Mission: Impossible II
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| Mission: Impossible 2 | |
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| Directed by | John Woo |
| Produced by | Tom Cruise Paula Wagner |
| Written by | Ronald D. Moore Brannon Braga |
| Starring | Tom Cruise Dougray Scott Thandie Newton Ving Rhames |
| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
| Cinematography | Jeffrey L. Kimball |
| Editing by | Christian Wagner Steven Kemper Stuart Baird |
| Distributed by | USA Theatrical and Worldwide DVD/Video Paramount Pictures Non-USA Theatrical United International Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 24, 2000 |
| Running time | 123 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $125 million |
| Gross revenue | Domestic: $215,409,889 Worldwide: $545,902,562 |
| Preceded by | Mission: Impossible |
| Followed by | Mission: Impossible III |
Mission: Impossible II, or M:I-2 as it is also known, is a 2000 film directed by John Woo and starring Tom Cruise, who is also the film's producer. It is a sequel to Brian De Palma's 1996 film Mission: Impossible with Cruise reprising his role as IMF agent Ethan Hunt.
Production of the film was troubled and was shut down for several weeks as the script was re-worked. As a result both Dougray Scott and Thandie Newton lost the chance to appear in starring roles in other films. Cruise and Woo had reportedly clashed several times throughout filming over creative differences, but both walked away from it on good terms.
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[edit] Plot
In Sydney, Australia, a Russian scientist named Nekhorvich is working in his laboratory. While working on three sample cultures, Nekhorvich mentally laments in his participation in creating such a dangerous force of nature. Nekhorvich, a molecular biologist, while attempting to create the ultimate cure, "Bellerophon", in order to create his "hero", he had to create what every hero requires; a villain, and the "villain" he created was a super-virus named "Chimera", after the Greek hero's nemesis. Nekhorvich, having weeks to plan, decides to journey to Atlanta and give "Chimera" to the U.S. Government, in order to expose his employers' criminal plans. Nekhorvich then destroys two of the three cultures of "Chimera", and then injects the third into his arm, using his own body as a petri dish. With 20 hours before "Chimera" advances to the point "Bellerophon" won't be able to save him, Nekhorvich summons his old friend Ethan Hunt to escort him to Atlanta. While suffering from the virus' effects, Nekhorvich makes it onto a Boeing 747. When the plane reaches the Colorado Rockies, the plane is seized by unknown agents and all of the passengers and plane crew anesthetized, except for Nekhorvich, who suspected something is wrong. This is tragically well-founded, as "Ethan" then knocks Nekhorvich out and snaps his neck, killing him, and then takes his briefcase, which contains other "Chimera" samples. "Ethan" rips off his face mask, revealing he is Sean Ambrose, an IMF Agent as are his team, who then set the plane to crash before jumping from the plane by skydiving.
Meanwhile, in Texas, the real Ethan is climbing to the top of a steep cliff using nothing but chalk to get his hands enough friction. Soon, with only a modicum of difficulty, Ethan reaches the top. No sooner has he reached it that an IMF helicopter arrives and fires a rocket at him, which lands beside him un-exploded, and deposits a pair of sunglasses that contain a message from his immediate superior; an kindly old IMF Official named Swanbeck. Swanbeck informs Ethan that Ambrose and his team have gone rogue, and he is to assemble a team of his own and report to Seville for his briefing and more details. While two of his three-man-team are of his choice, the last must be Nyah Nordoff-Hall, a civilian, yet highly-professional & expert thief, but Ethan is not told why she must be included. The sunglasses then self-destruct five seconds later.
Nyah remains a fugitive from multiple law-enforcement agencies around the world, but Ethan catches her in the attempt to steal a valuable diamond necklace (using intelligence Swanbeck provided in the briefing), but Hall refuses to let him speak. Ethan tracks her down in his car, and Ethan and Nyah have a semi-friendly car chase, which ends in them almost crashing and falling from a steep cliff-edge. Ethan saves Nyah before her car falls from the cliff. Aroused by his kindness, Nyah agrees to hear him out and sleeps with him.
Later that evening, Ethan meets Swanbeck in the local IMF office. Swanbeck tells Ethan of Nekhorvich's death, along with that of Dr Sergei Gradsky, Nekhorvich's assistant who died some time earlier. Ambrose was sent by Swanbeck to assume Ethan's image and escort Nekhorvich to the United States, as Ethan himself failed to mention where he was going on holiday and so couldn't be reached. The IMF knows virutally nothing about what Chimera or Bellerophon is, or what Ambrose is planning. Ethan's mission is to find out and stop him. Nyah is to be an inside agent, as she had a relationship with Ambrose that she eventually ended and Ambrose has been desperately wanting her back ever since.
