Rating: 
Summary: Newton's evil pores....
Review: I read some of the reviews complaining about the close-ups, and since I saw the movie months ago on VHS, I had sort of forgotten about them....WELL, now that that painful memory has been dreged up, my present disdain for this movie has escalated, and my rating of it has declined. Thanks to Woo's "artful" imagery, this movie's ratings have fallen as low as Romeo Must Die and Flubber's for me. I am saving a ONE star for something nearly lethal, but I am fortunately clever enough to never view anything THAT bad....How I hated the close-ups. And I LIKE fashion magazines, photography, detail, art, etc...but how those close-ups irked me. I literally began hollering out in annoyance whenever a new one sullied my TV screen, and I really thought there must be an end to them, the producer must realize he should of removed them. But this was not the case...we still get to see them at the end of the movie. If I recall correctly, Woo said something about focusing on the complexity of the human face....great, but just HOW complex is ONE person's face, especially in the time span of two stinking hours? Thandie Newton's pores will haunt me 'till the end of my days....
Rating: 
Summary: Comparing the first to the second is Mission: Impossible
Review: One thing's for sure: this isn't Brian DePalma's Mission: Impossible. This M:I was directed by John Woo, famous for Broken Arrow and Face/Off, which means lots of slow-mos, lots of fancy-pants flip-kicking, and lots of miraculous, one-handed gun shooting. I'm not sure whether I like John Woo's style for M:I or not, but DePalma's was more realistic, more emotional, more interesting and in my opinion, better all around. However, the fact that Woo's style does not fit Mission: Impossible does not make M:I2 a bad movie. All gripes aside, M:I2 is a good movie, especially for what looked like a mindless action flick compared to the first. The plot is (disappointingly) simple: Tom Cruise reprises his role as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, who is tracking fellow IMF agent Sean Ambrose, played by Dougray Scott. Hunt is trying to recover a fatal genetically-engineered virus which kills whomever it infects within 20 hours. Ambrose has stolen both the virus and its antidote for financial gain, £37,000,000 to be exact. In order to find out Ambrose's plans, Hunt sends his ex-girlfriend, Nyah Hall (whom he has already fallen in love with...and slept with), played by Thandie Newton. Personally, I think the romance between Ethan and Nyah was totally unneccessary. It didn't add much to the plot and it seemed very generic. At first I didn't like the fact that you know who the bad guy is, until the infiltration scene, where Ethan must sneak into the building where the virus is being kept and detroy them. I realized then why they did it. You see, Ambrose had been Hunt's impersonator (this isn't a spoiler, we find this out early in the movie) and because he know Hunt's way of doing things, it creates a spy vs. spy scenerio where one is always one step ahead of the other one. You never know who's going to come out ahead. What M:I2 lacks in sophistication and emotional substance, it makes up for with great action and suspense. This comes as no surprise, because that is what John Woo is best known for. The hand-to-hand(-to-flying-kick) fight scenes were really intense. Just when it looks like Ethan's winning, his opponent manages to turn the tables on him, and vice versa. This worked well especially in the final battle. Woo does overuse use his slow-mos. There's at least one every five minutes. It's almost as if the movie wasn't long enough so he decided to play it in slow-mo. He does use them appropriately however, and they do create the effect he was going for, but they do get a little irritating after a while. His use of colors is a little techno-ish. They are always bright and vibrant no matter what's happening in the movie. He does occationally separate colors to set moods, like blue lights for suspense and things like that, but for the most part the movie is very colorful, certainly a contrast from DePalma's infiltration scene, where everything was black and white for a neutral effect. The music, by Hans Zimmer, was a bit excessive. Also, I didn't like the techno-metal score alone, but again, it worked very well for Woo's style. I prefer Danny Elfman's more