Mission: Impossible II (2000)

After delivering the crowd-pleasing Broken Arrow and Face/Off in the mid-90s, director John Woo was a hot commodity in Hollywood. In many ways, it made sense for him to direct this high-action sequel to 1996’s blockbuster Mission: Impossible. Unfortunately for Woo fans, this dud marked the beginning of the end of the director’s work in America and nearly killed the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Ethan Hunt’s (Tom Cruise) latest mission is recovering a fast-acting super-virus from the clutches of a rogue IMF agent before it is let loose upon the world. With the help of his team, including the rogue agent’s ex-girlfriend (Thandie Newton), Hunt learns the full details of Sean Ambrose’s (Dougray Scott) plan to profit from wreaking untold pestilence upon millions of innocents. The stakes become even higher as Hunt’s growing affection for Ambrose’s ex makes the mission personal.

John Woo’s brand of artful violence may work in Asian cinema, where mythical and larger-than-life heroes accomplish epic feats with supernatural grace and abilities. Here in America, those kinds of things are relegated to comic book movies and science fiction. While Woo doesn’t have his characters levitating, the stunts are intricate and quite often unrealistic. You can make anything look possible in the editing room but when the rest of your story is set firm in reality and normal physics, the human brain can’t help but find such frivolity suspect.

Believe it or not, all this high-flying action slows the film down. Part of this is due to the extended stunt sequences but the story shares a lot of the blame as well. The ‘bad guy threatens the world with a virus’ plot has been done before, rogue agents are nothing new, and enough movies have been made about virus epidemics that very little of M:I-2 feels original. On top of it all, there is more Tom Cruise and less team interaction than in the first film. I understand that Ethan Hunt is the main character, but this is Mission: Impossible, not James Bond.

Another drag on the film is the love triangle set up between Cruise, Newton, and Scott. I think it was crafted to help keep audience interest in an otherwise bland plot. Unfortunately, love triangles are more than a little clichéd by now and it makes the film seem more like the good guy and bad guy are fighting over the girl than the super-virus about to be released.

Where the first Mission: Impossible film was moderately intriguing, M:I-2 is little more than disappointing. It takes a unique concept and boils off the things that make it unique, leaving us with a typical Hollywood action flick with just a little bit of directorial flair. It has all the hallmarks of a John Woo film and not enough of the hallmarks of a Mission: Impossible film. If there is one to skip in the series, this one is it.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5

Broken Arrow (1996)

After a career-revitalizing role in Pulp Fiction, John Travolta was thrust back into the limelight of Hollywood. All of a sudden he was a leading man again, and everybody was knocking on his door. Whether he was trying to cling to the aura of cool that he embodied in Pulp Fiction, or whether he was trying to play himself once more against his former squeaky clean, charming roles of old and some recent ones, Travolta takes to the silver screen as a conniving Air Force pilot bent on stealing nuclear weapons.

While Travolta’s physique is less than perfect, his co-star’s acting chops are even more suspect. While Travolta’s career was on the up-swing, Broken Arrow catches Christian Slater close to where his stardom and career sputtered out. Nevertheless, Broken Arrow spits out a fairly black and white good guy vs. bad guy action flick with predictable results and a handful of slick stunts.

Travolta and Slater play a pair of pilots running stealth bomber exercises over the Utah deserts with real nukes. Travolta has masterminded a plan to steal the nukes and ransom millions from the US government. Slater catches on to the plan, but just a tad too late, as he is jettisoned from the aircraft before he can stop his former partner. He does, however, manage to muddle up the delivery of the nukes by parachuting them off-target.

Slater teams up with a park ranger and they set off to do what the US government seems incapable of doing, despite their resources: find and stop Travolta.

There are lots of fancy stunts, fights and explosions in this hour-fifty action flick. Broken Arrow was John Woo’s second Hollywood film, and first big-budget film in the States. The martial arts influence is certainly present. The popularity of Woo and his compatriots led to a plethora of films featuring white guy action heroes saving the day via wicked kung fu moves. Unfortunately, the acting isn’t as slick as the action.

Travolta attempts to slide his character all the way to the extreme as the villain. He sneers and jeers and seems to have a genuinely good time playing a borderline psychopath. The problem is that he takes it too far. Travolta just isn’t believable as the unstable mastermind villain, which makes sense. It’s very hard to have a believable villain be both a mastermind and borderline certifiable. The combination of the two results in a jumbled mess. It looks like fun, but it doesn’t comprehend well in the mind of the viewer.

Slater, on the other hand, doesn’t come across as being smart enough to play the hero. His steady, confident delivery, piled on top of a Western-inspired hero theme tune, comes off as a goofy, modern John Wayne impression. I’m not a huge fan of the Duke, but the Duke he ain’t. Between a few lucky guesses and a few lucky breaks, Slater’s hero character ambles along the path to victory and doesn’t work out all too well either.

The plot has more than its fair share of plot holes and flaws (where was Travolta going to hide after getting away?) but enough dazzle and flair to satisfy summer audiences who check their brains at the door. It has the potential to be a fun movie, as long as you try not to think too much about it.

Given a casting change and a few more re-writes, Broken Arrow could have been better than average for an action flick. Instead, we get a guilty pleasure performance by Travolta and a taste of what the future would hold for Slater.

RATING: 2.25 out of 5