyah nordoff - hall ( thandie newton ) , woo works some of his trademark magic .
in one hypnotic , though completely inexplicable sequence , the director slows the action down to a languid semi - stall as cruise and his stunning opponent stare into one and other 's eyes with come hither sexuality ? ? ?
just as their respective cars smash and spin in accordance , coming ever so close to toppling over a neighboring cliff .
prior to this we see the famed trailer opener of cruise climbing a steep mountain , sans scaffolding , then leaping from one jagged rock formation to another .
why ?
i have n't the foggiest .
i doubt even john woo could provide you with a logical reply .
with mi2 woo has become a slave to the summer movie machine , the one that jettisons logic for gravity defying effects and story for more gravity defying effects .
it 's possible that these " spies " could be adrenaline junkies climbing mountains and crashing into each other as means to get off , though of course this is never explored .
the scenes i 've described are really only included to titillate , not to give any insight into character .
god forbid .
woo certainly knows how to make each set piece energetic , but they remain individual set pieces never connecting to form anything more than splices of beer commercial - like visuals .
still in terms of crackerjack eye candy , the opening has much to cherish .
cruise and newton first meet during a vigorous flamenco dance featuring several welcome woo devices ( the graceful slow mo artistry of synchronized movement juxtaposed against the stage 1 romance of two attractive individuals discovering how attractive the other is ) .
between the frantic dancing , woo trains his camera on cruise and newton as they make with some sensuous eye contact .
the scene is a little over the top in a bon jovi music video circa 1988 kind of way , yet it has style and something of soul , and woo casts a bit of a spell on us .
sure it 's all smoke and mirrors , but we can see that there happens to be a talented maestro behind this particular product .
thandie and cruise later meet in a bathtub in a scene that 's about half as playfully charming as the jennifer lopez \ george cloony trunk meeting in out of sight .
they flirt and exchange obvious double entendres .
newton bats her eyes flirtatiously .
cruise grins a little too slyly .
the cruise character , ethan hunt , has been drastically altered since the first film .
here cruise plays him more as a hip , sexual dynamo than the square jawed robot he impersonated in part 1 .
he 's cool and dashing , which is precisely the kind of role we want to see cruise in after watching him sleep walk through eyes wide shut ( which might just be the longest episode of red show diaries ever committed to film ) , and blustered his way through magnolia ( quite possibly the most overrated performance of the 90 's ) .
sadly as the film progresses we see less of cruise 's initial " i 'm the man !
" charm and more slo - mo close - ups of his preening mug .
mi2 falls apart on nearly every level during its repetitious third act , which is essentially one hour long action sequence that just wo n't stop .
the whole thing commences with an utterly generic gun battle ( the first gun fight in the film ) , which really should be unheard of in a john woo film , but alas this particular battle could 've been staged by anyone from renny harlin to joseph merhi ( of course excepting the " symbolic " pigeons who seem to find their way into every john woo picture ) .
we 've all seen guys slide across the floor in slo mo while firing a gun in each hand .
it is n't done any differently here .
the action is pure hard target \ broken arrow theatrics with nothing to propel it but the apparent need to see tom cruise drop kick face less villains while his hair whips stylishly in the wind .
he 's cool for sure but
he 's made to be as empty as the movie .
the actor is n't used so much for his boyish appeal as for his chiseled looks ; he smiles narcissistically into the camera at literally any moment , be it during a gunfight , before one or after one .
when he 's not beaming away , he 's staring into the lens with cold eyes trying to look mad as hell , but woo 's editing seriously undermines the effort .
he fetishizes cruise 's angular face with such glee that it turns into a naked gun style spoof .
i half expected cruise to peel off his facemask and reveal that he 's really austin powers .
in a classic woo action moment , ethan hunt struts past a fiery doorway glaring at the baddies within its frame like a pin - up boy angel of death .
the gunfight turns into a daring escape which turns into a reckless mission which turns into a motorcycle attack in which bad guys seem to angle directly for cruise to kill them like some kind of mass suicide ritual ( one dumb bastard even jumps his bike over the gun toting cruise , basically inviting our handsome hero to shoot him in mid air which he does ) .
the lead bad guy ( played by the appropriately british dougray scott ) and cruise face off in a mentally deficient game of chicken ? ? ? on motorcycles .
though instead of jumping off to the side at the last moment , the two grown men leap directly into the other giving each other a mid air bear hug , only to fly about a hundred feet ( still in bear hug position ) , land on a beach below and begin a mano - e - mano fist fight that ends with the bad guy pulling a " so you thought i was dead . . .
