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Mission Impossible 2

Mission Impossible 2

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Dreadful Rubbish
Review: I have seen many films this year, and will see many more, but I doubt if I will see any as awful as M:I-2! This film was no more than a 2 hour love affair between Tom Cruise and himself. The action sequences were over-done, and completely stole the film from the storyline, which was, on reflection, no bad thing! Talk about stating the obvious! Every twist and turn in the plot could be spotted a mile off, mainly because they had all been seen in other movies, mostly James Bond films!!

Thandie Newton tried her best, but what a bimbo - not even attractive enough to divert Mr. Cruise from loving himself for more than a few seconds at a time.

To quote Monty Phython - "This is not a film for viewing, it is a film for laying down and avoiding"!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: M:I-2
Review: EXPLOSIVE! The movie is wonderful. As is Hans Zimmer's score! Get this movie, soundtrack, and score right away! Thanx!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: this deserves a 6
Review: Get this movie as soon as it comes out. It is one of the best movies that I have ever seen. It is action packed and the stunts and effects are unbelievable. M:I2 is a must see movie for everyone.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A visual feast
Review: John Woo has once again made a cinematic splash with his newest production, one that will leave you glued to your seat throughout its action-packed 123 minutes. _Mission: Impossible 2_ (along with its Brian de Palma predecessor) is but lightly based on the 1960s espionage series of the same name; familiarity with its forefathers is therefore not required in order to enjoy this fast-paced thriller.

While relying heavily on visual effects, most of the film's eye-candy is provided by the (due to his involvement in _M:I-1_, obvious) choice of Cruise as special agent Ethan Hunt and an otherwise well-picked cast to complement him. Woo has selected actors with a strong screen presence who truly bring the movie to life: "Hannibal" Hopkins makes an uncredited - and all too short - cameo appearance as the new Mission Commander; a breathtaking Thandie Newton has already starred alongside Cruise in _Interview with the Vampire_. In _M:I-2_, her rather idle role in the mission has obviously been spun together so as to provide a more romantic side to our protagonist (a venture I deem unnecessary). An underrated talent I feel the need to mention is that of Croatian actor Rade Serbedzija, who will be familiar as the antagonist politician in _The Saint_, and who has also starred alongside Cruise as the streetwise Shopkeeper in _Eyes Wide Shut_.

But back to the effects. Amongst captivating aerial shots of downtown Sydney, pigeons swoop in ominous silence via billowing smoke and motorcycles hurdle headlong through walls of fire. Yet by far the most noteworthy trick up Woo's sleeve remains his extensive use of state-of-the-art computer effects. Much like in his previous work _Face/Off_, CGI is used to paste one actor's visage over another to create an illusion of super-realistic masks. A simulated video sequence of corpuscles disintegrated by the virus that provides the plot's pivot is also excellently rendered; I assume that no expenses were spared in the digital department.

The film score, not unlike that of _The Matrix_, is a medley of hard rock songs featuring artists such as Metallica and Limp Bizkit. While not necessarily matching my personal taste, it is definitely fitting background music for the movie. Hans Zimmer (_Gladiator_, _The Thin Red Line_) also provides his orchestral tribute, yet many of the themes appear to be practically recycled from his (excellent) score to _Gladiator_.

All in all, _M:I-2_ is a film well worth watching for its array of easy-on-the-eyes actors, gut-wrenching action, dazzling special effects and a quite decent (though recycled) score. While plot elements are lacking, I deem this quite acceptable for a non-serious movie that does well to fill an uneventful Sunday afternoon.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This Movie was prity close to the best I've seen all summer.
Review: And in short this movie was cool! I liked all the action and the way things changed so quickly. It isn't like the other one. (Misson impossible 1) and it was defenently a highlight in my summer. So why don't you go out and but it, I prity much garuntee that you'd like it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This sequel really packs a punch!
Review: "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to see this movie. Enjoy it, don't take it too seriously, and above all have fun. This review will self destruct in five seconds."

Well, not really. MI2 is an action movie, plain and simple. People get shot, things blown up, and the effects are really special. From the title you already know that this is a sequel to the original Tom Cruise foray into the Mission Impossible franchise. Cruise returns as Impossible Mission Force (IMF) agent Ethan Hunt. This time he is after a rogue IMF agent that has stolen a new biological weapon, and Cruise and his team must track him down and retrieve it before he can unleash it on the unsuspecting public. The plot is straight forward, and contains none of the misdirection and mystery of the original MI or the MI television series. But all of this is secondary to the action that is brilliantly choreographed by Director John Woo.

Woo brings his very unique style of action to MI2, and as action goes it is fantastic. The opening scenes with Cruise hanging from the side of a mountain are not only thrilling, but also breath taking. I don't know how high he actually was, but I have to say that it made me a little queasy. Woo's use of slow motion in the action sequences is artistic and exciting, and of course it wouldn't be a John Woo film if you didn't have birds (especially doves) flying around in slow motion here and there. Cruise has buffed up a bit, and looks a little more like an action star than in days past. He does a very good job executing the carefully choreographed stunts, which had to be extremely demanding. All of the stunts seem to almost believable, with the exception of the finale of a motorcycle chase that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Cruise is his usual charming self as the confident secret agent out to save the world once more. Though he is a very capable actor, he need not dig too deep to play a role such as this. All he really has to do is smile, run, kick and jump, and he does each one very well. Ving Rhames also returns as the Luther Stickell, the hulking computer wiz backing up Ethan Hunt on his adventure. I was disappointed with Rhames' role this time around. It was almost as if he was there only to say "Hey remember me?" But he tossed in his occasional one liner, and did a fine job for a guy who spent most of the film inside a van. Thandie Newton stars as Hunt's love interest, and boy did she do a great job. Not acting really, but just looking good pretty much all of the time. A relative newcomer, she has the looks, personality, and the sex appeal to get a lot more work in Hollywood. Anthony Hopkins has a very meaningless role as the IMF Director, and plays it a little too brash for my taste (he also seemed a bit too tan), but I didn't go to see this for the acting anyway. The real star of this movie is the action, there is plenty of it, and at times you find yourself saying "Whoa!"

