Mission: Impossible II (2000)

Tom Cruise and John Woo, two of the most compelling figures in the world of film, have teamed up for "M:I-2," a romantic action thriller that plunges special agent Ethan Hunt into an international crisis of terrifying magnitude. With computer genius Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) at his side and a beautiful thief (Thandie Newton) on his mind, Hunt races across Australia and Spain on what seems like an impossible mission - to stop a villain before he can fulfill his own destructive mission.

Tom Cruise stars in "M:I-2," a Paramount Pictures presentation directed by the master of the action genre, John Woo. Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner are the producers of the film, which is written by Robert Towne based on the television series created by Bruce Geller. A Cruise/Wagner Production, "M:I-2" is executive produced by Terence Chang and Paul Hitchcock and Michael Doven serves as associate producer. Also starring are Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton, Richard Roxburgh, John Poison, Brendan Gleeson, Rade Sherbedgia and Ving Rhames reprising his role as Luther Stickell. Paramount Pictures is part of the entertainment operations of Viacom Inc.

A tremendous fan of the "Mission: Impossible" TV series which ran on CBS Television in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Tom Cruise came up with the idea of translating the show onto the big screen. In 1996, his dream came to life with the release of "Mission: Impossible," a worldwide box-office success.

"Tom loved the cleverness of this group of people who would solve problems by abandoning the traditional methodology, says Paula Wagner, Cruise's producing partner. "The series was very intelligent and it had all the elements loved by audiences: romance, drama, with adventure and action built in.

"This movie is different from the first 'Mission: Impossible,'" Wagner says. "This is a more personal story. We get to see a more romantic side to Ethan Hunt within the framework of an exciting action drama."

When it came to choosing a director, Cruise and Wagner had no doubt who they wanted to helm the project.

"We are both huge fans of John Woo," says Wagner. "John has incredible passion for his work. He happens to be the greatest action director in the world, but he is also enormously concerned with the human struggle, vulnerabilities, conflicts and romance. He is also very much a humorist. John and Tom are a dynamite combination."

Cruise says: "John Woo is unbelievable. He's taken the concept of 'Mission: Impossible' and turned it into mythology. His action has a combination of reality and surrealism that makes the emotion in his pictures very real."

"I always like to do something new," Woo says, "something I've never touched before, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do that. One of the most important aspects of the story for me was the human element. I wanted to make it full of drama, emotional and charming. I loved the idea of the two men being in love with the same woman. It gave the story much more emotional depth."

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