Film Review – Mission Impossible II

Mission Impossible II again stars Tom Selleck and we pick up the story several years down the line. Tom has retired from football due to the stress of management. Nowadays he spends his time unwinding in the garden. Little does Tom know, but there is another ‘mission impossible’ afoot.

Tom’s garden is under attack. On the surface it looks immaculate, yet underneath the leaves of the tropical succulents lie weeds. Bringing all his crisis-management skills to the fore, Tom sets about them, but unless he gets the roots, they just keep on coming back.

The thrill-a-minute approach of the prequel is abandoned in favour of more measured excitement. While the pacing is pedestrian early on, there is an appreciable crescendo towards the finish as Tom purchases increasingly industrial weed killers. The scene where a cat sniffs the recently-chemically-treated lawn while Tom fills a watering can toys with the audience in classic fashion. Will the cat chew the poisoned grass? Will Tom return in time to save the day? These segments are just reward for enduring the early part of the movie, where weak spring light and occasional frosts are holding back the onslaught. Stick with it and you’ll uncover a blockbuster in the truest sense.