During my Mission: Impossible franchise watch-through before The Final Reckoning, I arrived at Mission: Impossible 2, which, for many people, is the black sheep of the franchise. When I was younger, the film was my first introduction to Ethan Hunt and his adventures. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, and I loved it.
At 25 years old, Mission: Impossible 2 is still an unapologetic vibe that I can’t help but love.
The king of Hong Kong action cinema, John Woo, who directed greats such as Hard Boiled (1992) and The Killer (1998), made his franchise directorial debut after Tom Cruise expressed a desire to work with him. There is something amazing about Cruise using his star power to get Woo as director and, in turn, Woo using $125 million to make a film that puts vibes ahead of everything else. It’s completely unapologetic about its ‘style over substance’ approach.
The story revolves around Hunt having to stop a chimera virus that Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) plans to release so he can have lucrative stocks in a pharmaceutical company run by McCloy (Brendan Gleeson).
Bizarrely, though, that’s not what the film is really about. Instead, Woo makes a film about Hunt going out of his way to prove he is far cooler than Ambrose in hopes of impressing Nyah Hall (Thandiwe Newton). At face value, it sounds really silly, but Woo commits to it with confidence, which, for me, works.
Right from the start, this sense of playful, almost camp atmosphere is established. Ambrose uses a face mask to pretend to be Hunt, which is still one of my favorite fake-outs of the franchise.
Immediately after this moment, Hunt completes a daring mountain climb that includes exploding sunglasses and a Limp Bizkit Mission: Impossible theme. If nothing else, Woo molds a menace version of Ethan Hunt with a cocky, electric sense of swagger. In a way, this could be written off as just another stereotypical move for an over-the-top spy film, but you cannot help but buy into the absurdity and playfulness that Woo masters.
The biggest criticism I have heard is that the film is slow, and critics are right: Woo takes his time to unleash the beast. It does feel, at times, the film drags itself along until the final big action sequence where Woo lets loose, but there is a lot of fun even in those slower, sillier moments that fill the runtime.
A prime example of this fun is in the car chase, where Hunt and Nyah go car to car, and they both spin out of control. Cruise and Newton, in my eyes, have great chemistry during the sequence. While I agree it’s silly, with Woo’s confident commitment to crafting a mood rather than a strong story, it completely works as one of the film’s most romantic moments.
When the final action sequence finally takes place, though, Woo has the time of his life. It is chaos: doors explode, doves fly, fake-outs take place, viruses are injected, and cures are found. It’s all unreal, and you can’t help but love the spectacle that Woo and cinematographer Jeffery L. Kimball craft.
Cruise does a fine job of playing an arrogant Hunt; his confidence is infectious, which makes sense considering the stunts he can pull off. The most underrated aspect of this film, though, is Scott as Ambrose. He’s a poor man’s Hunt – not as cool as the original, but devilish nonetheless. As a villain, he does a nice job portraying someone who just genuinely hates our hero – it’s personal, and he’s insecure that he can’t light a candle to Hunt.
Rounding out the cast, Newton is fun as Nyah and has great chemistry with Cruise. Her character keeps Hunt on his toes, combating his confidence with her own. At times, he seems nervous around her. It’s fun!
While Mission: Impossible 2 has flaws, Woo brings such a strong style and level of confidence that, ultimately, makes the film one of the best in the franchise. A younger me found this to be the coolest film of all time, and now, I can say that it still holds up.
Retrospective Courtesy of Matthew Allan