Hey folks, Harry here. Man, this is a very odd schizophrenic review. At one level, Akira calls MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 "The Movie of the Summer".... and then spends most of the review complaining about nitpicks... So I guess what that means is... This is a film with some badass action beats with the balls to the wall cut out. This is going to be one of those... "pulled punch" films, that... is real kick ass, but one of those films where you know you were suppose to taste the sole of your foot in the back of your mouth, but Paramount and the MPAA decided to give you a Bob Hope kick in the ass as opposed to a Jet Li kick in the ass. We'll see soon enough! Here's Akira...
Whats up Harry. Just had the time of my life at the world premiere of Mission Impossible 2. The last premiere screening I had been to was for Romeo Must Die, and may I say that MI-2 just kicked the shit out of that movie! Now maybe it was because there was a lot more energy in the crowd than any other movie I has ever been too, but every time this film got to an action scene, I got that John Woo spine-tingeling feeling that made me want to stand up and cheer with excitement.
I think the plot has already been explained in the earlier reviews so I will not go into that here, and I don't think people are going to see this film for its plot.
So how good are the action scenes? I know this was the PG-13 version of the film because none of the crazy violence that was talked about in early screenings was present during this screening. Sure people get shot, but you never get the true feeling of the wound. And that is why this film doesn't hold a candle to The Killer or my favorite, Hard Boiled.
During every gunfire sequence you could feel where the edits in violence were made. They would show Tom firing a weapon or weapons, and then there would be a quick flask of the target or targets being hit, then they would cut back to Cruise.
This probably won't effect the average movie audience, but for Woo fanatics like myself, will make you wish they had the balls to release the R version as Woo had originally visioned.
Another topic I MUST go into is the little Matrix 360 spins that some geeks will quickly yell rip-off to. Any fool can tell you that The Matrix was not the first to use this technique. I remember awwwwwing at the Gap commercial the first time I saw it. Sure The Matrix made the technique popular, but I have seen it done better (anyone see that TGIF commercial where they go through the entire restaurant). I am almost positive that MI-2 did this to stick with the latest "bullet-time" craze, and it was not necessary at the moments that it happened. But anyone who calls Woo a copycat should know that almost all of the recent poor attempts of making the action film, have tried, and failed miserably.
That about all the time I have right now, I almost fell asleep at my computer. This will be the film of the summer. I didn't think anything would top Gladiator, but John Woo has a style that no one else has. And make sure you prepare yourself for the last 30 minutes of this film. The only Woo finally that even comes close to his Boiled hospital scene. Makes the improbable ending to the last movie look like crap. I will be there again on the 24th, your asses better be there too.
See ya
Akira
