Mission Impossible II
It's just gotta be summer! If you failed to upgrade your calendar to 2000.6v1, I can assure you that summer, while not officially here in astronomical terms - the Summer Solstice doesn't hit for another week or so - the official summer moovie season is in full swing. The symptoms are easy to spot - over-hyped moovies released in gatling gun fashion are raking in zillions of dollars a minute, and the weekly standings of who's cleaning up at the box office get better placement in the news than the status reports on Clay Chastain's love life.
One of these summer wonders - and one that I could almost assume you've already seen, based on the number of Americans that have already cashed in their IRAs to go see it, is "Mission Impossible 2", aka MI2, with Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton, Ving Rhames and Anthony Hopkins. Written by Ronald Moore, screenplay by Robert Towne, directed by John Woo. MPAA rating PG-13 for violence and implied sensuality. Run time two hours.
You know how I always sign off with "Peace, Love, Popcorn" - an unabashed throwback to Woodstock and the sixties? This time around, I'm tempted to drop the bar to just "Popcorn" and run with it. "Mission Impossible 2" is an all-American, kick back, put your feet up and stuff your face with popcorn moovie. I'm not going to tell you that "MI2" is great filmmaking - this isn't "Apocalypse Now" we're talking about, but for an action flick, it's unusual - everyone pulls out the stops and transforms what could have been, with not much trouble, a "B" moovie into a certified keeper.
The setup: Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt, character analog to Jim Phelps in the 1960s TV series (by the way, except for the casual use of the Impossible Mission Force acronym and the exploding devices that deliver assignments to its agents, the 2000 opus of "Mission Impossible" bears not so much as a passing resemblance to the original, and were it not for brand recognition and the ever-so-lucrative tie-ins that moovies like this rely upon, it might just as well been called, "Tom and Thandies Big Adventure") who, while hanging around a sheer rock overhang is contacted by top-secret Ray-Ban moles who deliver his next assignment via sunglasses that tell Hunt the news, then vaporize in 5/4 time. Back on terra firma, Hunt gets the low down from Commander Swanbeck (Anthony Hopkins) who, in an unapologetic and politically incorrect moment instructs Hunt that he can take anybody he wants on this mission provided it's Nyah Nordolf-Hall (Thandie Newton). Way to go, Tony! Good choice.
The mission spins around a virus, bad guys and a plan for world domination. Well, duh, just another day at the office. The virus, nicknamed Chimera, which acts like ebola mixed with Jolt cola, and which can be instantly made benign only by an antiviral agent called Bellerophon, are about to fall into the hands of international terrorists led by Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) an ex-fed gone bad. All Hunt has to do is destroy the virus before the bad guys can rule the world. No problem. Well, actually, big problem. Bad guys in moovies are much smarter than bad guys in real life, otherwise moovies would only last eleven minutes. They're also more resilient than giant cockroaches with two-moovie deals. You just can't kill 'em!
How this all circles for a landing isn't for me to say, your mission, should you decide to get on with it, is to go watch "MI2" for yourself.
Here's what you'll get: Action - a John Woo film is all about stuff getting the tar kicked out of it, stuff exploding, stuff getting shot, and ultimately, a pas de deux wheel-kick finale with the hero and anti-hero beating the stuffing out of each other while doves fly. (The last fight, by the way, like the fight sequences all through this moovie, last way too long. A little Kung Fu goes a long way with me, thanks.)
Here's what you won't get: Intellectual stimulation. Except for a few details, you'll have this one put away after a half hour, but by all means stick around and finish your popcorn. Woo, Towne and Cruise (sounds like Friday night in Independence) pooled their talents to make MI2 the best darned James Bond formula moovie they could, and did an admirable job of delicately walking the production tightrope over the chasm of smarmy double-naught machismo. It really works. You won't be trying to outguess anyone in this moovie, you'll know when to expect a character to go whipping off their IMF standard-issue disguises, and you'll know how it all turns out long before the bad guys do, but you won't be bored.
C'mon it's summer, back it down a notch and chill with The Cruise and MI2. Three cows is plenty. Don't want to peak too early.
One of these summer wonders - and one that I could almost assume you've already seen, based on the number of Americans that have already cashed in their IRAs to go see it, is "Mission Impossible 2", aka MI2, with Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton, Ving Rhames and Anthony Hopkins. Written by Ronald Moore, screenplay by Robert Towne, directed by John Woo. MPAA rating PG-13 for violence and implied sensuality. Run time two hours.
You know how I always sign off with "Peace, Love, Popcorn" - an unabashed throwback to Woodstock and the sixties? This time around, I'm tempted to drop the bar to just "Popcorn" and run with it. "Mission Impossible 2" is an all-American, kick back, put your feet up and stuff your face with popcorn moovie. I'm not going to tell you that "MI2" is great filmmaking - this isn't "Apocalypse Now" we're talking about, but for an action flick, it's unusual - everyone pulls out the stops and transforms what could have been, with not much trouble, a "B" moovie into a certified keeper.
The setup: Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt, character analog to Jim Phelps in the 1960s TV series (by the way, except for the casual use of the Impossible Mission Force acronym and the exploding devices that deliver assignments to its agents, the 2000 opus of "Mission Impossible" bears not so much as a passing resemblance to the original, and were it not for brand recognition and the ever-so-lucrative tie-ins that moovies like this rely upon, it might just as well been called, "Tom and Thandies Big Adventure") who, while hanging around a sheer rock overhang is contacted by top-secret Ray-Ban moles who deliver his next assignment via sunglasses that tell Hunt the news, then vaporize in 5/4 time. Back on terra firma, Hunt gets the low down from Commander Swanbeck (Anthony Hopkins) who, in an unapologetic and politically incorrect moment instructs Hunt that he can take anybody he wants on this mission provided it's Nyah Nordolf-Hall (Thandie Newton). Way to go, Tony! Good choice.
The mission spins around a virus, bad guys and a plan for world domination. Well, duh, just another day at the office. The virus, nicknamed Chimera, which acts like ebola mixed with Jolt cola, and which can be instantly made benign only by an antiviral agent called Bellerophon, are about to fall into the hands of international terrorists led by Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) an ex-fed gone bad. All Hunt has to do is destroy the virus before the bad guys can rule the world. No problem. Well, actually, big problem. Bad guys in moovies are much smarter than bad guys in real life, otherwise moovies would only last eleven minutes. They're also more resilient than giant cockroaches with two-moovie deals. You just can't kill 'em!
How this all circles for a landing isn't for me to say, your mission, should you decide to get on with it, is to go watch "MI2" for yourself.
Here's what you'll get: Action - a John Woo film is all about stuff getting the tar kicked out of it, stuff exploding, stuff getting shot, and ultimately, a pas de deux wheel-kick finale with the hero and anti-hero beating the stuffing out of each other while doves fly. (The last fight, by the way, like the fight sequences all through this moovie, last way too long. A little Kung Fu goes a long way with me, thanks.)
Here's what you won't get: Intellectual stimulation. Except for a few details, you'll have this one put away after a half hour, but by all means stick around and finish your popcorn. Woo, Towne and Cruise (sounds like Friday night in Independence) pooled their talents to make MI2 the best darned James Bond formula moovie they could, and did an admirable job of delicately walking the production tightrope over the chasm of smarmy double-naught machismo. It really works. You won't be trying to outguess anyone in this moovie, you'll know when to expect a character to go whipping off their IMF standard-issue disguises, and you'll know how it all turns out long before the bad guys do, but you won't be bored.
C'mon it's summer, back it down a notch and chill with The Cruise and MI2. Three cows is plenty. Don't want to peak too early.
