Saw "Mission Impossible 2" last night and thought it was a very mixed bag. John Woo wanted to abandon the remnants of the TV show's style and emphasis character development in this film; even hired Robert Towne to write the screenplay. The penalty here is that the pace slows way down and there is very little action in the first two-thirds of the film. The action in the climax is both abundant and spectacular, but I kept getting the feeling that I'd seen this film before ("Goldeneye" is very similar and Woo should consider directing a Bond flick). This is also a Cruise/Ethan Hunt-dominated flick; the other team members are minor players.The big problem for me, considering the time spent on character development, is that I never felt sympathy for the characters (this melodrama is a key element in most John Woo films) because they have not suffered a great emotional loss (e.g., Travolta's daughter was killed by Castor Troy in "Face/Off"). Even "MI1" made Ethan Hunt's character a vulnerable one, as he was betrayed by both Phelps and his employer.
If this is the best of the summer films, we are in for a pretty bad season.
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Topic - "MI2" is MIA. - TAFKA Steve 04:48:03 05/25/00 (8)
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