Movies - Mission: Impossible II

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Mission: Impossible II

	Movies - Mission: Impossible II

Mission: Impossible II, or M:I-2 as it is also known, is the 2000 John Woo-directed sequel to Brian De Palma's 1996 Mission: Impossible
motion picture, based on the TV series of the same name.

M:I-2 sees IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) teaming up with former partner Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), professional thief Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie Newton) and helicopter pilot Billy Baird (John Polson) in order to thwart the plans of former IMF agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott). The film also stars Brendan Gleeson, Richard Roxburgh and Anthony Hopkins in an uncredited role as Hunt's overseer Swanbeck.

The film combined James Bond-style espionage action (in contrast to the last film and TV series) with John Woo's visual flair, including his trademark slow-motion, double fisted pistol shootouts and white doves appearing before combat. However, the limiting PG-13 rating applied to the film meant that the final picture was considerably toned down in violence from his past works.

Production of the film was troubled and was shut down for several weeks as the script was re-worked. As a result both Dougray Scott and Thandie Newton lost the chance to appear in starring roles in other films. Cruise and Woo had reportedly clashed several times throughout filming over creative differences, but both walked away from it on good terms.

The film was a financial hit and grossed close to $215 million in its domestic American release and approx. $330 million abroad. A third film entered pre-production in 2004, with Alias creator J.J. Abrams named as writer and director. Filming began in August of 2005.

Filming locations include Seville, Sydney and California.

Box Office Totals

Budget - $125,000,000
Marketing cost - $37,200,000
Opening Weekend Gross (Domestic) - $57,845,297
Total Domestic Grosses - $215,409,889
Total Overseas Grosses - $330,492,673
Total Worldwide Grosses - $545,902,562

The Gun debate

One of the most controversial aspects of the film occurs in the final fight between Ethan Hunt and Sean Ambrose. After the two bikes collide, and before Hunt and Ambrose fall to the beach, a gun lands in the sand. As they are struggling on the ground, another gun slips out of Hunt's shoulder holster. Ambrose produces Hunt's Beretta and intones “Hunt, you shoulda killed me!”. Hunt sees a gun in the sand, kicks it into the air and shoots Ambrose… except that it's a gun the audience hasn't seen fired before, a Heckler & Koch USP.

There are three possible explainations for this scene:

# The gun belongs to Ethan Hunt - it is his spare gun, the one he keeps in a holster near the small of his back. In the Biocyte shootout it is a Beretta, but he could have decided to have two different guns. # The gun belongs to Sean Ambrose - it is the gun he is firing on his motocycle just before the collision (Hunt wasn't firing). In this case, it is a mistake on the part of the filmmakers as the gun Ambrose was firing was a Browning BDA. # The gun belongs to Sean Ambrose - it is his spare gun.

The script confirms that Hunt shoots Ambrose with his own gun, but until further clarification, the "debate" continues.

Missing scenes

There have many rumors flying around the internet that a lot of footage was cut from the movie. Certainly there are some gaps in the story due to missing dialogue. Here are some ideas from the shooting script that didn't make the final cut, either because they weren't filmed or were filmed and then deleted.

Ethan Hunt base jumps off the mountain in Moab in the opening sequence after he has finished climbing it.

Nekhorvich explains the "I'm sorry, you're sorry" line as coming from Dr. Strangelove, and that he called Hunt "Dimitri" because he didn't know his real name (implying that Hunt isn't pretending to be someone else, which is why he doesn't speak with a Russian accent). This extended monologue (which might not have been filmed) clarifies the genuine friendship between the two - that Hunt saved Nekhorvich's life - and adds an emotional depth to the scene.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Mission: Impossible II ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Mission: Impossible II; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay