Mission Impossible II-Woo Plus Cruise Equals Boring Spy Film?
My frequent readers know that I am rarely at a loss for words but as far as Mission Impossible II is concerned I don’t know quite what to say. I felt as though I had seen the movie before. There wasn’t much that was particularly unique or original about the flick. Ethan Hunt played by Cruise is hunting down a horrible virus. Well, we’ve all been there, done that before haven’t we? Spy, superhero and so forth, hunting down a deadly virus or a nuke before a nut-job can do us all in, well, that is so done to death. As I pointed out in another review, this plot device is literally the stuff of Saturday morning cartoons, back when they had Saturday morning cartoons. This movie could only seem new and fresh to a 5 or 6 year old who hasn’t seen many spy flicks before. MI2 isn’t a bad film, as it does much well, the action sequences are well done, there are plenty of “big moments” but as you walk out of the theater you can’t help but feel as though this was just another money grab.
On the plus side John Woo does a nice job adding that “John Woo touch”, which does give the film a lot of style. The direction is not the problem with Mission Impossible II, it’s the script. There just isn’t that much too stimulate the imagination or develop the characters. Cruise, Dougray (whatever the hell a Dougray is) Scott and Thandie Newton, who is nothing short of gorgeous, all turn in fine acting performances, that add some additional luster to an otherwise unimaginative and redundant story. But in the end its just not enough to keep the film from being, well, sort of forgettable.
As always, the only factor Hollywood cares about is how much money was lifted out of the wallets of chumps across the world. In this particular case it mounted to about $500 million dollars and considering that the budget came in around $120-$130 million I think we will be seeing yet another MI flick. In a way spy flicks are a little like science-fiction films in that a writer has a great deal of flexibility with reality and the audience is willing to suspend a fair degree of disbelief. With that said, much more is possible out of the genre than MI2 delivers. Uninspired.
Story C-
Acting C+ (Solid acting performances but the skimpy script prevents a group of fine actors from flexing any of there “acting muscles”.)
Visuals B+
Originality/Innovation C-
Enjoyability Grade C+ (Woo’s direction and visual style is what salvages the weak script.)
Home Theater/HD Factor B
Overall Grade C (Not horrible, just unimaginative and uninspired. Its always about the script.)
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