Mission: Impossible 2 - The Spence Edit

Had the pleasure of watching Spence's fanedit of the second installment of what many claim to be one of the best action movie franchises of all time. Although this remains my least favorite entry in the series, Spence has knocked it out of the park in terms of reimagining the overall feel of the movie. The new score for the film does wonders in terms of setting the tone closer to the other films, ultimately making this feel more like Mission Impossible instead of just another throw-away action movie. The pace, performances and story is also improved significantly due to the seamless edits throughout this version.

Take-away: This is the best version of this film that the viewer could ask for. Definitely recommend viewing this if you are a fan of the Mission Impossible franchise!

At about 100 minutes, Spence has taken the fairly messy theatrical cut of MI:2 and put together a lean and exciting action flick, that is more worthy of the Mission Impossible franchise. The editing is seamless, with the most impressive part of the edit being the soundtrack, which perfectly compliments every scene.

Giving praise to Spence's work is like saying Santa Clause is jolly. We all know that!

I'm a big fan of the Mission Impossible films and I can't wait to see Dead Reckoning Part 1. So, obviously, I wanted to do a little marathon before that and I remembered the black sheep of the franchise, MI:2. And then I also remembered that I'm a member of this wonderful community and there's gotta be an editor who felt the same about MI:2. And to my suprise Spence was the guy! So, it was a no brainer, I contacted him, as always he replied very soon, and I got to watch this wonderful edit.

To begin with, my enjoyment factor has nothing to do with Spence's work, it has to do with the fact that I don't think this movie can be salvaged for me, especially since a) it does not play any part in the whole MI scope of things and b) we have five and possibly very soon six much better options, so I'm not missing anything. My actual enjoyment factor is like 6-7, but it would be a shame for Spence to bring down the overall score just because I don't like the original movie.

Technical-wise, the edit is perfect, I'm not even kidding. All the cuts were seamless, I could not tell if anything was missing or even felt off or something and the inclusion of the music from the other films was a much welcomed addition.

I really enjoyed the trimming of the over the top sequences and generally smaller runtime, one hour and thirty five minutes is just right and the pacing was much better because of this. Unfortunately, mister Tom Cruise has really spoiled us with all his latest action movies and I can't say that I will ever watch MI:2 ever again.

Be that as it may, if anyone enjoyed the original movie to a degree, then this edit will elevate the movie for you and will definitely be your go-to version for any MI Marathons!

Thank you Spence for all your hard work and thanks to anyone who read my review!

The franchise that almost died on the vine before it really started.

Mission Impossible II eschews the twisty thriller mystery plot of the first film for a hokey James Bond-ish rom-com spy action film. I honestly haven’t seen this one in over a decade (maybe since theaters).

Master Faneditor Spence tries to salvage the original film by replacing the dated soundtrack (Limp Bizkit!) with Mission Impossible sound cues (from across the franchise). They also cut away 22 minutes to keep the film moving and keep the over stylized John Woo-ness in check.

Does it succeed? Mostly.

The new soundtrack works wonders, really, keeping it orchestral and in tune with the rest of the franchise. Certain plot elements work quite well, while we lose the climbing sequence, it doesn’t add much to the film, instead we get dropped in the plot with two new openings (the plane and Naya’s introduction). It’s almost as if Naya is the audience viewpoint in this Mission Impossible world, it introduces Ethan in a much more playful tone. This tone threatens to upend the entire film, to be honest.

Other elements get to shine more, the reveals in the cat and mouse game being played (helped by rearranged scenes and removing villain scenes trusting the viewer to keep up and as a result being more surprising overall), the tension in the heist sequence is top notch as well, the action is mostly well choreographed (I hate the wire fu in this film) and isn’t hampered by too much slow mo and other Matrixy tricks that were of that time. Although maybe a tiny bit more John Woo style would have been appreciated.

Unfortunately there’s not much the editor can do about certain things: It’s so strange that this film went such a wildly different direction in terms of action, rather than the grittiness of the first film it went almost over the top like Die Another Day. And the core of the movie doesn't work, the relationship between Ethan Hunt and Naya is still weirdly quick. And yes the bloody finger feels like it comes out of nowhere, but it's for the better as that scene spells out way too much on the villain side.

Also some of the action feels off, as the visual trimming is felt and not as smooth, particularly near the end.

Overall the fanedit is replacement worthy and the best way to watch this film in the future.

Film Rating: 2
Fanedit Rating: 3

This movie....i have introduced a handful of people to the MI series, and this is an early hurdle to have to explain to people, IMO its the worst of the entire series, just a throw away action movie made in the late 90's, I remember liking it as a kid and always had a soft spot for it due to some of its filming locations which i had frequented a lot as a child before the movie was shot.
I have to say though, this edit is now the only version of this movie i would watch and if i were to introduce another person to the series this is the MI2 cut i would show, it take away so much of the unnecessary and moves the story along.
The only issue i had and i don't really know if its a real issues to be honest... was the sound track, it could have hit a little harder and being a 90's kid i would have liked to have heard that Limp Bizket MI theme just once, even as the outro. But again thats hardly a gripe on this edit,
But that intro ! So good
Highly recommend to all.

Thanks for putting the work in Spence