Tonight on TV: Tom Cruise fans’ least favorite Mission: Impossible

In the mid-1990s, Tom Cruise wanted to make his first film as a producer. He decides to offer himself a franchise and aims to adapt the spy series Mission: Impossible, which was broadcast in the 1960s and 1970s.

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With receipts of $457 million, the first installment, directed by Brian De Pal, signed the third highest score of 1996 at the worldwide box office. For its sequel, Tom Cruise will hire Chinese director John Wu – a big name in action cinema thanks to the success of Volte/Face.

Released a year after The Matrix, which finally made the Asian model approach in terms of action scene choreography, Mission: Impossible II benefits from virtuosic staging (we remember Tom Cruise’s bare-handed rock climbing, characters defying the laws of gravity, slow motion or even gunfights in the laboratory).

Unfortunately, the lyricism dips into kitsch several times in favor of commonplace metaphors (Ethan and Nia’s eyes crossing each other, hair blowing in the wind, or even a superposition of the hero and villain’s faces disappearing). What’s more, the film tries to make its hero an American counterpart to James Bond, playing him solo with an inconsistent secondary and awkward sexualization that flirts with misogyny.

A pure product of the 2000s – even with the nu metal accents and rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack – this second installment is the opus that fans love the least. This is confirmed by its average viewership rating of 2.9/5 on AlloCiné. Today, it’s a nail on the scale of a franchise that hasn’t ended up being iconic.

Mission: Impossible II John Woo with Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandivi Newton…

from the age of 10

Tonight on TMC at 9:15 PM.