This review is for the Region 1 (US) edition of the DVD. Just to clarify this Opinion, there are plenty of reviews about the actual film MI2 in the films section, and seeing as this is in the DVD section I will mainly describe the DVD itself, e.g sound quality, picture quality and features etc.
I have been asked to include a brief summary of the film in this review though, so here it is... Top spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) teams up with the very beatiful Nyah Hall (Thandie Newton), who is an international thief, in order to try and prevent the renegade spy Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) from terrorising the world. He plans to release a deadly synthetic virus called Chimera on the world, and then make a fortune by controlling the supply of the only cure, Bellerophon. Accompanying this storyline are many gunfights, explosions, rubber face changes, great car and motorbike action and even romance. I rate the film itself as a John Woo-tastic 8.5/10.
I bought the DVD from www.play.com for £13.99 including delivery, which makes it excellent value for money. The cover design is very good, and
instantly makes you want to watch the film. It is a picture of a scarred Tom Cruise surrounded by fire and looking hard as nails! Also fans of John Woo (the director) will be pleased to know that the obligatory dove/pigeon makes an appearance on the cover. The leaflet inside the case has the scene selection index on, and inside it is a more detailed description about the special features. There is also a list defining what each of the DVD menu options does.
Now the Disc itself. From when you very first load the disc you know you are in for a treat. The theme music plays over the menu and gets the adrenaline pumping in anticipation. The menu itself is animated, which I always appreciate. The Scene selection contains only stills of the film, and I feel it is more useful to have short clips from the film playing instead, but that is one of my only gripes with the Disc.
There are 4 options in the menu... 1. Launch mission (=Play film) 2. Mission Database (=Special features) 3. Index (=Scene selection) 4. Languages (=Audio Setup)
There are loads of special features on the DVD, they are... 1. 'Behind The Mission': Exclusive Cast And Crew Interviews 2. 'Mission Incredible': Stunts Featurette 3. 'Impossible Shots': 11 Amazing Stunt Sequences Including Exclusive Interviews With Tom Cruise, John Woo And Stunt Coordinator Brian Smrz 4. Audio Commentary By Director John Woo 5. 'I Disappear' Metallica Music Video 6. Alternative Title Sequence 7. 'Mission Improbable': A M:I-2 Inspired Parody From The MTV Movie Awards 8.DVD-Rom Features: Agent Dossiers / Mission Locations / Legend Of Chimera / M:I-2 Tech Tools / MI:I-2 DVD Online
The special features are enough to keep you entertained for hours, and they complement the film really well. Also I gaurantee that your opinion of Tom Cruise will go up after the special features, he truly is the man! I will not give too much detail about the contents of the features because this will spoil the watching experience.
The film itself is well presented on the Disc. It is rated PG13 and runs for 2 hours and 4 minutes. The picture is Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1, which is my the format that looks the best in my opinion. The quality of the image is brilliant, with black colours looking especially good. (I have a Sony 32inch widescreen tv - See My other Op for more info on this).
A bit of jargon information now. DD5.1 is Dolby Digital 5.1. This is a sound format which sends the sound to 5 distinct channels (the 5) plus a mono sugnal to a Subwoofer (which is a bass speaker for explosions etc) the .1 part of it. DTS is Digital Theatre Sound and still uses the 5 channels and a Subwoofer, but sends a greater frequency range to each channel, therefore sounding better. The downside is the information takes up more space on the disc, so this can mean less extras. If you have a home cinema set-up then you probably new that already, and if you don't have one then it doesn't really affect you because you will only be watching the film in stereo (2 speakers on your TV itself). I hope this has cleared things up a bit.
The sound track is only Dolby Digital 5.1 which is my other gripe with the DVD. Sound quality is the most important feature of a DVD to me (I have a high end 5.1/DTS sound system). DTS always sounds so much better than DD5.1, and if this disc had DTS then it would be one of the best DVDs ever! As it is the DD5.1 soundtrack is better quality than most other ones that I have, with the Bass being especially warm and strong. This is definitely a Disc to show off your system with. There is thumping music throughout and the fast paced action makes for loads of explosions and gunshots etc which will have the room shaking and annoy the neighbours. The dancing scene is also worthy of note, and if you have a good Subwoofer then your system will really shine during this scene.
I really like the film, and have watched the DVD loads. It should be mentioned that a lot of people I know don't like the film at all, but this is a view that I can't really understand, but then I do love a good action film.
To conclude I would rate this DVD as a must have for anyone who likes action films, or has a good home cinema setup that they like to show off!
Thanks for reading, this Opinion will now self-destruct in 5 seconds...
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 1994 - Action/Adventure - Director: Jan De Bont - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Jeff Daniels, Joe Morton, Alan Ruck, Carlos Carrasco, Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
While 8.5/10 seems a bit generous for the non-sensical story, your review is certainly a quality effort. My favourite extra is the MTV Tom Crooze segment. Brilliant!
a-true-ben 28.01.2005 18:33
Although you could probably assume more knowledge about the basics of DVDs these days, this is just what I want in a DVD review - i.e. a review of the DVD, not the film. Great stuff.
werewolf 08.01.2004 23:47
This review not only explains about the film, but the special features on the DVD and explains some of the jargon regarding the sound quality. The article is very well written and researched and really makes me want to buy this DVD.
Visually stunning, and a likely must for John Woo aficionados, the secondMission: ... more
Impossibleouting from megastar Tom Cruise suffers from an inconsistent tone and tired plot devices--not only recycled from other films, but repeated throughout the film. ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt in the sequel to Mission: Impossible. How do you prevent ... more
terrorists from unleashing mayhem on the entire world? You don't. This is a job for IMF agent Ethan Hunt. The world's greatest spy returns in the movie event of t...
Visually stunning, and a likely must for John Woo aficionados, the secondMission: ... more
Impossibleouting from megastar Tom Cruise suffers from an inconsistent tone and tired plot devices--not only recycled from other films, but repeated throughout the film. ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
How do you prevent terrorists from unleashing mayhem on the entire world? You don't. This ... more
is a job for IMF agent Ethan Hunt. The world's greatest spy returns in the movie event of the year M:I-2. Top action director John Woo brings his own brand of ex...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Possibly the best single-disc DVD release to date offers fans excellent value Disadvantages: A misguided and offensively brainless film, not enough chapters on the disc.
![Mission : Impossible 2 [2000] [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/76772200.jpg "Mission : Impossible 2 [2000] [DVD]")
Feb 16th, 2003
(Feb 26th, 2003)
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