Mission: Impossible 2 - The Spence Edit

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Faneditor Name:
Original Movie/Show Title:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2000
Original Running Time:
123 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
101 minutes
Time Cut:
22 minutes
Subtitles Available:
Available in HD:
Synopsis:
- Replace the majority of the music with music from other films in the series.
- Up the pace. This movie has a weird structure in that there really isn't a big action scene till almost halfway through the film, and then it's just non-stop action for the second half. The middle third of the film needs some serious trims to get the film moving.
- Remove a lot of the over the top John Woo moments. I love John Woo, and I definitely still want it to feel like a John Woo film, but they go so hard on some of his trademarks that it ventures into parody. Slow motion scenes that drag on or show the same shot from 5 different angles will be trimmed. Some of the slow-mo will be trimmed just for action pacing.
Intention:
Mission Impossible is my favorite franchise, I've enjoyed every film in the series so far. However, I always found Mi-2 to stand out from the group a bit. I really enjoy the story of the film and some of the action beats are great, but it feels incredibly dated. It sticks out so much because it's the only film in the series that is so clearly from the time it was made. It's full of late 90's/ early 2000's rock music, Matrix-y slow motion, and other "cool for the time" elements that haven't aged well at all.

But! I think there's a really good movie in there. The script, by the legendary Robert Towne, is a solid Hitchcock esque caper full of twists, turns, backstabs and reveals. The performances overall are great, with Tom Cruise giving a charming turn as a softer and more romantic Ethan, a deliciously dirtbag villain, and one of the best female leads the series has had. Also, though they lay the "John Woo-ness" on a little too thick at times, the action is well staged and choreographed.

So the goal here is to remove the dated elements of MI-2, pick up the pace, and bring it more in line with the other films in the seires.
Other Sources:
Additional music from the following films was utilized in this edit:
Mission: Impossible by Danny Elfman
Mission: Impossible III by Michael Giacchino
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol by Michael Giacchino
Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation by Joe Kraemer
Mission: Impossible Fallout by Lorne Balfe
Bad Times at the El Royale by Michael Giacchino
Special Thanks:
ArtisDead
AdvisorOk4636
Darth Kermit
BionicBob
L8wrtr
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
Overall goals:
- Replace the majority of the music with music from other films in the series.
- Up the pace. This movie has a weird structure in that there really isn't a big action scene till almost halfway through the film, and then it's just non-stop action for the second half. The middle third of the film needs some serious trims to get the film moving.
- Remove a lot of the over the top John Woo moments. I love John Woo, and I definitely still want it to feel like a John Woo film, but they go so hard on some of his trademarks that it ventures into parody. Slow motion scenes that drag on or show the same shot from 5 different angles will be trimmed. Some of the slow-mo will be trimmed just for action pacing.

