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Dom Robinson reviews
Paramount
- Cert:
- Cat.no: PHE 8045
- Running time: 118 minutes
- Year: 2000
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 17 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- 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.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL 
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.