Mission: Impossible II (2000)

May 24, 2000

May 24, 2000

Mission: Impossible 2 (titled onscreen as Mission: Impossible II and abbreviated as M:I-2) is a 2000 action spy film directed by John Woo, and produced by and starring Tom Cruise. It is the sequel to Mission: Impossible and the second installment in the Mission: Impossible film series. The film also stars Dougray Scott, Thandiwe Newton, Richard Roxburgh, John Polson, Brendan Gleeson, Rade Šerbedžija and Ving Rhames. In the film, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) teams with professional thief Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Newton) to secure a genetically modified disease, Chimera, held by rogue Impossible Missions Force (IMF) agent Sean Ambrose (Scott), who is Nordoff-Hall's former lover.

Mission: Impossible 2 was theatrically released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on May 24, 2000, and grossed $546 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of that year. Initial reactions from critics were mixed, with praise for the action sequences and Woo's direction, but criticism for the characterization. A sequel, Mission: Impossible III, was released in 2006.

Storyline

In Sydney, bio-genetics scientist Dr. Vladimir Nekhorvich sends a message to the IMF for Dimitri (Ethan Hunt's cover name), his old friend, warning that his employer, Biocyte Pharmaceuticals, forced him to develop a biological weapon, the Chimera virus, to profit from the cure, Bellerophon. He injects himself with the virus, carrying Bellerophon in a bag. However, en route to Atlanta, IMF agent Sean Ambrose, who was disguised as Dimitri, goes rogue, betrays Nekhorvich, steals Bellerophon, and crashes the plane in the Rockies.

In Seville, IMF director Swanbeck informs Ethan about Ambrose's actions, tasks him with recovering Chimera and Bellerophon, and has him recruit Nyah Nordoff-Hall, a professional thief and Ambrose's ex-girlfriend. Despite her initial reluctance, Ethan gets her to trace Ambrose to Sydney using an injectable tracking device. Ethan assembles his team, old friend and computer hacker Luther Stickell, and helicopter pilot Billy Baird in Sydney while Nyah pretends to rekindle her relationship with Ambrose.

After Ambrose uses a video of Chimera infecting one of Nekhorvich's colleagues to blackmail Biocyte's CEO, John McCloy, into cooperation, Nyah gives Ethan the memory card containing the video, revealing that Chimera has a 20-hour dormant period; Bellerophon is only effective if used within that window. Ethan's team kidnaps McCloy and learns that the only Bellerophon samples, taken by Nekhorvich, are now in Ambrose's hands, but he doesn't have the virus since Nekhorvich injected himself with it. Ethan breaks into Biocyte headquarters and destroys two samples of Chimera, but Ambrose's team ambushes him, having discovered Nyah's deception. At a stalemate, Ambrose orders Nyah to retrieve the virus' last sample, but she injects herself with it instead and begs Ethan to kill her to destroy the virus. Ethan refuses and flees the facility, promising to get her the cure.

Ambrose releases Nyah to wander the streets of Sydney, intending to start a pandemic. At Biocyte's storage facility on Bare Island, he offers to sell Bellerophon to McCloy in exchange for enough stock options to make him Biocyte's majority shareholder, enabling him and McCloy to make billions. Ethan infiltrates the base and fights Ambrose's right-hand man, Hugh Stamp; Stamp seemingly brings a subdued Ethan to Ambrose, who executes him. However, Ambrose discovers that the dead "Ethan" is Stamp, masked and gagged, while the actual Ethan has stolen the Bellerophon samples. Enraged, Ambrose and his men chase Ethan onto the mainland; Hunt kills them, while Luther and Billy locate Nyah, who has wandered to a cliffside to kill herself and prevent the outbreak.

Ethan kills Ambrose in a fistfight on the beach and gives Bellerophon to the arriving Luther, who injects Nyah with it. The IMF cleared Nyah's criminal record, and Ethan started a vacation with her in Sydney.

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