This One Just Doesn’t Taste Like Classic ‘Mission Impossible’

I wonder, if you had the services of a world-renowned chef at your disposal for a day, would you unleash him to create a seven-course meal of his best offerings, or would you ask him to whip up a batch of mom’s homemade meatloaf? If you chose the latter, you would undoubtedly get a good, tasty meal, but you might also be slightly disappointed because, despite his prowess in the kitchen, the chef’s meatloaf doesn’t taste exactly like mom’s recipe. Perhaps this analogy applies to Mission: Impossible 2, which might more appropriately be titled, John Woo’s Ethan Hunt: Secret Agent Man, for all the attention given producer-star Tom Cruise’s returning character from the previous film.

Action auteur Woo, Hong Kong’s genre master who brought his blazing style to bear on such American hits as Broken Arrow and Face/Off, takes over the directorial reigns from Brian De Palma, whose first entry has been unfairly maligned as too cerebral, too confusing, or just plain nonsensical (none of which is true). Many fans of the original television show — including former star Peter Graves — were critical of the first film and rejoiced at the news that Woo, and not De Palma, would be at the helm for this second outing. As they say, be careful what you wish for… you may get it.

Mission: Impossible 2, or M:I-2 for short, pits Ethan Hunt (Cruise) against rogue IMF agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), who has stolen the cure for a viciously lethal, man-made virus. Hunt’s mission is to determine Ambrose’s plans by using a beautiful thief, Nyah (Thandie Newton), an ex-girlfriend to the shady spy, to renew old acquaintances and win back his trust in order to figure out his scheme and how to stop it. The complication? Hunt, initially unaware of how his IMF boss (Anthony Hopkins) plans to use her, falls for Nyah and must now put his feelings aside in order to do the job at hand.

M:I-2 is exciting, exhilarating and bursting at the seams with fantastic stunts, most of which are performed by the stars themselves. It is bold and operatic. The conflict is direct and personal. There is a twisty love triangle that clouds the motivations of both our hero and the villain. The movie features dramatic use of slo-mo photography, at least one sequence of the protagonist blasting away, a pistol in each hand, both barrels blazing, and another in which birds play an integral part in the composition of an action sequence. In other words, this is a John Woo movie. Where the first film was cold and clinical, this one is fiery and passionate. Where De Palma’s version was methodical and calculating, Woo’s is sweeping and full of grand emotions. But is there really Mission: Impossible? The answer is a resounding no.

M:I-2 is closer in spirit to a James Bond movie than it is to Mission: Impossible. Ethan Hunt has metamorphosed into an ultra-invincible, super-spy, beginning with the early frames of the film in which we witness him on vacation, climbing craggy cliffs in Utah without the benefit of any harnesses or nets, as if he were defying gravity itself. It’s an awesome scene, to be sure, with Cruise exhibiting the kind of enthusiastic, go-for-broke physicality that earmarks his entire portrayal in this Woo entry, but it doesn’t fit with Mission: Impossible teamwork motif. The precision craftswork and timing of the spy game, the trademark that makes Mission: Impossible unique in the genre, is barely apparent, as evidenced by the way returning spy Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) is pushed to the background.

With M:I-2, rated PG-13 for violence (not graphic) and profanity, master chef Woo serves up a fine action film, but it just doesn’t taste like Mission: Impossible.