Analysis of Mission Impossible 2 Opening Sequence

Opening scene to : Mission Impossible 2

In the beginning of the film, we are given an high angle establishing shot of the environment, which appears to be the grand canyon. It is from what you could say a birds eye view, this makes us as the audience immersed in the environment, for this short interlude there is only the sound of the wind, as the camera gives us the impression of soaring. With no non-diagetic sound, this lets the audience focus more on the shot. The director has does this at the very start to showcase the film as exciting and action packed, as Woo's films are often action packed.

This is followed by a dissolving shot of this, dissolving into a different part of the canyon, this is done to show the grand scale of what Tom Cruises character is doing, which we find out is climbing this canyon, as directly after this dissolve we zoom into Tom Cruise, halfway up the rocks, This type of shot build up lets people who have no idea about the film know straight away this is the main character of the film. As it zooms in closer we can see A JOHN WOO FILM credit appear on the scene. Woo is well known for his action films, involving martial arts also, so seeing this along with Tom Cruise lets us know that Tom Cruise will be in the thick of the action.

A bit later on, we see Tom Cruise leap from one rock to another, as he does this, slow motion is used as he jumps. This would seem pretty cliché if placed in a film today, but at the time would convey the tension as slow motion during intense moments as a common convention of action films. It slows down, giving us the idea of the heart stopping danger people would have in such a situation.The director has done this to show us how extreme this character is.

After this shot, Tom Cruise is hanging from a ledge in a particularly interesting pose. We have Tom Cruise hanging in a sort of Jesus like position. This is a metaphor that this character is a hero, a savior, that he will do only good. Also this savoir sort of pose gives idea of greatness and power, which is clear he has in climbing up the cliffs.