Nyah, after realizing Ambrose's actions have led to people's deaths, agrees to the plan, and Ethan arranges for her to be falsely arrested, and information on this to be sent to Ambrose. As Ethan predicts, Ambrose arranges for Nyah's freedom and for her to be brought to his secret compound on an island of Sydney. Ambrose completely believes Nyah to truly wanted to return to him for his actions, but Ambrose's right-hand man, Hugh Stamp, remains vigilant and suspicious. Nyah is forced to seduce Ambrose to solidify his trust in her. All the while, her progress is monitored by Ethan and his team-mates; his old friend Luther Stickell, and the semi-eccentric Australian Billy Baird.
Eventually, at a race track, Ambrose is caught talking to John C. McCloy, the ruthless CEO of Biocyte, the corporation that employed Nekhorvich. Though nothing is heard, McCloy is shown a disk of the effects of "Chimera" on Gradsky which occur 20 hours after exposure: Chimera rapidly destroyed Gradsky's red blood cells, causng massive external haemorraghing and damage to his skin cells: Gradsky died 34 hours after being infected with Chimera. Nyah is able to get Ethan a copy of the disk, but Ambrose notices her putting it back. However, he pretends to remain in the dark about her allegiances.
McCloy is abducted by the IMF team and, doped up on drugs and set in a fake hospital room, is led to believe he is infected with Chimera, and is visited by Nekhorvich's ghost. Nekhorvich manipulates McCloy into revealing he ordered Chimera to be developed as a bioweapon for profitable military applications, and to make money by releasing Chimera, before peddling Bellerophon as a miracle cure; he also admits to infecting Gradsky with Chimera deliberately, so as to observe its effect outside the laboratory. McCloy then bought the services of Ambrose and his team to steal the virus back after Nekhorvich's theft and escape, but now Ambrose has become ambitious, and is demanding McCloy pay £37 Million for the virus samples, to which he agreed to. McCloy then passes out due to knockout gas.
At the same time, Nyah is summoned to a meeting with Ethan, who has briefly broken into the compound to give further instructions.
As it turns out, "Nekhorvich's ghost" was the real Ethan gaining details on Ambrose's plans, while the "Ethan" at the compound is Ambrose himself, who now knows of Nyah's allegiances (especially when Nyah tried to come onto him). Ambrose and Stamp plan for Nyah to be bait for Ethan.
Ethan and his team plan to break into Biocyte's head office in Sydney, where they will destroy all remaining cultures of Chimera, while at the same time, Ambrose and his team plan to do the same to prevent Ethan destroying Chimera. Unwilling to test Biocyte's heavy security by going in at ground floor, Ethan breaks into the building from above (descending from a shaft in the building roof, narrowly avoiding tripping the alarm) and enters the laboratory on the 42nd floor, where he manages to destroy all but one of the Chimera cultures. Before he can, Ambrose and his thugs (who had broken in by the ground floor) interrupt him, and a frenzied gun fight breaks out in the lab. It only ends when Ambrose produces Nyah as a hostage and orders her to retrieve the culture, knowing Hunt won't shoot her. However, knowing Ambrose will likely kill her once he has it, Nyah deliberately infects herself with Chimera, meaning Ambrose has to keep her alive if he wants to make money. Making use of the distraction, Ethan promises Nyah he'll save her within 20 hours, then makes his getaway.
Ethan, Billy and Luther (who have both narrowly survived being killed) track Ambrose and McCloy to a Biocyte storage facilty off the Sydney coast. Ethan goes in, where he learns Ambrose has released Nyah in downtown Sydney: Ambrose then uses this to blackmail McCloy, claiming that by causing a major outbreak of Chimera, Biocyte stocks will soar due to demands for Bellerophon, and Ambrose demands controlling shares of Biocyte. However, before they can complete the deal, Ethan breaks into the meeting, kills Stamp and a number of Ambrose's lackeys, before escaping with the vials of Bellerophon. An immense chase breaks out, in which Ethan, Luther and Billy manage to defeat all the rogue agents with the exception of Ambrose himself. Luther and Billy leave to rescue Nyah, while Ethan and Ambrose fight to the death on an abandonded beach. After an exhaustive fight, Ethan kills Ambrose with a shot to the heart, just before the rest of the team arrive. The group are narrowly able to inject Nyah with Bellerophon before her time runs out.
