Movie Review – Mission: Impossible 2

Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Written by Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, and Robert Towne
Directed by John Woo

Is bland & formulaic better than something bizarre & bad? I’m unsure which is the right choice, but I know that Mission: Impossible 2 (of MI 2) is very much the latter. Yet, it’s not the sort of bad that makes watching the film unenjoyable. Unlike some of the later MI pictures, I was glued to the screen for the entirety of this movie. This is mainly due to the sheer 2000s-ness of this one. John Woo is at peak Woo-ocity as well, including his iconic drama doves, one of which almost gives away Ethan Hunt’s position in a crucial scene. To understand MI2 is to remember that this franchise wasn’t quite sure what it would be. I have to hand it to the MI series that, for the longest time, it refrained from dedicating itself to one director or one style, and each picture really did feel like that filmmaker’s take on the concept.

A bio-geneticist is killed in the air while he attempts to flee his current job, where he’s been part of developing a cure for a biological weapon he was also forced to create. The Chimera virus kills its host in twenty hours, and the only remedy is Bellerophon. IMF agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) goes rogue and kills the scientist taking Bellerophon. New IMF director Swanbeck (Anthony Hopkins) informs Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) about this incident. Hunt was the IMF contact with the scientist, and Ambrose used their connection to get close to the now-dead man. On a quest to save the world and get revenge for his fallen friend, Hunt recruits Nyah (Thandiwe Newton), a professional thief, both for her skills and the fact she’s Ambrose’s ex, whom he still harbors feelings for.

Hunt also brings Luther (Ving Rhames) back into the team along with Billy Baird (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), a hot-shot helicopter pilot. Nyah heads to Sydney to begin seducing Ambrose while the rogue agent blackmails the CEO of the pharmaceutical company that still has the last existing sample of Chimera. Masks are worn, heists are pulled off, and it all comes together in a showdown shootout where the final sample of this deadly virus is up for grabs. It’s also super over-dramatic with a villain who does a lot of weeping when betrayed by the only woman he loves. If you love John Woo, this will woo the fuck out of you.

I loved that this movie was the opposite of everything in De Palma’s first Mission Impossible. Yet, I hate everything this movie does that is unlike De Palma’s. I don’t think MI2 is a film that can be enjoyed earnestly; it is an ironic watch because it cemented its feet in the era in which it was made so solidly. The cinematography here is insane, with some ridiculous digital quick zooms complete with woosh sound effects that were a late 1990s/early 2000s staple.

While written by Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica), Brannon Braga (Star Trek), and Robert Towne (Chinatown, Shampoo), it is essentially a remake of Hitchcock’s Notorious filtered through the lens of the aforementioned Mr. Woo. The plot always kept me engaged mainly because everything is played as an over-the-top melodrama. Dougray Scott is the most sensitive MI villain in the series, genuinely in love with Nyah. There’s a great moment where she assures Hunt that she is not in love with Ambrose, that Nyah wants to be with him, and that once they are done betraying Ambrose, she can prove it. She leaves, and then Hunt peels off his mask to reveal it was Ambrose the whole time. He sobs in a manner you don’t often see from men in Hollywood productions, which is why it fascinates me.

Now that the MI franchise has settled into this comfy neoliberal niche where Ethan Hunt is protecting the status quo from rather generic paint-by-the-numbers villains, MI2 at least feels like something wild and different. The film is more interested in the chemistry between Cruise and Newton than in much of the silly plot. As externally beautiful as Newton is, this movie highlights how rough she was at acting at the time, or at least acting in a film like this one. Cruise has always been able to easily slip into Hollywood melodrama, but for actors who have worked in more nuanced ways, it is a challenging transition. Dougray Scott passed on the role of Wolverine to make this movie, and while that might have shot him in the foot career-wise, I don’t think he’s terrible as the central villain. Richard Roxburgh, who made a name for himself in these over-the-top movies (see Moulin Rouge, Van Helsing, et al.), does a great job as Ambrose’s second-in-command Hugh Stamp.

I have never been the biggest John Woo connoisseur, but I do know this was around the period he began to shift from stylistic auteur to self-parodist, and I definitely see it. Nothing on camera feels fresh if you are familiar with the director’s work. He’s reusing the same shots and set-ups as all his other better films. I think it really began going downhill with Face/Off, which, while a fun movie to laugh at, isn’t anything more than fluff. Woo made some films in Hong Kong with real gravitas that resonate still today, but then I guess he got tired of that. 

MI2 is a fun movie to watch; it is everything that makes Hollywood what it is, loud & grotesque. It’s fun, but I enjoy these things in small doses. The one thing I have to hand to the MI franchise is the dedication to keeping as many of the stunts real and not having actors run around in front of green screens for every scene. When someone is riding a motorcycle, they are really riding it. When Tom Cruise climbs a mountain, that’s really him (albeit with hidden harnesses). In an era where so many movies are people standing in front of nothing, it is nice to see a film where the actors engage with their surroundings.