Here's a more detailed cutlist of what I've done so far, I'll update it as I get further in.
- Remove the opening sequence that explains Chimera, as it gets reiterated multiple times later on. The film now starts on the plane.
- Remove Ethan climbing the mountain. It's cool but useless. It's mentioned that he was on vacation later, which gives enough set up and gets the movie moving.
- We now transition from the plane crashing to an all new title sequence that's more in keeping with the later films.
- We and Naya do not see Ethan until he pops up behind her in the bathtub. This gives a more intriguing start.
- Trimmed some of the car crash ballet so it doesn't feel like they're staring at each other for 3 minutes straight.
- Trimmed a little of the bedroom scene when Ethan and Naya wake up for pacing.
- Trimmed Hopkins' line to just "She's a woman, she's got all the training she needs." Same effect, slightly less creepy.
- Trimmed the EXTREME introducion of Luther and Billy. I also cut the majority of Luther's references to his expensive clothes. I did keep "punk put a hole in my Versace" because it's actually funny and we need a joke at that point.
- Cut that really silly "reflection in Ethan's sunglasses" bit.
- Trimmed the "Oh no the satellite isn't working!" stuff out when Naya reaches Ambrose. They're just spying on her as normal.
- Cut the finger cutting scene. It's not necessary, that dude's finger can just be busted as a character thing. It doesn't need a back story and Ambrose ignores him anyway.
- Retained the majority of the betting track scene. It's the most Hitchcock the movie gets and I'm here for it.
- Trimmed down some of the Brendan Gleeson interrogation/exposition scene. Some of the dialogue in there is... not good. And it slows down the movie tremendously.
- Made Ethan's trip through Biocyte to destroy the Chimera samples a little faster. We know Ambrose is coming for him, so unless they're in the worlds slowest elevator, it shouldn't take that long for the bad guys to arrive.
- Cut up a lot of the big Biocyte shoot out to remove some silly shots and slow-mo. Also, I'm not sure why there's like 4 establishing shots to show that Ambrose is there, but I decided one would suffice.
- Cut up a lot of Ehtan's raid on the Chimera sale for action pacing.
- Cut up the rest of the movie for action pacing.
- Reworked Ambrose's death for impact. The shot order they used for that made absolutely no sense. Why do we see Ambrose get shot, then Ethan continues firing, then Ambrose is still just still slowly rolling over? It could be a cool moment but as edited it's really strange.
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie/Show Title:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2000
Original Running Time:
123 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
101 minutes
Time Cut:
22 minutes
Subtitles Available:
Available in HD:
Synopsis:
- Replace the majority of the music with music from other films in the series.
- Up the pace. This movie has a weird structure in that there really isn't a big action scene till almost halfway through the film, and then it's just non-stop action for the second half. The middle third of the film needs some serious trims to get the film moving.
- Remove a lot of the over the top John Woo moments. I love John Woo, and I definitely still want it to feel like a John Woo film, but they go so hard on some of his trademarks that it ventures into parody. Slow motion scenes that drag on or show the same shot from 5 different angles will be trimmed. Some of the slow-mo will be trimmed just for action pacing.
Intention:
Mission Impossible is my favorite franchise, I've enjoyed every film in the series so far. However, I always found Mi-2 to stand out from the group a bit. I really enjoy the story of the film and some of the action beats are great, but it feels incredibly dated. It sticks out so much because it's the only film in the series that is so clearly from the time it was made. It's full of late 90's/ early 2000's rock music, Matrix-y slow motion, and other "cool for the time" elements that haven't aged well at all.

But! I think there's a really good movie in there. The script, by the legendary Robert Towne, is a solid Hitchcock esque caper full of twists, turns, backstabs and reveals. The performances overall are great, with Tom Cruise giving a charming turn as a softer and more romantic Ethan, a deliciously dirtbag villain, and one of the best female leads the series has had. Also, though they lay the "John Woo-ness" on a little too thick at times, the action is well staged and choreographed.

So the goal here is to remove the dated elements of MI-2, pick up the pace, and bring it more in line with the other films in the seires.
Other Sources:
Additional music from the following films was utilized in this edit:
Mission: Impossible by Danny Elfman
Mission: Impossible III by Michael Giacchino
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol by Michael Giacchino
Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation by Joe Kraemer
Mission: Impossible Fallout by Lorne Balfe
Bad Times at the El Royale by Michael Giacchino
Special Thanks:
ArtisDead
AdvisorOk4636
Darth Kermit
BionicBob
L8wrtr
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
Overall goals:
- Replace the majority of the music with music from other films in the series.
- Up the pace. This movie has a weird structure in that there really isn't a big action scene till almost halfway through the film, and then it's just non-stop action for the second half. The middle third of the film needs some serious trims to get the film moving.
- Remove a lot of the over the top John Woo moments. I love John Woo, and I definitely still want it to feel like a John Woo film, but they go so hard on some of his trademarks that it ventures into parody. Slow motion scenes that drag on or show the same shot from 5 different angles will be trimmed. Some of the slow-mo will be trimmed just for action pacing.

