Mission: Impossible II

Twice the stunts, less the spy.

The Plot: Renegade agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) has in his possession the cure for the deadly virus Chimera. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is summoned yet again to destroy whatever remains of the killer virus at the Biocyte Pharmaceuticals before Ambrose gets a hold of it, to retrieve the cure from Ambrose, and to save the world from the terror Ambrose and the Biocyte CEO plan to unleash. Hunt is further ordered to recruit into his team civilian Nyah Hall (Thandie Newton), who is a professional thief. Unexpectedly, Hunt falls for Nyah. Nyah, however, is to be used as a bait for Ambrose because, as later revealed to Hunt, she happens to be the former's ex-lover. Hunt faces a dilemma: the mission or the emotion?

The Review: For starters, the stunts were simply jaw-dropping. Mission: Impossible II was an extreme sports enthusiast's heaven, from the somewhat serene mountain climbing at the start of the movie to the heart-pounding motorcycle chase in the end. Secondly, there's a love triangle angle to the story which, either, a) could have been done away with, or b) could have been told with more depth. I had a difficult time accepting the fact that it was love at first sight. D'you mean to tell me that after a few stares, which weren't intense to begin with, a few sexual innuendos, and a wild car chase, Hunt is now hesitant to send Nyah on the mission and Nyah oh-so-willingly injects herself with a deadly virus because she hates to see Hunt 'get hurt'? Finally, there's no spy game in this Mission: Impossible. It was stunts through and through.

The Rating: 6/10. It is an action movie. And it's John Woo.

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