Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible II, the 2000 action thriller directed by John Woo. The film runs 123 minutes and sends Hunt across Australia and Spain to stop a former IMF agent from unleashing a genetically engineered biological weapon called Chimera. Dougray Scott plays the rogue agent Sean Ambrose. Thandiwe Newton plays the thief Nyah Hall. Ving Rhames returns as Luther Stickell. The tagline reads: “Expect the impossible again.”
Trailer, via Paramount Pictures.
John Woo Takes the Helm
Mission: Impossible II hands the series to John Woo, the director whose name was a genre unto itself by 2000. The film is credited to three writers: Robert Towne, Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga. Its genres are listed as Adventure, Action and Thriller.
Tom Cruise is the constant. He is Ethan Hunt here, and the film leans on him the way the series always has. Cruise runs. Cruise hangs off things. Cruise sells the idea that one man can hold an international crisis at arm’s length.
The film’s own synopsis frames the mission plainly: with computer genius Luther Stickell at his side and a beautiful thief on his mind, Hunt races across Australia and Spain to stop a former IMF agent. That is the whole architecture, stated up front.
Chimera, and the Plot It Drives
The plot is a race. A genetically engineered biological weapon called Chimera is in play. Ambrose, a former IMF agent, wants it. Hunt wants to stop him. The mission, should Hunt choose to accept it, drags him into what the film calls an international crisis of terrifying magnitude.
Rade Šerbedžija plays Dr. Nekhorvich, the man tied to the weapon. The cast list places a scientist at the center of the threat, and the synopsis places Chimera at the center of the chase.
That is the engine of the film as the source describes it. The weapon is named. The rogue agent is named. The two settings are named. Everything else in the synopsis is motion.
Nyah Hall, the Thief on Hunt’s Mind
Thandiwe Newton plays Nyah Hall. The synopsis calls her a beautiful thief on Hunt’s mind, and that is the only description of her role the source provides.
What the film does with that description is not something the source addresses. Newton’s Nyah is listed among the cast, named in the synopsis, and left there.
She is the film’s new presence in a cast that otherwise returns Cruise and Rhames from the first entry. The source does not say how large her part is, what she does in it, or how the film treats her.
Ambrose, Stamp, and the Villains
Dougray Scott plays Sean Ambrose, described in the synopsis as a former IMF agent. That is the extent of what the source establishes about him: former IMF, and the man Hunt has to stop.
Richard Roxburgh plays Hugh Stamp. Dominic Purcell plays Ulrich. Mathew Wilkinson plays Michael. Brendan Gleeson plays McCloy. Nicholas Bell plays McCloy’s Accountant. William Mapother plays Wallis. John Polson plays Billy Baird.
Those are the credits, and credits are all the source gives. No character descriptions attach to any of them beyond the names and the actors playing them.
A Table of What the Film Has
| Element | Mission: Impossible II (2000) |
|---|---|
| Director | John Woo |
| Writers | Robert Towne, Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga |
| Runtime | 123 minutes |
| Genres | Adventure, Action, Thriller |
| Lead | Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt |
| Villain | Dougray Scott as Sean Ambrose |
| Thief | Thandiwe Newton as Nyah Hall |
| Returning ally | Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell |
| Scientist | Rade Šerbedžija as Dr. Nekhorvich |
| Weapon | Chimera, a genetically engineered biological weapon |
| Settings | Australia and Spain |
| Tagline | “Expect the impossible again.” |
| Audience score | 6.1/10 (7804 votes) |
The table is the film as the source records it. Director, writers, runtime, genres, cast, weapon, settings, tagline, score. Nothing in the table is inferred, and nothing in the film’s record is missing from it.
Luther Stickell and the Team
Ving Rhames returns as Luther Stickell, called a computer genius in the synopsis and placed at Hunt’s side. Rhames is the one returning ally the source names.
The synopsis puts Luther at the top of its own summary: with Luther at his side and a beautiful thief on his mind. One ally, one complication, stated in a single clause.
John Polson plays Billy Baird, another name in the team. William Mapother plays Wallis. The source lists them and stops there.
What the film does with the roster is not in the record. The record says who is in it.
The Woo Problem
Here is the honest accounting, drawn only from what the source gives. John Woo directed the film. The film runs 123 minutes. Its listed genres are Adventure, Action and Thriller. Its tagline is “Expect the impossible again.”
Those are the facts. The evaluation of whether the pieces add up is the part the source does not supply, and this paper will not supply it on the source’s behalf.
What can be said is that the film carries three credited writers, a returning star, a returning ally, a new thief, a new villain, and a weapon with a name. That is a full set of parts. Whether they cohere is a question the source never answers.
What the 6.1 Says
The published audience score is 6.1 out of 10, drawn from 7804 votes on TMDB. That is the only critical number the source provides.
A 6.1 on an audience scale is a middling figure. It is not a verdict on the film’s craft, its script, or its place in the series, because the source offers no such verdict.
What the number does establish is that the film has been rated by a substantial sample and landed slightly above the midpoint. That is all it establishes.
Why Chimera Is the Only Idea Worth Keeping
Chimera is the one element in the source that is described as more than a name. It is a genetically engineered biological weapon, and it is the thing the chase is about.
Everything else in Mission: Impossible II is a credit or a setting. Swap the villain, swap the thief, swap the country, and the record reads the same. Chimera is the only piece the source bothers to define.
That is the real lesson of this sequel, judged strictly on what is known. It has one named idea, one returning star, and one number. The rest is motion.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
