Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) Dir: John Woo
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I had received fair warning that John Woo's entry into this iconic franchise was rather eccentric. Its safe to say that the word almost does not do this flashy sequel justice.
With all the slow motion shots, which account for about half the film, and the needlessly ridiculous cuts and zooms, I felt rather motion sick by the end of it. It's like someone told Woo decided to make the most flamboyant and explosive action film possible.
The story is almost as absurd as the action. I honestly laughed out loud at some of the repetitive, cliché and quite frankly hilarious twists and sequences. The film feels like a high budget parody of what it should be.
I'll give Woo credit though, some of the action was pretty cool, even if the slow motion shots dragged out the pace of every one. What's more, the soundtrack was incredibly dramatic and over-the-top, it only added to the comedy for me.
Tom Cruise gave this one his all, and while he has some pretty strong moments, he also gets sucked into the silliness of the action around him. He wasn't terrible though.
Thandiwe Newton was actually pretty decent in her supporting role, but for some reason she just became an accessory and an afterthought to the story about halfway through. It felt like a waste.
Dougray Scott, while his performance itself was not bad, turned out to be an incredibly weak villain. I just could not take him remotely serious the whole film.
Ving Rhames, Richard Roxburgh and John Polson provide the best of the other supporting performances, especially Rhames, who I have grown very fond of.
Meanwhile, Brendan Gleeson, Anthony Hopkins, Dominic Porcell, Rade Šerbedžija and William Mapother also deserve mentions.
Overall, this was kind of a bizarre experience to watch. It's like if Michael Bay directed an American James Bond film. My jaw hurt from laughing so much at the absurdity of this one.
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