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Extras: "Behind the Mission" featurette, "Mission: Incredible" featurette,
"Impossible Shots" - 11 stunt sequences, Music Video, Alternate Title Sequence,
"Mission: Improbable" parody featurette, DVD-ROM content, Director's Commentary
Director:
John Woo
(A Better Tomorrow, Blackjack, Broken Arrow, Bullet in the Head, City on Fire, Face/Off, Hand of Death, Hard Target, Heroes Shed No Tears, Just Heroes, The Killer, Mission: Impossible 2, Once A Thief,
Rich And Famous, Violent Tradition)
Producers:
Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner
Screenplay:
Robert Towne
Music :
Hans Zimmer
Cast :
Ethan Hunt: Tom Cruise Sean Ambrose: Dougray Scott Nyah Nordolf-Hall: Thandie Newton Luther Stickell: Ving Rhames
Mission: Impossible II
is obviously the sequel to
Mission: Impossible
and one that took too long coming to the screen having been dogged by problems
that left the film being delayed by at least a year. With the original director
Brian De Palma no longer in charge, it was up to one of Hollywood's
best-new-friends John Woo to deliver the goods. Has he? Well, not quite.
Whereas the first film had a complex plot, this one tries to at times by
introducing a flashback sequence that never happened and is revealed as such
when it's been and gone, plus there's too much double-crossing and use of
rubber masks to make you think that the person speaking is real when it's
often someone fighting for the other side. Most times this clear combination
of mask and CGI effects works but, as they say, less is more.
A lethal synthetic virus has been created and it can kill within little longer
than a day, but if the antidote can be applied within 20 hours, the life can
be saved.
I don't want to say too much as events begin to kick off after the opening
credits, but in short, when it begins, the man who has this virus is
Dr. Nekhorvich (Rade Serbedzija) and when he needs to transport it,
the only way to keep it fresh is by injecting it into himself and then treating
it with the antidote when he arrives at the company owned by John C. McCloy
(Brendan Gleeson). The madman who intervenes and wants to seize control
of it is Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott).
And here's when we reach familiarity because Ambrose is, we are told, an
ex-IMF member and not one of Ethan Hunt's (Tom Cruise, reprising his
role from the original but this time with a floppy haircut) closest friends.
How many more times are we meant to swallow this colleague-turned-baddie
premise? But I digress...
Anthony Hopkins appears for about five minutes in an unnamed and
uncredited cameo as the "Jim Phelps"-type and tells Ethan that in order to
stop Ambrose, he must take three people with him, one of whom must include
international thief Nyah Nordolf-Hall (Thandie Newton, quite easily
the most gorgeous black woman on the planet) and it's no surprise that a
romantic interest develops between the two. Nyah is selected because she's
an ex-girlfriend of Ambrose and so, by definition, must be able to infiltrate
his operation.
Also along for the ride are the-only-other-one-left-alive-from-the-original,
Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and newcomer John Polson as Billy
Baird. Up for the role of right-hand-man to Ambrose is Richard Roxburgh
as Hugh Stamp.
The film opens with a breathtaking shot of Cruise mountain climbing without a
rope or any kind of safety equipment, bringing into it some incredibly dangerous
moments, but we know he's not really so high up and in danger as
behind-the-scenes footage on Film 2000 showed when Woo was standing
behind him on the rockface as Cruise has his face to camera with arms
outstretched hanging apparently perilously. However, we know Tom Cruise is a
real tough guy as he did 95% of the stunts himself.
So what's the real bug-bear about this sequel? Well, I loved the feel of
De Palma's version, the quick-cuts, slanted visuals, etc. all of which is
eschewed here as Woo behaves lazy and trots out all the same old methods
employed on other Hollywood films such as
Hard Target,
Broken Arrow
- which I liked - and Face/Off which I didn't, such as the pointless
addition of flapping doves at every available misguided opportunity with
surround sound to match.
There are some amazing action scenes to be found, although most turn up in
the second half and are way over the top with things exploding unrealisitcally
as if packed with a million fireworks. Earlier on, the film drags unnecessarily
and could have lost a good twenty minutes to tighten it up.
It feels like a rip-off of Goldeneye at times with Dougray Scott trying
to out-Bean Sean Bean's turn as the pissed-off co-worker and Ving
Rhames just grunts along without stretching any talents. Finally, Thandie
Newton is under-used as the love-interest and isn't given much to work with,
culminating with a scene in which she is forced at gunpoint by Ambrose to
retrieve the world's last container of the virus. If she hands it to him,
she'll probably get shot dead afterwards. If she runs into the arms of Cruise,
she'll get shot anyway. How does she keep the virus safe? Answers on a
postcard please...
The picture and sound are their usual flawless selves. A 2.35:1 anamorphic
widescreen presentation full of bold, sharp colours, and the average bitrate
is 5.40Mb/s, briefly peaking over 9Mb/s.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (English only) is in full effect
throughout the many action scenes and is never in question.
Extras :
They could all mix in together, the first set of extras, a 14-minute
featurette, Behind the Mission, another that lasts 5 mins, Mission:
Incredible, both of which are basic 'making of'-style extras and
Impossible Shots, a more in-depth look at 11 stunt sequences.
These are complemented by an MTV parody of the second piece here,
Mission: Improbable with comedian/actor Ben Stiller standing
in for Tom Cruise.
Although written for the film, Metallica's I Disappear only
appears in the film during the closing credits, but at least the promo is
featured on this DVD. John Woo provides a feature-length Director's
Commentary. Disappointingly, the Alternate Title Sequence is just
30 seconds of different images over the title AFTER Cruise has done his
rock climbing stunts and I was expecting a new set of opening credits to
rival those of Brian De Palma from the first film.
The DVD-ROM content consists of information about the film listed
as Agent Dossiers, Mission Locations, "Legend of Chimera", a list
of the M:I-2 Tech Tools and a weblink.
One extra we don't get, surprisingly, is a trailer!
With just 17 chaptes that is a pitfully-small amount. Subtitles are in
English only.
The menus contain animation and sound effects, very similar in style to
MGM's excellent Bond DVD releases.
No doubt, Nick Fisher in The Sun will rate this DVD as "fin-tastic"
(ho-ho!) and Gail Porter will shed her clothes again in salute, but
for me, it doesn't feel like a "Mission: Impossible" film and if you changed
the title, Cruise's character name and took out the line about things
self-destructing in five seconds, this could be any other action film
directed by Woo.
DVD Trivia: The front of this DVD says "Playstation 2 compatible".
I took this to mean it contained material which could only be read by a PS2,
but it turns out it doesn't. It just confirms the disc can be played in that
console without a hitch and I certainly had no problems doing so.
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