soothing, emotional, percussion-driven score from the first movie; but I will admit, I am a bit biased since Danny Elfman is my favorite composer. And I can't write this review with out mentioning the chase scenes, which were some of the most exciting I've ever seen outside of a James Bond film. The scene in the beginning where Ethan and Nyah are playing cat-and-dog in their high-class sports cars was intense, especially since they were on on windy cliff-side road and there were actually civilian cars for them to avoid. The motorcycle chase at the end wasn't as original as the train scene in the first M:I, but it was easily just as exciting. All in all, this is a great movie. It has a great plot, great action scenes, and enough surprises to keep on your toes. I missed the intricate plot twists like in the first M:I, and I didn't exactly walk away from the movie in awe, but it held my interest and kept me on the edge of my seat. Some of the lines were kind of corny, especially Ambrose's, who is basically your run-of-the-mill bad guy, only with some foresight; and as I mentioned before, the romance between Hunt and Hall was useless and hardly integral to the plot, the movie would have worked fine if their relationship remained professional. These things aside Mission: Impossible II stands alone as a fun and exciting film which doesn't disappoint...as long as you don't try comparing it to the first. I only wish Anthony Hopkins had had a bigger part in the film. P.S. There are a lot of great bonuses on this DVD, along with the typical trailers and music videos, there are also many "making of" videos, including in-depth documentaries on every major stunt (99% of which Cruise did himself...the movie is worth watching just to see the actor do all his stunts, including the scary knife-to-eye scene). Also, as has already been mentioned before, there is the very funny Mission: Improbable from the MTV Movie Awards. (Ben Stiller loves making fun of Tom Cruise, I guess. He did a parody of the first M:I at another MTV Movie Awards) In closing, I highly recommend this DVD. It's fun to watch, and though lacking in substance, excels in action and enjoyment.
Rating:
Summary: Mission:Perfect 2
Review: I enjoyed this sequel to M:I. Several years have passed. Ethan has changed quite a bit and so has the world. An average plot but a very interesting and sexy love triangle between Ethan, Nyah and Sean Ambrose keep you intrigued. All of this going on while Ethan tries to keep his mind on Chimera and how to stop it.John Woo adds an interesting, and active pace to this sequel. The only complaint I have is the rating on this film. If this were rated "R" I definitely could see myself giving this 5 stars in this version. The cinematography was mind blowing. My favorite scene was with the motorcycles. The high speed car chase between Nyah and Ethan was great too! Anthony Hopkins was a suprize cameo appearance. As I said in my review of M:I, don't compare this to the first M:I. They are two very different films.
Rating:
Summary: How long was this movie?
Review: Honestly, ask yourself that question. How long was it? If you speed up all the slow motion scenes to normal speed, I'm banking on the movie being, say, 20 minutes long. Yep, John Woo is back proving that a good film is about 400 bullets to kill one guy and every single trigger squeeze has to be captured artistically so that you can see the little hairs on the guys finger blowing in the wind caused by a superb motorcycle spin. It's visually stunning...and unfortunately detracting from story and character development. As Ethan Hunt lays out the possible evil plot behind Chimera and Ving Rhames asks if it really could be that simple, Ethan Hunt replies, "Why not?" I was sitting in the theater hoping, "Please don't make it that simple." But it is and there are absolutely no plot surprises or twists beyond the ordinary. Oh, and the dove...there it is again, Woo, I just don't know HOW you do it every single time. I read a review in a newspaper where a critic said that everyone was ripping masks off in this film so often that he felt that he was watching an episode of Scooby Doo. Dead right...and don't give this film any more credit than Scooby Doo (in slow motion) deserves.
Rating:
Summary: Good Action
Review: I liked this movie a lot the action and effects are great. The moto chase is excellent, turn this movie up and let it go!