Here's a more detailed cutlist of what I've done so far, I'll update it as I get further in.
- Remove the opening sequence that explains Chimera, as it gets reiterated multiple times later on. The film now starts on the plane.
- Remove Ethan climbing the mountain. It's cool but useless. It's mentioned that he was on vacation later, which gives enough set up and gets the movie moving.
- We now transition from the plane crashing to an all new title sequence that's more in keeping with the later films.
- We and Naya do not see Ethan until he pops up behind her in the bathtub. This gives a more intriguing start.
- Trimmed some of the car crash ballet so it doesn't feel like they're staring at each other for 3 minutes straight.
- Trimmed a little of the bedroom scene when Ethan and Naya wake up for pacing.
- Trimmed Hopkins' line to just "She's a woman, she's got all the training she needs." Same effect, slightly less creepy.
- Trimmed the EXTREME introducion of Luther and Billy. I also cut the majority of Luther's references to his expensive clothes. I did keep "punk put a hole in my Versace" because it's actually funny and we need a joke at that point.
- Cut that really silly "reflection in Ethan's sunglasses" bit.
- Trimmed the "Oh no the satellite isn't working!" stuff out when Naya reaches Ambrose. They're just spying on her as normal.
- Cut the finger cutting scene. It's not necessary, that dude's finger can just be busted as a character thing. It doesn't need a back story and Ambrose ignores him anyway.
- Retained the majority of the betting track scene. It's the most Hitchcock the movie gets and I'm here for it.
- Trimmed down some of the Brendan Gleeson interrogation/exposition scene. Some of the dialogue in there is... not good. And it slows down the movie tremendously.
- Made Ethan's trip through Biocyte to destroy the Chimera samples a little faster. We know Ambrose is coming for him, so unless they're in the worlds slowest elevator, it shouldn't take that long for the bad guys to arrive.
- Cut up a lot of the big Biocyte shoot out to remove some silly shots and slow-mo. Also, I'm not sure why there's like 4 establishing shots to show that Ambrose is there, but I decided one would suffice.
- Cut up a lot of Ehtan's raid on the Chimera sale for action pacing.
- Cut up the rest of the movie for action pacing.
- Reworked Ambrose's death for impact. The shot order they used for that made absolutely no sense. Why do we see Ambrose get shot, then Ethan continues firing, then Ambrose is still just still slowly rolling over? It could be a cool moment but as edited it's really strange.

Trusted Reviewer reviews

3 reviews
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0(3)
Audio Editing
 
9.7(3)
Visual Editing
 
10.0(3)
Narrative
 
9.7(3)
Enjoyment
 
9.3(3)
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II is the ugly step child of the M:I franchise.

Of all of them, it feels the most dated and, retroactively, the most stylistically out of step with the rest of the movie series.

But idea of trying to fan edit this John Woo extravaganza into something more akin to the later films, is a daunting... some might even say.. IMPOSSIBLE... concept.

But thankfully Spence has accepted this mission!

And he achieved his set goals masterfully.

This fan edit is slimmer and tighter paced, increasing the entertainment value immensely. Due to plot requirements, some of very John Woo signature elements remain, but this is no fault of the editor. The new soundtrack is great, it definitely sounds more like the other movies in the franchise. Though on occasion the viewer can noticeably hear the audio remover warble after effect and there are other times where the new soundtrack is a tad too loud and it competes with onscreen dialogue. But none of this distracts from the fun factor.

This a great popcorn edit.

MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED!!!

:)
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Overall rating
 
10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
Narrative
 
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Enjoyment
 
9.0
I was not really planning on watching MI-II ever again, as I remembered it as 'everything bad about John Woo's films', but this edit actually redeems the film.
As other commenters mentioned, the theatrical cut of this film was over-the-top, with lots of slow-mo's and pigeons. Some of the slow motion scenes are still with us, sadly, as are a few trimmable shots of pigeons, but the pacing (and essentially everything else) is so much better!

User Review

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Yes
Format Watched
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Owner's reply October 12, 2021

It's a John Woo film, gotta have at least a couple pigeons! Glad you enjoyed it

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(Updated: October 03, 2021)
Overall rating
 
9.7
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
In the forum thread for this edit, Spence made two promises: it would still be our least favorite Mission: Impossible movie, and it would become significantly more watchable. And both turn out to be true. M:I-2 is still the weakest link in the franchise (editing can only get you so far), but this is a gigantic improvement. By removing the worst offenders and having an actual good music score (very well integrated, and that's one of the most painful and time-consuming aspects of fanediting) the positive qualities of the film, and there are a handful of them, are pushed to the foreground. Watching it I was thinking all the time about how much better the action scenes in this look and play in comparison to today's heavily color-filtered, everything-is-CGI approach. And thanks to the score replacement, this film now feels timeless instead of locked on the early 2000s. It now sounds and looks great. And is highly enjoyable.

