It is exceedingly difficult not to like a Tom Cruise
movie. Cruise is, after all, sexy, charming, and a superb
actor. Of course, a movie requires more than one outstanding
actor, and "Mission Impossible" offers everything else
a moviegoer could want - clangorous, explosive action;
snappy plot; intriguing characters; an excellent supporting
cast; and highly entertaining dialogue.
Examining the components of MI:2, I find some diverting
comparisons and contrasts to traditional spy movies, including
the original "Mission Impossible". Tom Cruise returns
as spy Ethan Hunt. The first movie found Hunt stealing
government secrets - typical spy work. Most spy movies
involve one or both of two recurrent themes: the theft
of government secrets (used for good or evil, as the characters
reveal), or the prevention of terrorist attack. A sub-element
in nearly all spy movies is a romantic interlude between
the spy and a beautiful woman - who fits one of these
categories- : a) coworker in crime; b) rich heiress in
need of protection from her enemies; c) enemy who seduces
the spy in order to learn his secrets and thereby outwit
him.
In MI:2, Hunt has a new adversary: an extremely virulent
super-virus called Chimera. New wave of the future: movie
writers realize that people will one day get sick of quick-diffuse-the-bomb-before-it-blows-up-and-we-all-die
spy movies, so they are branching out. Their favorite
new avenue is, apparently, secret government bio-weapons
(really talented germs). This trend actually began with
authors; several recent thriller novels have related "superflu"
disaster stories. The movie industry quickly caught the
"bug" bug. At least the first few movies (including MI:2)
will be original.
Moving on to the romantic subplot, here you have a dilemma:
Ethan is quite attracted to his new cohort, Nyah (Thandie
Newton). He likes her so much, in fact, that he hates
asking her to do her mission, which involves reuniting
with her old boyfriend, Sean (Dougray Scott). Old Beau
has important facts about Chimera; Nyah will have to steal
info and secretly communicate it back to Ethan. MI:2 also
nabs a catchy bit from the film "Face/Off"; while Ethan
and Sean don't surgically switch faces (as in "Face/Off"),
they don completely convincing masks as they impersonate
each other. This seemed unrealistic, exaggerated, and
a bit silly to me, but it is forgivable. As far as I'm
concerned, the two worst crimes Sean commits are walking
around with Tom Cruise's uniquely handsome face, and causing
Tom Cruise to get his hair messed up. The action scenes
are spectacular, as are all the aspects of this film.
Mission Impossible 2 is a smashing (literally) film.
Rated Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action
and some sensuality.
Discuss "Mission
Impossible" or Vivian's Review in Cyberkids Connection
