Year:
2000
Studio:
Paramount Pictures
Movie:
4/5
DVD:
3/5
Movie
I've never watched the television show (well, maybe a couple of
episodes) and maybe James Bond has the spy/action movie market
cornered. But both Mission: Impossible movies have been excellent. As
far as I can tell it's a some formulaic elements. Impossible Mission
Force (IMF) operative Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is the leader and he gets
to pick three team members — specialists of one sort or another, though
in this case one member, Nyah (Thandie Newton), is "assigned" to the
mission. The team uses sophisticated equipment to get information and
then does an elaborate con or break-in to accomplish their goal. And if
they're caught the US government will deny any knowledge of their
existence.
In Mission: Impossible II
Ethan is after Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), fellow IMF agent who has
gone rogue, taking with him Bellerophon and Chimera. Chimera is a
super-virus that kills in about 30 hours [ok, the problem with a virus
that kills that fast is that it's possible to contain the spread of the
virus, for if nothing else people die too quickly to effectively spread
it]. Bellerophon is the cure. Sean and his gang want to get rich.
Although IMF knows that Sean has gone rogue, they don't know what
Bellerophon and Chimera are. So they need to get both information and
then the two items, whatever they may be. Nyah is the key, for she is a
former girl friend of Sean's and he wants her back. But Ethan quickly
falls in love with Nyah, complicating the mission tremendously. Can
Ethan and his IMF team defeat Sean and his evil-IMF team?
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Actors
Hey, it's Tom fucking Cruise! It's like he doesn't seem to be a great
actor until you see him in a movie. Those pretty-boy looks makes me at
least underestimate him. Thandie Newton is amazingly beautiful and a
good match for Tom Cruise. Her character is a thief so she gets to be a
bit more than the lady-in-distress. Dougray Scott (apparently
pronounced Doog-row) is an excellent villain. Much more believable than
when he was the prince in Ever After.
DVD
Director John Woo provides a sparse audio commentary. He only talked
about 1/3rd of the time and with his accent sometimes it was a bit hard
to understand him. There is a 15-minute "Behind the Mission"
featurette, a 5-minute "Mission Incredible" look at the stunts, 35
minutes of action sequence breakdowns, a Metallica video, and alternate
title sequence, and the 6-minute "Mission Improbable" spoof (with Ben
Stiller) that ran during the 2000 MTV Movie Awards.
Recommendations
It's a good action movie. John Woo put in some great
action sequences and it has an elegant style. The movie keeps you
entertained throughout. Highly recommended.
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