"
.
not to worry , cruise takes care of the problem without even breaking a sweat .
what a hero !
you may have noticed that i opted not to describe an iota of mi2 's plot .
my reasoning is simple : i 'm not sure of any good it would do .
the film itself has absolutely no concern with story , only with hurtling forth to the next " special " effect .
i was n't kidding when i told a friend of mine that mi2 has less plot than the average aerosmith video .
nobody will go to this for the plot , and if they do they 'll surely regret it .
as summer movies evolve ( or devolve ) character and plot have become increasingly whittled down to nearly nothing .
in mi , the plot seemed to be built around brian de palma 's ( that film 's director ) stylistic flourishes , while in mi2 the plot only serves to give us an intermittent breather from woo 's non - stop masturbatory pandemonium .
it 's irrelevant in every sense , as is character .
all that ultimately matters are those pesky smoke and mirrors .
N

after the simple looking little spacecraft lands in a automobile wrecking yard , out steps a steel - gray , human - like creature with aquamarine eyes and clad in a muscular suit .
spencer , the boy who observes this , having seen his fill of science fiction flicks , figures this thing must be a robot from outer space .
with the exception of disney and a few others , most studios view children 's films as a way to ship a cheap and unimaginative product and thereby make a quick profit .
star kid stands out as that rare kids ' film that is undoubtedly low - budget but is also highly imaginative .
remember , the robot ?
it was n't one at all but rather a " phase one assault cyborsuit .
"
the cyborsuit is actually a prototype combat enhancer developed by the trelkins and jettisoned for latter retrieval when they are under attack from the invading broodwarriors .
the significant twist in the story is that spencer gets to go inside the cyborsuit , and the cyborsuit , nicknamed cy , has plenty of spunk .
cy keeps questioning the kid about everything including words like " cool .
" upon hearing that " command , " cy starts rapidly decreasing the temperature in the cyborsuit until spencer screams for him to stop .
and when cy speaks , we see spencer 's view , the backside of cy 's lips and eyes .
as 12-year - old spencer , joseph mazzello from the jurassic park film series gives a remarkably good performance as a wimpy and initially tongue - tied kid .
even when enclosed in his powerful new cyborsuit , he has his fears but he learns to overcome them .
"
if you run away , things do n't get better , whether it 's bullies , spiders , or girls , " his science teacher advises him after he has difficulties dealing with all three .
turbo ( joey simmrin ) , the school 's chubby bully , beats up on him , spiders frighten him , and , most embarrassing of all , he ca n't speak when in the presence of his would - be girlfriend .
with his cyborsuit on , he learns some bravery that transcends his time inside cy .
spencer lives with his dad and his older teenage sister stacey , played by a smart - mouthed ashlee levitch , who looks like a younger sarah jessica parker .
stacey derides her brother , whom she barely tolerates , by referring to him only as " the fungus .
"
this whole setup for spencer 's downtrodden and delightfully funny life makes his acquisition of some superhuman powers a source of mirth and empowerment .
the beauty of mazzello 's performance is that you can vicariously experience his fear and share in his enjoyment when he goes after the bully to teach him a lesson he 'll not soon forget .
the ensuing mayhem has some of the home alone antics , but the slapstick is kept tightly under control by writer and director manny coto so that one never feels embarrassed to be laughing .
the romantic angle is handled ever so delicately . when cy wishes to know if spencer wants to mate with the object of his desire , michelle ( lauren eckstrom ) , his eyes open wide in revulsion .
" mate with her ! " spencer exclaims .
" pllllleeeeease , i just like her
that 's all .
"
the show has many funny twists .
in one , cy sees a man in a barney - like costume and begins firing at him , thinking he is an alien life - form .
soon things get way out of hand , and cy and spencer have to beat a hasty retreat .
as proof positive of the show 's class , it actually contains tasteful bathroom humor
-- thought that was an oxymoron in a kids ' picture , did n't you ?
cy can not allow spencer to leave the cyborsuit , and what happens when he needs to urinate becomes both sweet and hilarious .
the director 's staging of this sequence is one of the film 's more charming moments .
oh , and eating is pretty funny too .
spencer , whose idol is the comic book character " midknight warrior , " gets to face the challenge of a lifetime when a broodwarrior comes to capture the cyborsuit .
spencer 's valiant battle gives him a chance to find his mettle .
and the action sequences in the battle
manage to be quite respectable for a kids ' show full of inventiveness and lacking the usual repetition .
for a family movie mixing humor , fantasy , and action , star kid delivers .
although it 's probably not the sort of movie you 'd want to see without kids , with them
you 'll have a magical time with a relatively straightforward but well developed story
.
you 'll be rooting for and laughing with spencer and his buddy cy all the way through .
star kid runs 1 : 41 .
it is rated pg for fantasy combat .
although the basically cartoonish broodwarrior might scare the littlest kids , i saw none of this in evidence in our packed screening , so i would say the show is fine for kids five and up , and possibly the younger ones .
my son jeffrey , age 8 , got really excited about the picture .
he called it " an especially good movie " and gave it
*
* * * .
when i asked him to tell me his favorite characters , he mentioned almost everyone in it from the boy to the cyborsuit to the bully .
