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Mission: Impossible II
Metascore
60 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 33 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 33
  3. Negative: 3 out of 33
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  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    83
    It's eye candy that detonates.
  2. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    83
    Moves with terrific energy, alternating riveting action sequences with intimate material in a manner that's pure Woo.
  3. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    80
    Every car chase, every plane crash, every potential drop off a cliff is a masterpiece of grace and surprise.
  4. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    80
    Keeps the pulse pounding without sacrificing laughs or logic.
    All this critic's reviews
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    80
    The power of film to irrationally transform and exalt is almost a religion to Woo, and another reason why he was the natural go-to guy for this lucrative movie franchise.
  6. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    80
    The real deity of the movie is director Woo, who takes complete command of the latest technology -- hyperspeed editing, breathtaking cinematography, 10-out-of-10 stunt work -- to create brilliant action sequences.
  7. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Stephen Hunter
    80
    Such a feast of outlandish pleasures it'll send you home steam-cleaned and shrink-wrapped.
  8. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    More evolved, more confident, more sure-footed in the way it marries minimal character development to seamless action.
  9. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    75
    Check your brains at the popcorn stand and hang on for a spectacular ride.
  10. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Susan Wloszczyna
    75
    There's also a nice cheekiness to the material written by Robert Towne ("Chinatown"), and the usual cool high-tech toys are deployed.
  11. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Kevin Maynard
    74
    Strangely, what it most lacks is the genuine tension found in the first "Mission"'s signature set pieces.
  12. Slate
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    70
    At his best (Woo)'s too promiscuous with the slow motion; and once those doves start fluttering in he enters a new dimension in self-parody.
  13. TNT RoughCut
    Reviewed by: J. Rentilly
    70
    It is ultimately the film's reliance on this thumping action assault that keeps it from true summer-movie greatness.
  14. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    67
    As pure a summer popcorn overdose as you're likely to find, M:i-2 is breezy, breathless, brainless fun, falling just short of Woo's own "Face/Off" but head and shoulders above anything else out there just now.
  15. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    67
    The story line is the typical M:I labyrinthine mess, made even more confusing by the always challenging Robert Towne as screenwriter, and by the continuation and overuse of the flawlessly lifelike "mask" device established in Part One.
  16. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    63
    Suggests that Cruise the actor may have outgrown this kind of stuff.
  17. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    63
    There's solid chemistry between Cruise and the stunning Newton, a superb actress previously restricted to such ethnic roles as Sally Hemings in "Jefferson in Paris" and the title role in "Beloved."
  18. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    63
    Never as much fun as (Woo's) old Chow Yun Fat-starring Chinese pics.
  19. San Francisco Examiner
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    63
    Woo delivers a vintage breakneck, break-arm, break-face 20-minute finale.
  20. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    63
    Hard-driving and propulsive as it is, the film is unable to hide the fact that Woo seems not only to be repeating himself, but parodying his earlier films on a much bigger scale, more crudely and coarsely.
  21. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    60
    It's actually sharper, less reverential and generally better than "Misson: Impossible."
  22. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Andy Klein
    60
    Abandon all hopes of common sense, and enter the theater with high expectations for visceral entertainment. You won't be disappointed.
  23. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Sean Means
    60
    Isn't bad as summer action fare goes -- big and loud, impressively staged by Hong Kong action auteur John Woo, a combination of special effects and eye-popping stunt maneuvers threaded by a plotline that doesn't make sense in the slightest.
  24. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Robert Horton
    60
    The problem is that the motion picture around these individual stunts is patently a committee-made artifact.
  25. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    60
    The stagy emotionalism Mr. Woo specializes in is not ideally suited to his gifts, and Mr. Cruise, his jaw churning to indicate ambivalence and pain, mostly registers confusion and fatigue, soon amply shared by the audience.
  26. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Marc Caro
    50
    Blanks, in a sense, are what M:I-2 is firing. You see the flash, you hear the bang, but the impact never comes.
  27. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    50
    Woo's patented pyrotechnics - intricate editing, acrobatic camera movements, slow-motion mayhem - lend intermittent sparks to the violent action sequences, but the two-dimensional characters have little personality.
  28. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    50
    Woo's aggressive, cartoony attack in the film, which makes for its biggest delights, also wipes out whatever chance it might have had of making an emotional impact.
  29. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Charles Taylor
    50
    Even the most spectacular things Woo unleashes here feel strangely impersonal.
  30. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    40
    Dispenses so many rubber masks to allow the characters to swap identities that no hero or villain winds up carrying any moral weight at all.
  31. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    30
    A vaguely absurd epidemiological thriller filled with elaborately superfluous setups and shamelessly stale James Bond riffs.
  32. Variety
    Reviewed by: Dennis Harvey
    30
    Even more empty a luxury vehicle than its predecessor, M:I 2 pushes the envelope in terms of just how much flashy packaging an audience will buy when there's absolutely nada inside.
  33. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    25
    Mostly, you get a pain in the head from the assault on your senses and déjà vu as thick as heartburn after an anchovy pizza.
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User Reviews

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User Score
5.7 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 52 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 19
  3. Negative: 2 out of 19
  1. grandpajoe6191
    5
    Sadly, John Woo's poor direction on "Mission Impossible 2" even makes the action crappy.
  2. EssenceOfSugar
    4
    I think my high hopes were shattered for this film, because I felt disappointed that it did not live up to the previous film's well-crafted plot and intertwining cool action sequences. This I felt, lacked the former and added more of the latter. The beginning was strong, but as it neared the end it went downhill, and the only thing that stopped this from hitting rock bottom was Tom Cruise's ability to pull off cool action stunts - specifically the fight between him and Ambrose added a little more drama, although any other fighting was purely for showing. Thandie Newton failed to add anything to the film, merely just a manipulative prop. In the end, the only thing that saved the film was Tom Cruise himself, but eventually it just ended up being a fun-of-the-flair cheesy mega action flick. My favourite part, though, was in the pharmaceutical lab.… Full Review »
  3. hoops2448
    5
    Mission Impossible 2 has flaws, many many flaws but its main problem is John Woo brings his signature stylised action but overdoes it. From the unnecessary twirling during gunfights to his signature doves it’s all a little too over the top. That being said, the film does have a certain charm in that it never tries to be overly complex (something its predecessor does on multiple occasions). It’s an action film and nothing more. It’s entertaining in its action, the chemistry between its team members is decent and it is definitely more light hearted than the first. However despite these positives, there is an obvious failure in casting with the obvious choice being the villain Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) but the worst offender is Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie Newton) who is horribly miscast as she brings as much character to the role as a brick wall. The rest of the cast meshes well together with Richard Roxburgh making a pretty decent underling for Ambrose. Sure its not as good as Mission Impossible or Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol but it is mindless fun. It’s just a shame about the poor casting.… Full Review »
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