On DVD: Mission 2 Impossible HD-DVD

Directed By Brian DePalma

Starring Tom Cruise

The first film in this franchise was fantastic and having Brian De Palma direct was brilliant planning.  So what happened with the sequel?  Well, here's what happened Tom Cruise hired Hong Kong action film director John Woo to work on the films that's what.  Woo has done some great action films over in Hong Kong and this, if it weren't titled an action film, would definitely be considered one of his best American films.  Problem is this is supposed to a be a Mission Impossible film and that it ain't.

The Movie

All three of the films in the franchise suffer from the same problem, they don't follow the Mission Impossible formula.  A Mission Impossible film, if it's truly a part of the franchise started with the television series is a team based spy movie.  None of these films are that.  They are all action films with one spy played by Tom Cruise.  Sure he ahs a few spies that he brings along for the ride but they never really participate in the mission.  The first film came the closest to being a part of the franchise and it's still the best in the series.

At least in the first film Cruise seemed to be playing a spy.  In this film he's nearly a super hero.  So to get to the core of this film we have to rip away any preconceived notions about a spy film full of twists and turns and swap that for balls to the wall action.  In the film Hunt (Cruise) is brought in to stop a terrorist from acquiring a deadly virus developed by a pharmaceutical company.  The virus was developed specifically for the company to be able to sell the antidote and make the company rich.  The terrorist by the way is an ex-IMF (Impossible Missions Force) agent that has a grudge against Hunt and also used to be in a relationship with one of Cruises team members.  This new team member is a beautiful thief brought in just because she knows a great deal about the terrorist.

From here on it's predictable popcorn fun with martial arts action, loads of gunplay, Woo's signature slow motion birds, and campy action dialogue.  The movie is fun but it lacks that Mission Impossible depth that the first film had and it isn't a spy movie.  There are some fantastically over the top set pieces that make the action fun but if you want a spy movie, a movie with three dimensional supporting characters, and a story, then you'll have to watch the first film of a film like Sneakers.

6/10

The Video

The film is presented in a widescreen transfer at the theatrical aspect ratio.  I expected this film to look a little better in high definition since it is a newer film than the first but I was dead wrong.  This transfer features a surprising amount of grain and artifacting due to the transfer, not just from the print, along with print damage.  Colors also seem a little off especially when it comes to skin tones.  Darker scenes also seem to be low in detail.  On the plus side the picture is sharp and features great detail in brighter scenes.  It is in high definition so detail is greater than the original DVD release but compared to the other Mission Impossible HD-DVD's and many other Warner DVD's this transfer is disappointing.

5/10

The Audio

The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 presentation is good and bad.  There's plenty of bass and use of surrounds in action scenes which is good but the balance is off, which is bad.  You have to crank the volume for dialogue scenes and then get blown off your couch when music or action kicks in.  This is common on action DVD's and I had hoped it wouldn't be as much of an issue on HD releases but here it is.  Overall the mix is fine you'll just find yourself riding your volume control in a few places.

6.5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

This single HD-DVD release comes in a standard amaray case with artwork replicated from the special edition DVD that came out last year sans slipcover.  The artwork doesn't knock my socks off, it just feels like standard DVD artwork.  What about a box that looks like an IMF dossier or something like that?  Now that screams special edition!

It's also disappointing to find that there are no special features exclusive to this HD-DVD.  Everything here is copied from the special edition DVD:

I am happy to report that there's a feature audio commentary with John Woo, something missing from the first film.  The only problem is that he's so hard to understand.  If you can acclimate yourself to his accent there's some good nuggets of information throughout.

Behind the Mission is a fifteen minute long making of featurette that features everything you'd expect including interviews with cast and crew.  This is a marketing bit all the way, no real depth.

Mission Incredible is a very brief demo reel for the stunts and big action scenes in the film.  Nothing at all noteworthy here, just filler.

Impossible Shots is an in depth look at the film's action set pieces hosted by the stunt coordinator.  This featurette offers a good look at what went on behind the scenes to make these shots happen.  After watching it you'll wonder why the previous featurette Mission Incredible was even included on the disc.

For some reason the award montages from the first film release are included here again, nothing new just a repeated bonus feature that wasn't good on the first film's release.  This is almost insulting.  It's just there to be able to put something else in the list of bonus features on the box.

here's also an alternative opening credits sequence and that's it.  Overall this stuff all just feels like filler other than the commentary and the Impossible Shots featurette.  To be fair the behind the scenes marketing featurette appears on most DVD's these days but I expected something more with this new high definition release of the film. 

5/10

This is not a good spy flick like it should be but it is a fun popcorn action flick.  It feels like a John Woo film, which is a bad fit for this franchise, but John Woo films are fun.  So, this may be the one to own for film fans that don't like the Mission Impossible series but do like big budget summer action films.

Overall  (Not an Average) 6/10

Stephen Lackey

Review:

The Movie 6/10

The Video 5/10

The Audio 6.5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10

Overall ( Not an Average) 6/10