Directed by John Woo, 2000 (Color, 7:3, Surround, 125′)
Starring Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton, and Ving Rhames

Mission: Impossible II contains many impressive stunts and takes place in several exotic settings. Its resourceful hero makes clever quips, falls for a gorgeous, plucky anti-heroine, and is menaced by a slick, psychotic villain. It is, like its predecessor, an entertaining film that’s part caper flick and part action movie. It is also, unlike its predecessor, a pretty bad movie.

It’s the sort of movie where everything that could possibly go wrong and spin out of control does, every time. For instance, our hero, Ethan Hunt, gets involved in a car chase, on a narrow winding road, dodging cars and trucks that show up around every curve, which ends in a slow-motion car crash, inter-cut with plenty of close-ups of the hero and heroine’s wind-blown hair whipping around their faces, that leaves both their vehicles hanging, precariously, on the edge of a cliff.

Why does this happen? Well, apparently, Ethan just wanted to say, “Hi,” and check in on his potential recruit and love interest, Nyah.

Sound silly? Get used to it. If you’re going to watch this film, and it’s a very impressive-looking film, you’re going to end up snickering a lot. All of the main characters get to posture. Repeatedly. Usually in slow motion. Often with a camera moving majestically around them. If you had any doubt that villains could be vilely villainous, this movie will erase those doubts, many times over again. Often gratuitously. If you’ve ever suspected that heroes are not courageous, athletic, graceful and indestructible, this film will demonstrate that you are wrong. If you don’t believe that heroines can deal with impossible situations while melting your heart, you’ll find out otherwise. Talk about laying it on thick.

I won’t even mention the film’s extended finale except to say that it’s tough to read it as anything other than a satire of Hong-Kong action movies.

The real problem with this film is that it gives the viewers no indication that the filmmakers knew they were being absurd. With only a few tweaks Mission: Impossible II could have been a good satire of action movies. But it wasn’t. At least, I don’t think it was. I know I felt uncomfortable when I laughed aloud at some of the scenes, and, well, that’s probably not the way you want the audience to feel during a farce.