My only gripe (out of the stuff that could have been resolved by editing - facts like Cruise being at his most Zoolander-ish, or that gun in the sand at the end being the mother of all contrivances, are things nothing can be done about) is that while the visuals of the Seville procession scene were beautifully fixed, the verbal reference by Anthony Hopkins' character to saints being burned stays (and the song is still from the wrong part of Spain). This is kind of a big deal for Spaniards: ask any how they felt about this movie and they'll go on a long rant about the insultingly and hilariously wrong Seville segment. For everyone else, though, this will likely pass unnoticed, so it's minor in relation to the big picture. Everything else is tremendously improved and very well realized. Highly recommended overall.
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Overall rating
 
9.6
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8.1
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7.0
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Mission Impossible 2: The Spence Edit certainly does what it sets out to do, the whole film has the mature and less comedic tone of the original version: Like said in other reviews, the new opening credits transition and sequence is great! I loved how it was edited, I acrtually bought MI:2 specifically one for my collection, but also to see it's cheesiness, but I wanted to try the more serious version first and it delivers! I really like what Spence did here and think this fits as a great installment in the series, despite it's uneditable flaws. Only complaint? The cliff climbing scene was so 2000's come oN!! :D Should've kept it in!

But no in all seriousness, great work!

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(Updated: November 12, 2023)
Overall rating
 
10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
The Spence Edit is the best version of Mission: Impossible II, and one of the best fan edits I’ve ever seen. After I finished watching it, I said, “You cut 22 minutes out of this film? The theatrical cut must have had a lot of filler, because I didn’t even notice anything missing.” That’s a little bit of an exaggeration, of course. There were some bits where I was like, “Oh wow. That part is gone. But that’s a good thing.”

One of my favorite parts about this edit is the opening title sequence. Cutting from the plane exploding to the fuse lighting? Brilliant. And the title sequence itself is edited just like the title sequences in past and future films in the series. It’s so expertly done, and feels much more like a Mission: Impossible film to me than the theatrical cut does.

I think the new score works well and is more consistent with the rest of the series. But I must admit, I do kind of miss the heavy metal score from the theatrical cut in a couple of places. I know it’s over the top and hasn’t aged well. It’s just what I’m used to hearing when I watch the second film. It’s bad, but in a cool way. You know?

I’m sorry to say that even this version of Mission: Impossible II is still the worst in the series, but there’s not much you can do to fix that in the editing room. That being said, taking out as much of the bad stuff as you can really does elevate the overall quality of the film.

The next time I have a Mission: Impossible marathon, I’m going to drop this version into the playlist instead of the theatrical version. Great job!

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Overall rating
 
9.7
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Kudos to Spence for making this movie feel much closer to Mission Impossible (at least the movie series)! Nice trimming of a few over the top scenes and "John Woo moments". The first half now feels like a proper spy thriller. The last half ends up being a lot of shooting and action but that's rather baked into the thing. My only criticism is that, due to the ambitious re-scoring of the entire project (which is phenomenal), some of the sound design gets lost or has its punch diminished. I listened on reference speakers so it's possible this is less noticeable on other systems. But the ability to enjoy another MI movie without suffering through Limp Bizkit is worth a small sacrifice!

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Overall rating
 
9.9
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
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10.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
This is a very well made edit, but, after watching it, I have to admit that I'd rather have rewatched John Woo's orginal with all its cheesiness and excesses. While watching Spence's version, while perfectly fine, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was watching a watered down version of something that was intended to be an over-the-top ridiculous action opera. I felt like having a Diet Cheesecake when the entire point is the decadence and richness. None of this is Spence's fault, mind you. I thought I wanted a version of M:I 2 that was more in line with the rest of the franchise, but I was completely wrong. I actually wanted John Woo's outrageous love letter to Tom Cruise's flowing hair and gun ballet, so I have this edit to thank for helping me come to that realization.

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Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 1 1
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10.0
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10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
MI:2 as you all know is infamous for its intense action scenes, slow-mo, and doves. For me, it is a fun action-pack thrill ride to watch but this day, it hasn't aged well compared to MI: & 3 and to the modern films that we have today which I can agree on. Thankfully, I can say that Spence did a phenomenal job with his editing work on this film. The dramatic slow-mos were reduced and the rescores pulled from the other MI films fit smoothly. Even better is that he even incorporated a new intro. It feels so much closer to MI: and 3 and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb in the series. I highly recommend giving this fan edit a watch for those who haven't seen the original for so long.

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