At the film's end, Ethan is in a debriefing with Swanbeck, who confirms that all trace of Chimera has been destroyed, along with Nyah's criminal record. Ethan decides to go on holiday again: he and Nyah meet up in Sydney and walk off into the sunset together.
[edit] Cast
- Tom Cruise ... Ethan Hunt
- Dougray Scott ... Sean Ambrose
- Thandie Newton ... Nyah Nordoff-Hall
- Ving Rhames ... Luther Stickell
- Richard Roxburgh ... Hugh Stamp
- John Polson ... Billy Baird
- Brendan Gleeson ... John C. McCloy
- Anthony Hopkins ... Mission Commander Swanbeck (Uncredited)
- Rade Šerbedžija ... Dr. Nekhorvich (as Radé Sherbedgia)
- William Mapother ... Wallis
- Dominic Purcell ... Ulrich
- Mathew Wilkinson ... Michael
- Nicholas Bell... Accountant
- Cristina Brogers ... Flamenco Dancer
- Kee Chan... Chemist
- Kim Fleming ... Larrabee
- Natallie Eaton ... Barbie
- Sam Jones... Plane Passenger
[edit] Production
- John Woo .... director
- Terence Chang .... executive producer
- Michael Doven .... associate producer
- Paul Hitchcock .... executive producer
- Paula Wagner .... producer
- Tom Cruise .... producer
- Ronald D. Moore .... screenplay
- Brannon Braga .... screenplay
- Tony Ciccone .... additional editing
- Jeffrey L. Kimball .... cinematography
[edit] Box office
The film was a financial hit and grossed close to $215 million in its domestic American release and approx. $330 million abroad. It was the highest-grossing movie of 2000.
[edit] Box office totals
- Budget - $125,000,000
- Marketing cost - $37,200,000
- Opening Weekend Gross (Domestic) - $57,845,297
- Total Domestic Grosses - $215,409,889
- Total Overseas Grosses - $330,492,673
- Total Worldwide Grosses - $545,902,562
[edit] Reception
Critical reaction to Mission: Impossible II was mixed. The film holds a rating of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes[1] and 60 out of 100 on Metacritic[2].
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said that "if the first movie was entertaining as sound, fury, and movement, this one is more evolved, more confident, more sure-footed in the way it marries minimal character development to seamless action."[3] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly felt the film was a "throwaway pleasure" but also "a triumph of souped-up action."[4]
Ella Taylor of LA Weekly said that "every car chase, every plane crash, every potential drop off a cliff is a masterpiece of grace and surprise."[5] Desson Thomson of the Washington Post said that "[John] Woo [...] takes complete command of the latest technology to create brilliant action sequences."[6] Lou Lumenick of the New York Post said, "Check your brains at the popcorn stand and hang on for a spectacular ride."[7]
J. Hoberman of the Village Voice called the film "a vaguely absurd thriller filled with elaborately superfluous setups and shamelessly stale James Bond riffs."[8] Dennis Harvey of Variety said the film is "even more empty a luxury vehicle than its predecessor" and that it "pushes the envelope in terms of just how much flashy packaging an audience will buy when there's absolutely nada inside."[9] Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader said that "no hero or villain winds up carrying any moral weight at all."[10]
[edit] Music
[edit] Score
The original score was composed by Hans Zimmer and performed by Lisa Gerrard.
[edit] Soundtrack
The Mission: Impossible II Soundtrack includes Limp Bizkit's rendition of Lalo Schifrin's Mission: Impossible theme, "Take a Look Around".
[edit] See also
- Notorious, an inspiration for part of the plotline in Mission: Impossible II
[edit] References
- ^ Mission: Impossible II reviews, Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ Mission: Impossible II reviews, Metacritic
- ^ Mission: Impossible II review, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
- ^ Mission: Impossible II review, Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
- ^ Mission: Impossible II review, Ella Taylor, LA Weekly
- ^ Mission: Impossible II review, Desson Thomson, Washington Post
- ^ Mission: Impossible II review, Lou Lumenick, New York Post
- ^ Mission: Impossible II review, J. Hoberman, Village Voice
- ^ Mission: Impossible II review, Dennis Harvey, Variety
- ^ Mission: Impossible II review, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
[edit] External links
| Preceded by ''Dinosaur'' |
Box office number-one films of 2000 (USA) May 28, 2000 – June 4, 2000 |
Succeeded by ''Gone in 60 Seconds'' |
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