All in all it's a pretty good movie worthy of a five star rating. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, and the girl is beautiful. Do I recommend MI2? You Bet!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This movie ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I tried to review this movie before but it didn't work, so, and i looked for it in all of the 64 or whatever reviews. So I'll do it again. I read some of the reviews that people put down here, the ones that "ugh this movie stinks" well they aght to have there brains cheaked. I think they might have something wrong with them!!!!!!!!! Well I liked what (Mr. Woo?) did to this movie, tons better than the first M:i !!!!!! and the people who write say that Ethan won't be Bond, AND I'M GLAD!!!!!!!!! Bond stinks!!!!!!!! I like this movie much better than any Bond movie! I like the Karati (or karaty, or whatever) action, that made it cool!!!!!! so don't be fooled by any of those rotten reviews, the acters did there parts well, the speaciall (or however you want to spell that) affects were AWSOME!!!!! (Who-ever worked on those, GOOD JOB!!!!!) I didn't know what was going to happen next, and I like that, since in almost all movies I see I can tell what would happen next, I liked to be surprised. (No I'm not sikick.) but I really like this movie and I couldn't stand by and watch people make it look cruddy!!!!!! so If you don't like it, (You get to.) BUT I LIKED IT, and I sugest that you go out and buy it. SEE Ya 'ROUND.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Please leave your brain at the door...
Review: John Woo has done to Hollywood, the same as MSG for our tastebuds. Instant gratifiaction. Bigger, better, louder seems to be at the order of the day. I have nothing against Mr Woo's talents, but why did this one had to go under the 'Mission Impossible' lable at all?

Even if you take the title away, this movie simply stays a no-brainer. 'Mission Impossible' is supposed to be about out-smarting each other, great espionage, gadgets and most important, A SCRIPT! No, it does not have to be boring, and all the action makes for a great movie. But somewhere along the line, everyone seems to have forgotten the whole point to this movie.

2 Hours of non stop action is fine, but here it starts getting very repetitive and unoriginal (the motorcycle chase is it's only saving grace). The slow-motion scenes are way overdone, there's too much similarity to Face/Off.

All in all, no ground breaking work here.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A somewhat energetic let down.
Review: I saw Mission: Impossible 2 in the theaters soon after opening day. I thought this follow up to the amazing prequel, Mission:Impossible, was a very entertaining and worhty sequel. This was before I read an article where the writer openly admitted to writing the story around the already pre-conceived action sequences. Why did they tell us that? I had great respect for Mission: Impossible 2. Tom Cruise, who also produced the film, had the guts to make a film completely different from the original, bring in a director that has little experience in american film in comparison to other great action directors, and really juist go balls out. I excepted the symbolic doves and crashing waves, and moody slow motion, but when I read that interview, I felt very let-down. However, to date (7/30/2000), Mission: Impossible 2 has grossed $209.9 million dollars, so obviously people don't really care. Now, I'm not going to just complain about the movie, because there were a hell of a lot of things that were cool about it. First of all, the gun play. The double guns are the snazziest thing to happen to action movies in a long time. It's so graceful and balletic, and when you throw in a little slow-motion, it leaves you kind of dizzy once the action speeds back up. Secondly, there is nothing better than when the $20 million star of the movie does his own stunts. Tom Cruise was so happy to finally have some work, he was willing to do anything. He jumped form cliff-face to cliff-face in a dizzying spectacle that leaves you breathless once he finally stands triumphantly at the peak. The final battle between Ambrose an Hunt, is amazing. Yes, the blows that the two men were taking should have incapacitated them shortly after the beginning of the fight, but who cares? When you go into a movie like this, you have to suspend belief. Lastly, the overall style of the film was great. Each camera move advanced the story, built tension and suspense, and just looked damn good. All in all, Mission: Impossible 2 was a good film, but it could have been better, and the production values could have been higher.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Hokey, Hokey, Hokey... but still fun.
Review: I saw this film a total of 4 times in the theatre. I enjoyed it a lot every time. I thought the plot was easy enough to follow, and the eye candy here is great. Performances were easily believable (with exception to Anthony Hopkins whom I thought could have been left out without any plot impact whatsoever), and the action is fast & furious.

Truly, I have only 2 things I can really complain about with this film. The first is that it is very hokey in parts. By hokey, I mean cheesy, dumb, or pointless. Specifically, there were scenes placed in the film to make Tom Cruise look that much "cooler." Scenes that could have easily been left out.

Second, this film took way too much time to establish plot, and to even have anything really interesting to watch at all. Matter of fact, the third time I saw this film, I actually fell asleep until the film got going.

This film is totally worth a buy. I am eagerly anticipating it's release on DVD (well.. maybe. We'll see if paramount can actually figure out the definition of EXTRAS!!!), and I might go to see it again in the theatre.

One last point I would like to mention here is about the soundtrack.

Wait. Sorry. I don't mean the "soundtrack." I mean Hans Zimmer's original score. This has to be the best score in a film that I can remember hearing in a long, long time. If you like the music in this film, definately consider taking a look at the score on CD.


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