P

the ads for " batman and robin " scream " the event of the summer is here " and that 's the problem .
the producers were apparently so intent on creating a spectacle that they forgot to put an actual movie inside of it .
" batman and robin " is 126 minutes of lavish sets , flashy costumes and big , confusing fight scenes with barely a hint of substance .
it 's like one of those cheesy kings island stage shows ; bright , busy and visually diverting , but not very much fun .
it was n't always this way .
tim burton 's " batman " was an epic story of obsession and duality , of darkness and revenge .
the film , while far from perfect , was a striking mood piece with an otherworldly feel .
batman was a creepy , brooding creature of the night .
the joker , brilliantly overplayed by jack nicholson , was at once charismatic and repellent .
batman and the joker were opposite sides of the same coin , battling inner demons and one another over gotham city 's breathtaking gothic skyline .
those days of the dark knight are gone , replaced by a psychedelic ice capades run amuck .
" batman and robin " has far more in common with the campy 60 's batman tv show than with tim burton 's tale of darkness .
the blame lies with director joel schumacher .
a former window - dresser , schumacher is adept at decorating sets and dressing people in exotic costumes .
unfortunately , when it comes time to have those people walk and talk , he has n't the faintest notion of what to do .
" batman and robin " is overstuffed with intricately choreographed fight scenes so poorly edited that it 's often difficult to tell who 's whacking who .
while the characters flail at each other , one - liners and bad puns are tossed about like confetti .
a few carefully placed jokes can set an action movie sailing , but too many wisecracks can undermine the momentum of a film .
" batman and robin " does n't merely lose momentum , it stalls out completely on several occasions .
it 's rare to see an action flick as sluggish as this one .
ironically , the parts of " batman and robin " that work are the ones showing the characters in street clothing , and most of those succeed because of george clooney as bruce wayne .
easily the best batman yet , clooney 's expressive eyes and weary smile gives the character a sense of depth that the script does n't even hint at .
the film 's most effective scene is a tender , quiet exchange between clooney and alfred ( michael gough ) , bruce wayne 's butler and surrogate father .
as for the other heroes , chris o'donnell 's robin is enthusiastic , perky and horny as hell , while pudgy alicia silverstone is hard to accept as an athlete in her debut as batgirl .
in a movie filled to the brim with major characters , the decision to add the entirely unnecessary batgirl and elle macpherson as bruce wayne 's girlfriend is puzzling .
i suspect the producers inserted the women in an attempt to convince audiences that two guys who run around in rubber suits with built - in nipples , shapely buttocks and huge codpieces are actually straight .
of course , the real stars of a batman film are the villains and that 's where " batman and robin " really suffers
.
as mr .
freeze , arnold schwarzenegger gives his worst performance in years , spitting out a stream of lame catch phrases in wooden fashion .
laboring under a ton of appliances , schwarzenegger looks as if he 's having trouble even moving in his suit , let alone trying to act
.
uma thurman fares somewhat better as poison ivy .
she overacts terribly in the early establishing scenes of her character
( it 's apparently a rule in the batman series that before a person becomes a villain ,
s /
he must be a cartoonish , bumbling nerd ) .
once thurman transforms into the eco - psychotic poison ivy , she does a nice mae west impersonation as a classic vamp who can seduce men with her breath and kill them with a kiss .
thurman fails to maintain the character 's maniacal sense of style though , and ends up merely sputtering her way through the latter scenes of the film .
the biggest lesson to be learned from " batman and robin " is that more is not better .
joel schumacher fills the screen with eye candy ; but the technicolor overkill merely emphasizes what a trifle the film really is .
some critics suggest that the batman series has run out of steam .
i do n't think so .
my prescription ?
fire joel schumacher ( but offer him a ticket to a rubber fetishist 's convention
so he 'll understand that there 's no hard feelings ) .
give alicia silverstone her walking papers , while keeping clooney , o'donnell and michael gough .
call jack nicholson and michelle pfieffer and beg them to reprise their roles as the joker and catwoman .
then , ditch the campiness and , for the love of pete , lose the " event " mentality and make a movie instead of a spectacle next time .

N