History YMMV / MissionImpossibleII

** The most remembered stunt of the film is the knife drop stopping right before it hits Ethan's eye.

* SignatureScene: Ethan throwing off his CoolShades just before they explode.

* HilariousInHindsight: Ethan's rock-climbing prowess, which only shows up in the opening sequence (and whose purpose is to establish Hunt as being hyper-aware, in tandem with giving him a CrucifiedHeroShot) was seen by many as being largely pointless to the rest of the film. Several years later, it becomes a ChekhovsSkill that becomes plot-relevant in ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol'' and ''Film/MissionImpossibleDeadReckoningPartOne'', as his free-climbing ability is utilized multiple times at key moments in each film's plot.

* FauxSymbolism: Ethan is so awesome that he rock climbs in Monument Valley without rope, slips and ends hanging from the rock in a CrucifiedHeroShot. Lots of white doves fly in slow motion through the movie... and that's it. What does it all mean? Is Ethan such a good spy because he is of divine origin or something? Then why was nothing of that in the first movie?

** Ambrose grabbing Nyah's scarf as it's about to fly away, which is given the full John Woo slow motion treatment for literally no reason at all.

* TheyCopiedItSoItSucks: Often considered to be the worst in the ''Film/MissionImpossible'' franchise due to being too similar to a ''Film/JamesBond'' film. In particular, the villain Sean Ambrose has more than a few similarities to ''Film/GoldenEye'' BigBad Alec Trevelyan, both being essentially a RogueAgent EvilCounterpart to the main hero (though Trevelyan is a former friend of Bonds while Ambrose and Hunt always disliked each other); their respective actors even look somewhat alike.

** Some portions of the motorcycle stuntwork can be a bit hard to take seriously.

* SophomoreSlump: It is considered to be the weakest in the franchise, especially that the following four sequels are more well-received than this one.

** The Flamenco-influenced [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmkHMYQRq2s "Nyah"]], which nearly two decades later was the basis for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_yJb1OGvCw a skating routine.]]

* BrokenBase: Whether it's a good film, a bad film, or a good action film but a bad ''Mission Impossible'' film.
* ContestedSequel: When the film first came out it was fairly popular for, above all else, being a fun and intense action movie with all the Creator/JohnWoo trademarks and had a bigger box office take than the first film. It did receive criticism for departing even further from the ''Mission: Impossible'' formula, especially ignoring the team dynamics. About the time ''MI: III'' came out, reasserting teamwork and espionage, this film came to be seen as the weakest entry in the series.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udBLIulzITo Injection]], composed by the one and only Music/HansZimmer.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The first film was criticised by some for being too complicated and not having enough action. The sequel sought to fix these issues by making the plot more straightforward and [[ActionizedSequel upping the action ante]]. In the longer run this backfired, however, with the focus on action at the expense of character and storyline being fingered as the film's biggest weakness, and the much more complex and layered plot of the first film being considered VindicatedByHistory.

* NeverLiveItDown: The portrayal of the Spanish Holy Week, which mixed it up with the Falles and
the Sanfermines, made the film unintentionally hilarious in Spain, to the point it marred the perception of the entire franchise there. Even worse, Cruise would suffer almost exactly the same research failure in his later film ''Film/KnightAndDay'', which showed an outlandish San Fermín taking place in Seville.

* NeverLiveItDown: The portrayal of the Spanish Holy Week, which mixed it up with the Falles, made the film unintentionally hilarious in Spain, to the point it marred the perception of the entire franchise there. Even worse, Cruise would suffer almost exactly the same research failure in his later film ''Film/KnightAndDay'', which showed an outlandish San Fermín taking place in Seville.

* NeverLiveItDown: The aforementioned Critical Research Failure made the film unintentionally hilarious in Spain, to the point it marred the perception of the entire franchise there. Even worse, Cruise would suffer almost exactly the same research failure in his next film ''Film/KnightAndDay'', which showed an outlandish San Fermín taking place in Seville.

* SignatureScene: Ethan throwing of his CoolShades just before it explodes.

* CriticalResearchFailure: The film's portrayal of the Spanish Holy Week in Seville is downright '''atrocious'''. It mixes the Holy Week (a Spanish religious festival that is celebrated in April) with the burning monuments of the Fallas (another Spanish festival, non-religious and completely unrelated to the previous, which only takes place in March in the city of Valencia) and shows people wearing attires from the San Fermín (yet another unrelated festival which, again, only takes place in Pamplona, and in mid-summer). To understand it better, this would be the equivalent of a non-American film set in US managing to mix Thanksgiving Day with Mardi Gras and Saint Patrick's Day.

* WhatAnIdiot: After Ethan [[spoiler:puts Hugh's mask on himself]], Sean fails to notice that [[spoiler:"Hugh" is four inches shorter than normal and with a completely different body type]].

* CriticalResearchFailure: The film's portrayal of the Spanish Holy Week in Seville is downright '''atrocious'''. It mixes the Holy Week (a Spanish religious festival that is celebrated in April) with the burning monuments of the Falles (another Spanish festival, non-religious and completely unrelated to the previous, which only takes place in March in the city of Valencia) and shows people wearing attires from the San Fermín (yet another unrelated festival which, again, only takes place in Pamplona, and in mid-summer). To understand it better, this would be the equivalent of a non-American film set in US managing to mix Thanksgiving Day with Mardi Gras and Saint Patrick's Day.

** Ambrose shooting [[spoiler:Stamp disguised as Ethan]] would be a pretty shocking moment... if not for the completely overblown chorus wailing over the scene.
*** Ambrose's reaction after he realized his mistake (looked like a BigNo) was unintentionally hilarious.

* HarsherInHindsight:
** The plane crash in the mountains at the beginning, even though already being very tragic in the movie, becomes a lot harder to watch after the deliberate crash of the Germanwings-Flight in the French alps in March 2015.
** The villain's plan being to unleash a deadly virus, now that production on the 7th film has been halted due to coronavirus concerns.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** One of the songs in the soundtrack is a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqSz16Wgs_0 remixed version]] of Music/ChrisCornell's song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTxqbt-tr1s "Mission"]] (renamed Mission 2000). Six years later and not only did Chris [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=867iyhVFyEw provide the theme song]] to [[Film/CasinoRoyale2006 another famous spy movie]], but one from [[Film/JamesBond the exact spy movie series many Mission: Impossible fans accuse this movie of trying to imitate its style]].
** Another film with Creator/TomCruise, ''Film/KnightAndDay'', would repeat the CriticalResearchFailure mentioned above, though at least it would manage not to get it mixed with other Spanish festivities.