MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 (4K) REVIEWED
“Mission Impossible 2” arrives on 4K spotting the signature issues I saw in the first movie. Is it that we’re deep into a new era of visual presentation or did Paramount have key visual signatures for the 90s and 00s? The weird black level in the 90s are a noted thing, but I’m seeing something new with the cinema of the 00s. The black crush is there, but nowhere near as strong as the first film. Previous DVD and Blu releases of the film make the movie look like it was shot under a heat lamp. Thankfully, the 4K transfer dumps that orange glow.
From there, you’ll return to the world Woo left us in 2000 and wonder many things. First off, John Woo turned this outing into a Chow Yun-Fat movie without giving Fat the work. I get that, as Tom Cruise is notorious for getting directors to adapt their styles to suit him. When that doesn’t happen, you get “Eyes Wide Shut”. But, again what about this movie?
It was a response to how many average movie goers complained about DePalma making an overly complicated film. The film is an anti-capitalist screed about how the First World manipulated stocks and high priced commodities to control the world. The shade of bio-weapons also comes into play, but everything reads with the sincerity of an 8 year old trying to read the newspaper back to you.
In the grand legacy of the Mission Impossible films, this was the dumb guy entry that ended up saving the franchise. People hate admitting that, but the world wouldn’t have stood for more intellectual fare. However, going the dumb bro route with this one wasn’t sustainable either. It’s weird to see a film like this shove its growing pains out into the mainstream, but I’m glad it did. Why? Well, because it explained what came next.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Commentary
- Alternate Title Sequence
- Featurettes
A/V STATS
- 2.40:1 2160p transfer
- Dolby TrueHD 5.1