Mission Impossible II: The Modern Spy Film.

             In a film genre filled with heavily accented hero"s, fancy cars, beautiful women, and plot distracting action scene"s, Mission Impossible II breaks away to stand out as a modern reincarnation of the past spy/action films. Tom Cruise returns to play Ethan Hunt, who is a mercenary working for an underground international agency. He has been assigned to stop renegade agent Sean Ambrose, played by Dougray Scott, from destroying the world. Along with Cruise, Ving Rhames returns as computer and communications whiz Luther Stickell, and the gorgeous Thandie Newton pops up as Hunt's love interest. Director John Woo did a great job of having the writers fill in their plot around his high velocity action scenes. Mission Impossible II is an excellent example of a more modern spy film, with it"s intense action, extremely impossible odds, and the untypical twist away from the norm of spy movies, M:I II had me eagerly awaiting to see what would happen next.

             From hard impact fight scenes to high velocity car scenes, John Woo managed to live up to his reputation for creating action-filled masterpieces. Even though this film was far from a masterpiece, it still presents all that is necessary to quench the thirst of any action freak. One scene that sticks out to me, is when Hunt is leaving the Biochem test center, and he can"t make it in time to get aboard the helicopter. Just as he realizes this, many armed men on fast street motorcycles begin zipping past, firing an array of shots. Hunt takes a man off his bike and the scene begins. As Ethan makes his escape, he is followed by Scott"s character, Sean Ambrose. Hunt leads Ambrose to a sandy area, which almost is very similar to a rock query. They finally set up for what looks to be a classic game of chicken. As both characters speed towards one another, the camera buzzes about, building up the suspense from every angle.