Mission: Impossible 2 - The Movie That Turned Tom Cruise Into An Action Hero? (2025)

Given how famous Tom Cruise has become for performing his stunts in a never-ending series of action films, one could be forgiven if they forget that before he became an action hero, he was better known as a romantic leading man. Indeed, Cruise was the heartthrob of all heartthrobs in the eighties and nineties, known for headlining some of the best dramas of the era, including Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July, A Few Good Men, The Firm, and Jerry Maguire. While yes, he’d had two massive action-driven hits with Top Gun and Mission: Impossible, Cruise didn’t really engage in classic action movie heroics in them. The hand-to-hand action was limited, gunplay was non-existent, and the stunts were modest considering what would come.

That all changed in the wake of Mission: Impossible 2. Once Cruise teamed up with legendary action director John Woo, he seemed to develop a real thirst for next-level action, with each subsequent instalment testing his physical endurance in ever-growing ways. Yet, Mission: Impossible 2 has seemingly become the least fondly remembered entry in the series, with many (including us) pegging it as the franchise’s worst instalment.

Its detractors mock its nu-metal soundtrack, including Limp Bizkit’s cover of the Mission: Impossible theme, but such was the era. Others poke fun at the over-the-top John Woo-style of it all, with lots of slow-motion, Tom Cruise’s flowing locks, slow-motion flying birds, and our hero using two guns a la Chow Yun-Fat. But why is any of this a bad thing? In this video by our own Kier Gomes, we dig into why all of the things people make fun of Mission: Impossible 2 for actuallymake it a kick-ass entry into the franchise, especially as far as the climactic motorcycle chase and martial arts fight goes.

Check out the video embedded above, and let us know if you also think Mission: Impossible 2 is hugely underrated.