Mission Impossible Woo

It might of made a tidy packet at the box office back in 2000, but Mission Impossible II is usually the franchise entry to get snobbily dismissed by audiences. "Unbelievable" is what they say of the hyper real style that famed Hong Kong director John Woo employs. "Corny" and "dumb" are also thrown about a lot when describing the more commercial and action orientated sequel.

I couldn't disagree more. Sure Woo’s earlier English language films didn’t quite hit the mark, Hard Target being far too shallow and trying to hard to be American bollocks, while Broken Arrow, while more polished, is too restrained to be great Woo. MI:2 gets the balance just right capturing Woo’s trademark mythic bullshit, all captured in beautiful, balletic slow motion and combining it with themes of personal identity, honour, and equals & opposites that litter much of his work (as well as a few white doves, obviously.)

The monster virus plot is pretty straightforward but it’s the love triangle between star Cruise, brilliant bad guy and renegade spy Dougrey Scott and the object of their lust, the never cuter and supremely plumy Thandie Newton. But it’s Woo who’s the star of the show; the sweeping dolly shots, the rhythmic, poetic editing, the borderline abstract slow motion, the two handed gun play, the dirt bikes in flight and more bullet squibs you can shake a stick at. It’s brilliant, and when combined with Hans Zimmer’s pounding, guitar driven rendition of the classic Mission Impossible theme it’s as though the sub-genre of Bullshit Action Movie has attained its apex (well, at least for a Western movie anyway). Brilliantly bollox!