Mission: Impossible II (2000)
- The incredible score for Mission: Impossible II was composed in just a few weeks after the original composer dropped out.
- The original script for Mission: Impossible II was written over a decade before production finally began in 2000.
- Many of the practical effects used in the climax were achieved without any CGI.
Mission: Impossible II is a 2000 American action spy film directed by John Woo, the second installment. Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt, tasked with stopping a former IMF agent turned terrorist, played by Dougray Scott, from releasing a deadly virus called Chimera and its cure on the global market. Ethan recruits Nyah Nordoff-Hall, a professional thief played by Thandiwe Newton, who happens to be the villain's ex-girlfriend, creating a love triangle that drives the plot.
John Woo brought his signature Hong Kong action cinema style β slow-motion gunfights, motorcycle chases, dove imagery, and balletic violence β to the biggest canvas of his career. The climactic motorcycle joust and cliff-face rock climbing (performed by Cruise without a stunt double) were spectacular, though the film's emphasis on style over substance divided audiences. Mission: Impossible II earned $546 million worldwide, the highest-grossing film of 2000.
