The Revisit – Mission Impossible II (2000)

With this being Mission Impossible week, I decided to take a look at one of the movies in the franchise. I debated in my own head -does that make me a schizo?- which movie to watch for this column. I decided that the most derided sequel in the series would be the most fun to watch. Mostly because I enjoyed it when I first saw it. Though I will get back to that in a bit. First, a bit of background.

Background: Mission Impossible is an intriguing franchise. Intriguing in that it seems to be star Tom Cruise’s go-to when his career needs a little help. The first film, released in the summer of 1996 a couple weeks ahead of Independence Day, was famous for having MANY rewrites and clashes between Cruise and director Brian DePalma. Watching the film then, it was quite obvious that Mission Impossible was a compromised production. Its narrative is very uneven, and I remember seeing it in the movies and literally having no idea how to feel. Cruise’s buddy -and one of my favorite actors at the time- Emilio Estevez came in only to be killed off early in the film. Even with its flaws, the first Mission Impossible took in $457 million total, so it was inevitable that a sequel would be made. The question was, when?

Despite their clashes on the original film, Cruise did in fact ask DePalma to come back. After getting turned down, Cruise needed a director, and needed a director fast. Enter John Woo. Woo was a sensation in his homeland with flicks like Hard Boiled, and he was also starting to make his presence known in America as well. Face-Off was a guilty pleasure of mine at the time, and it obviously was enough for Cruise to see that it would make him say, ‘you know, you would be good for my thriller.’ But would it be a thriller this time?

Me, I was stoked. I was not overly impressed with the first film. But I was always a fan of Cruise. And despite my run-in with Scientology earlier in the year -something that might be covered at another time- I was all set to see him kick ass onscreen. So I gathered my main movie buddy at the time and we were all set to go opening day. Oh, one more thing I should enter into this story. We were high as street lights during this screening. There might have been some marijuana involved. And there might have been some ‘Battleship‘ drugs involved as well. So, yep. We were all set for slo-mo/dove flying action. Let’s do it!

What I Thought At The Time: I remember hearing many, MANY bad things about Mission Impossible II before going to see it. But I enjoyed the Limp Bizkit theme. I enjoyed the Hans Zimmer score. And guess what? I enjoyed the hell out of Mission Impossible II. The film had this aura of movie star sheen around it, and I remember my defense of Tom Cruise being people can say what they want about what he does outside the camera. But one thing you can always count on is Cruise knows how to entertain. I was gloriously entertained by the over the top action sequences and Cruise’s cat & mouse games he played with both love interest Thandie Newton and villain Dougray Scott. The last twenty minutes were bombastic and thrilling, and the much hyped Woo motif ‘ballet of violence’ was ever apparent during Mission Impossible II, especially in its concluding twenty minutes. I thought the action in the film topped anything I had seen at the time, and I was thoroughly entertained by it.

What I Think Now: So, after watching Mission Impossible II this time, the first time I have watched it in over a decade, I have one question: just how f’n high was I when I originally watched this film?! The first adjective that came to mind after this movie was over was obnoxious. Mission Impossible II is an obnoxious attempt by Tom Cruise to prove that he is still an action star. First of all, for a franchise that made its name by being about a team, Ethan Hunt’s team is almost nowhere to be seen until well into the second act. I also want to point out that Tom Cruise and Cillian Murphy styled hair do not mesh. The second I see him climbing that mountain, I do not like him. Not a good way to think of the main character, or ‘hero’ of the story. Another thing I noticed was just how ridiculous this movie’s love story was. Newton, whose star has faded over the years due to no one knowing how to shine it brightly, has zero chemistry with Cruise, and Woo’s attempts to steam the film up with a laborious car chase and ridiculous sequence in a bath tub are hideous wastes of screen time. All of it added up to a scene of her and Cruise arguing after she injects the drug Chimaira into her blood stream, backed by annoying Zimmer strings & choirs, which is completely laughable. It’s worth noting that the year before, Cruise nabbed an Oscar nomination for Law’s favorite movie Magnolia. Why he felt the need to overact like this, other than to, again, prove his action movie cred, is beyond me.

Now, one thing I will still agree with my original feelings on: I think the final twenty minutes of this movie is crazy action fun. The motorcycle chase, the reveal of who the Ethan Hunt they killed REALLY is, the fight in the sand—ALL of this, as ridiculous as it is, still works for me. But this fight makes me think of how much main villain Dougray Scott must have resented Stanley Kubrick for delaying Eyes Wide Shut so much that it delayed the filming of this, and a little role called Wolverine in that summer’s X-Men film ended up slowly slipping through his fingers and into the hands of Hugh Jackman. But it didn’t matter. That superhero film was sure to flop, right? Scott was in a movie with Tom f’n Cruise!

In Conclusion: In all honesty, I cannot believe how much I endorsed this film for over a decade after its release. How is it that I can love a film so much and just grow to resent it on my most recent viewing? I guess that’s what this column is all about. But one thing I can say: I still like Tom Cruise. I think the man knows how to work in front of a camera, and I still stand by my feelings about him knowing what an audience wants. But this obnoxious display of macho and cool did nothing for me this time. Much like me eventually not liking Limp Bizkit, I guess my allegiances eventually had to go elsewhere. Just like Woo, who hasn’t made a film in the US since 2003’s Paycheck. I should also add that as the years have wore on, I have grown a bigger fondness for the 1996 original. I think it’s a brilliantly woven thriller that by the time is done has you in knots. I guess I didn’t appreciate this skill as a guy who just graduated high school at the time.

Wait, I have a perfect suggestion. Maybe the studio should pass out weed and shrooms to patrons at screenings of Mission Impossible: Ghost of the Rogue Protocal, or whatever the hell they’re calling it.