Mission: Impossible 2 (2000): Cast, Plot, Ending and Where to Watch

Mission: Impossible 2 follows Ethan Hunt as he races to recover a deadly engineered virus and its only cure before a rogue former agent can profit from both. The film opens with a scientist from a drug company called Biocyte, who tries to warn the IMF about the virus, Chimera, and its one antidote, Bellerophon. The man he meets is not who he claims to be. Sean Ambrose, a rogue former agent, takes the cure and kills the scientist by crashing his plane.

Ethan is then told to recover both the virus and the cure. His plan needs a specialist rather than a soldier: Nyah, a skilled thief who used to be Ambrose's lover. Ethan sends her back into Ambrose's life as a spy, then gathers his old ally Luther and a pilot named Billy in Sydney to back her up. That is the premise in a sentence, and it sets up a story built on a personal betrayal as much as on a ticking clock. The sequel was directed by John Woo and produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner, and it arrived in 2000 as the second entry in the franchise, four years after the first film.

The full story turns on a dormant period in the virus and on Nyah's willingness to risk everything for the mission. Ambrose poses as the Biocyte scientist's contact, steals the cure and brings the plane down, killing everyone aboard. In Seville, Ethan is ordered to find the virus and the cure. He recruits Nyah, who agrees to get close to Ambrose again in Sydney. While Ethan assembles Luther and Billy, Nyah pretends to rekindle the romance.

Ambrose blackmails the Biocyte chief, McCloy, using footage of the virus at work. Nyah passes Ethan a memory card showing that the virus has a dormant period of about 20 hours, and that the cure only works if it is given inside that window. Ethan breaks into Biocyte and destroys some virus samples, but Ambrose's men discover Nyah's betrayal and ambush him. Nyah injects herself with the last virus sample and urges Ethan to kill her to stop it spreading. He refuses and escapes, promising her a cure.

Ambrose lets Nyah wander Sydney and plans to cause an outbreak, while offering McCloy a deal that would profit them both. Ethan infiltrates Ambrose's base on Bare Island and tricks Ambrose using a disguised Hugh Stamp. He escapes with the Bellerophon samples, and Ambrose's men chase him to the mainland. Meanwhile Luther and Billy find Nyah on a cliff, ready to end her life. Ethan kills Ambrose in a long beach fight, and Luther injects Nyah with the cure.

Mission: Impossible 2 opened in US theaters on May 24, 2000, and the release date is confirmed. The Australian release followed on June 1, 2000, and the UK release on July 7, 2000, both reported by Box Office Mojo. The film is rated PG-13 in the US, 15 in the UK and M in Australia.

Coverage at the time noted that it was the first sequel of Tom Cruise's 20 year career, and that he produced it just as he had the first film.

The ending resolves the story in two moves: Ethan kills Ambrose in a long beach fight, and Luther treats Nyah with the cure in time to save her. The fight comes after a chase from Bare Island to the mainland, where Ambrose's men pursue Ethan as he carries the Bellerophon samples.

The emotional hinge is Nyah's scene on the cliff, where Luther and Billy find her ready to end her life. In my opinion, that is the sequel's strongest idea, because it makes the antidote personal rather than abstract. It could be argued that Ethan's earlier refusal to kill her, even when she asks him to, is the true climax, and the beach fight is the release of that tension.

Afterward the IMF clears Nyah's criminal record in return for her help, and Ethan takes a vacation with her in Sydney. The film does not set up a direct follow-up story. Perhaps that is why the next film, mission impossible 3, can start fresh with Ethan in a new situation.

Yes, Mission: Impossible 2 was filmed in Australia, with the main photography done on soundstages at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney. The Sydney setting also drives the story, because Ethan assembles his team there and the climax runs from Bare Island to a long beach fight.

The production also used Los Angeles Center Studios in Los Angeles, California. The opening cliff climb was shot at Dead Horse Point State Park in Moab, Utah, which means it was filmed on a real cliff rather than a Sydney stage. Production reporting does not detail how much of that climb Tom Cruise performed himself.

The best trivia for Mission: Impossible 2 comes from its troubled development and from the casting of its villain. Several facts stand out:

• Robert Towne joined after other writers, including William Goldman and Michael Tolkin, failed to deliver an acceptable script, and he earned sole screenplay credit.
• Towne worked from Woo's storyboards because the action sequences had been designed before the story existed.
• Dougray Scott was set to play Wolverine in X-Men but left because of delays on this film, and Hugh Jackman took the part. Scott later claimed Tom Cruise would not let him do it.
• It was the first sequel of Tom Cruise's 20 year career, and he produced it as he had the first film.
• The film took about $546 million worldwide, ahead of the first film's worldwide total.

Why do some fans rate this entry lower than the rest of the saga? In my opinion, it is because the story was reverse engineered around action, and the film reads more like a showcase for John Woo than a spy thriller. Even so, it was a commercial hit, and it is worth watching if you want to see how the franchise changed direction with each new director. For the best of the saga, see mission impossible movies ranked.