film: now playing

> MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE-2 (2000)
With motorcycle chases, fist fights, and a love story (!) a toned down John Woo does it again in Mission: Impossible-2.

Directed by: John Woo

Written by: Bruce Gellar et. al.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Romance

Starring: Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Ving Rhames, and Thandie Newton

Rating: 9 out of 10

Mission: Impossible-2 drifts even further from the original TV series, but who really cares. The first motion picture adaptation went on to gross well over $400 million worldwide way back in 1996, under the direction of Brian De Palma (who has since made several big disappointments). Note: do not compare this film in any way to the first one, they are totally different. Much like, for example the Alien movies, where a different director was brought in for each installment and the only thing similar were the aliens and Sigourney Weaver. To freshen up this franchise who does Tom Cruise employ but the legendary John Woo!

So who is John Woo, you may be asking, and what is the big deal? This guy has been named as one the main inspirations in many of today's action movies including the recent hit The Matrix. The majority of his films are in Cantonese (with the exception of U.S. hits like Face/Off and Hard Target). In a John Woo film you have some trademarks (many are copied in most action flicks nowadays) such as the dual hand guns, pigeons, slow motion acrobatics, extremely well choreographed sequences and endings of pure adrenaline pumping action. His direction in action sequences could best be described as ballets of mayhem. No one makes a gun shot look so graceful, or a footstep so powerful. The man has a vision for each moment in time, and I for one, live for each one.

The storyline is basically this: Ethan Hunt's (Tom "ass kicking with perfect hair" Cruise) mission is to stop another IMF agent, Sean Ambrose, (Dougray "I could have played Wolverine, until I got hurt filming this movie" Scott) from starting to spread a virus around Australia, and then gain even more wealth by owning stock in the company that holds the cure. Things get even more complicated when Hunt falls for the ex-girlfriend (the beautiful Thandie Newton) of Ambrose, who just happens to be a key player in the mission.

As would be expected, the final 30 minutes or so of Mission: Impossible-2 is packed full of motorcycles, guns and a nice fist fight in the sand. What is really unexpected is the building of Cruise and Newton's characters in the middle of the film. This I found to be a nice change in the genre but many people are finding that it bogs the movie down too much. From seeing other Woo movies I know that he tries to keep the human element in his films (so you actually care what happens to the characters throughout the movie) and I appreciated it for that.

What I liked: Cruise does 95% of his own stunts (very impressive), Anthony Hopkins has a nice small role, the finale (bikes and fights), and two words: John Woo!

What I didn't like: Alright, they could have cut out 5 minutes in the middle to pace things better, and possibly made it an "R" rated film- "PG-13" made it a bit too toned down for Woo.

(John C. Lyons, Film Critic)