MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 (2000)

Directed by visual wizard John Woo, this sequel is speedy yet languorous, like a James Bond thriller made with Steven Spielberg's gliding camera moves. It starts out as a pulp variation on Notorious, with Tom Cruise's IMF superagent set up in a romantic rivalry with a villain (Dougray Scott) who plans to leak a deadly virus. Thandie Newton fully inhabits the role of the sexy jewel thief they go to war over. Inevitably, M:I-2 gives way to a bombardment of high-velocity fireworks, which unspool in a stylized jump-cut swirl, with cars and motorcycles not so much racing as flying. The love triangle gets lost, but there's real pop artistry to Woo's popcorn. B+

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