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining
Review: Great effects and fight sequences, but a silly and unbelievable plot. Tom Cruise was cool and he had great chemistry with Thandie Newton. I was even more impressed after watching the making of 'MI2'. WOW, they put DAYS into some small scenes just to get perfect effects. I was also shocked that TOM CRUISE did almost all of his own stunts, which are VERY dangerous (walking through fire, having a knife a half-inch from his eye, falling from the top of a very high platform and landing four inches from the camera, doing risky motorcycle stunts, etc). I must admit that I disliked this movie the first time I saw it, but after seeing it again, I actually liked it! ALMOST 4 STARS
Rating: 
Summary: woo - the master of sedation
Review: Those who have seen this film know the gargantuan task Woo presents the viewer - staying awake. Nevertheless, you really have to hand it to Woo. He somehow manages to avoid delivering on the fundamental promise of the "action" genre - excitement and thrills - while simultaneously maintaining legions of adoring fans. The objective viewer, of course, calls it like it is - trash. And here's the capper - the DVD promises 45 extra minutes of Woo. I would have thought the marketing folks would want to keep quiet about this little tidbit. For those of you who do like Woo, here's a Woo-it-yourself tip: take any actual action movie, and right at the critical moments of excitement, just when you start to get that edge-of-your-seat feeling, play it in super-slo-mo. When you feel all that exhiliration drain away, you'll know you've done it right.
Rating:
Summary: Far Too Unrealistic
Review: I am a huge action fan, love most of Tom Cruise's movies, and loved the first Mission:Impossible movie. However, this one is not on par with that movie by any stretch of the imagination. I actually thought of giving this movie 1 star, but some of the action and visual effects were stunning, so that boosted my score. The film starts out brilliantly, and the mountain scene was breathtaking. It all goes downhill from there... I really think John Woo is off his rocker. In the commentary in one of the special features on the DVD, he says he wanted to direct a love story. Good try buddy! And the action scenes were overdone and unrealistic. I am impressed that Cruise did most of his stunts, but some of the stuff was just stupid, like the cartwheel kick at the end. Can you actually tell me that someone would not be able to get out of the way? They should have just stuck with a realistic fight scene, where the blows would actually hurt in real life. This was further worsened by the slo-mo that was used constantly. At least at regular speed it may have looked somewhat believable. Despite the problems I had with some of the action scenes, the worst part of the movie had to do with all the masks that were used. I mean, how believable is it that Cruise kept a mask of his face, as well as a mask of each of the bad guys? Added to that, who would believe that it was the same guy? Remember, Cruise is short...at least three inches shorter than Dougray Scott. Anybody would've been able to pick up on this... I am just so frustrated because they really wasted what could have been a good sequel. Do yourself a favor and buy Mission:Impossible. Rent MI:2 only if you want to laugh at the garbage that John Woo made.
Rating:
Summary: NOTHING AGAINST
Review: I have absolutely nothing against brainless action movies. I liked most of Arnold or Stallone's action movies. But this MI2 cast Cruise in his worst effort ever, a totally commercial effort aiming just at money, money and more money, with an awful cast ( Hopkin was thrown into it to act for three minutes ... ) There's no chemistry between Cruise and the female thief... The villain is a joke, one of worst performances by a bad guy I have ever seen. Let's check the "action" sequences: the one in the motorcycles is disgraceful to the genre, mainly when the two guys jump from their bikes. I'm not complaining about reality, I'm shocked by the way Cruise destroyed Ethan Hunt's character forever, changing him into a kind of arrogant and indulgent Rambo. The opening sequence was made, I guess, to show the audience not the lies that would come, but just the lack of heart this movie would show... Irc. The worst action movie I ever watched.
Rating:
Summary: BRING BACK PETER GRAVES!
Review: What the h-e-double hockey sticks is this? First of all, the makers of the first MI dared to do the unthinkable...they not only killed Jim Phelps, but they made him the bad guy... talk about sacrilege! Now, in MI:2, they take what could be a fantastic franchise, add a terrible plot, throw in some bad actors (excluding Ving Rhames and Anthony Hopkins) and "spice" it up with Mortal Kombat Kung-Fu moves expecting it to be a good movie...well, how about no? Garbage. That's about all this movie is. Utter garbage. I would much rather watch the old tv show. The ONLY positive thing I have to say is that Ving Rhames and Anthony Hopkins were in this one...acting very well as usual. As for the rest of the movie...what a let down! We miss you Mr. Graves!
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