Film Review: ''Mission: Impossible-2 (M:I-2)''

THERE HAS been so much hype about the combination of John Woo, hailed as one of the greatest action auteurs, and Tom Cruise, one of Hollywood's biggest stars. The outcome when two giants come together? Explosive. And that is exactly what ``M:I-2'' is.

Like any action film, this movie too has its share of car chases on narrow mountain roads, motorbikes racing at break-neck speed, helicopter landings and take-offs at crucial moments, fisticuffs in the climax, when they could just shoot at each other and be done with it...

But what makes ``M:I-2'' entertaining is the extremely stylish and slick choreography of violence. For instance the scene where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is tracking down Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), the bad guy. Gunshots are exchanged but amidst flying pigeons that lend an aesthetic touch to the action.

The action keeps shifting from the rough terrains of Utah to the Sydney harbour with the elegant Opera house in the foreground, offering ample scope for some spectacular aerial photography, a visually stimulating experience for the audience. The film, incidentally, has been co-produced by Tom Cruise.

For a film such as this one, the plot is only a pretext. Still, if you are curious, then here it is. A virus and its antidote fall into the hands of the avaricious Sean Ambrose who steals it from a scientist. Ethan Hunt has to destroy the virus. Simple.

But, oh no! It is not so simple, as a complication arises in the form of petty thief, Nyah Hall (Thandie Newton) who in a moment of tension injects herself with the virus. Now, lover boy Ethan has three tasks - save Nyah, recover the antidote from Sean and then kill him.

The John Woo stamp is evident throughout the movie; be it the latex masks that Cruise and Scott keep peeling off (so much so that after a point, you wonder if the guy on the screen is the real one or one with a mask) or the way the guns are positioned in the hands of the actors.

Tom Cruise, whose long hair adds to his character, has done most of the dangerous stunts himself. Watch him hanging from a rugged cliff or lower himself into a building with the help of cable wire. He has screen presence, all right.

Dusky beauty Thandie Newton complements Cruise, while Anthony Hopkins makes a very brief appearance. Ving Rhames takes off from where he left in ``Mission:Impossible''.

The camera work by Jeffrey Kimball superbly captures all the action and the close-ups are effective. The signature tune of ``Mission:Impossible'' heightens the drama. Hans Zimmer has scored the music.

``M:I-2'' is an out and out entertainer, an adrenaline-pumping exercise that is purely a two-and-half hour non-stop action- packed drama.

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