Completely agree - as a huge Woo devotee, MI series fan and Australian (where the film was set), it pains me to say that what seemed 'underwhelming' at the time now seems downright awful! Re-watching it now for the first time in 10 years its really aged badly, and the flaws and poor writing are cringe-inducing.
Its true that Robert Towne was given several action set pieces and instructed to wrap a story round it - and its very obvious he took the money and ran. The tiny cast, repetition of boring locations, clumsy romance and plodding dialogue in the first hour is like the Chimera virus, slowly killing the movie. Woo's direction is also at his most indulgent and almost comically over-stylised, like a parody of his own work.
The motorcycle stunt finale is thrillingly staged, but by the time it arrives is too little too late. Even the final fight sequence between Cruise and Scott, while it has some nice choreography, seems over-wrought.
Oh what this film might have been with a better screenplay... At the very least Woo's overindulgent shooting schedule saved us from having to endure the unwatchable Dougray Scott as Wolverine.....
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ComicNerd
8 years ago
The tiny cast, repetition of boring locations, clumsy romance and plodding dialogue in the first hour is like the Chimera virus, slowly killing the movie. Woo's direction is also at his most indulgent and almost comically over-stylised, like a parody of his own work.
I just basically repeated the same thing, I should have read down first. Your right though I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought the movie had a boring look to it with the locations. Compare MI2 to the rest of the MI movies and it looks cheap.
I think the actually over all plot is not too bad, but it needed better locations, more inventive action set pieces and more characters other then Ethan Hunt.
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