Fails the Bechdel test
Mission: Impossible II
2000. Directed by John Woo, written by Bruce Geller and Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.
The film
Chimera is a deadly virus that will bear a grisly death unless you are given the antidote. The creator of Chimera is murdered and the antidote is stolen by a disavowed I.M.F. Agent, Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott). The Impossible Mission Force, (I.M.F.), hire the skilled and charming Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), and the beautiful Nyah Hall (Thandie Newton), who has had her share with Ambrose. Their mission, should they choose to accept it, is to send Hall undercover to Ambrose and learn what she can for Hunt to bring down Chimera, but they will have to break into a secure lab by jumping off of buildings and dodging bullets. Its impossible.
- Released
- 24 May 2000
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Thriller
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 59 / 100
- Awards
- 12 wins & 20 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Ethan 246 lines, man
- Nyah 140 lines, woman
- Ambrose 101 lines, man
- Luther 80 lines, man
- Swanbeck 57 lines, man
- Billy 52 lines, man
- Nekhorvich 25 lines, man
- Mccloy 24 lines, man
- Stamp 21 lines, man
- Wallis 7 lines, man
Full cast, 45 people
- Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt
- Dougray Scott as Sean Ambrose
- Thandiwe Newton as Nyah Hall
- Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell
- Richard Roxburgh as Hugh Stamp
- John Polson as Billy Baird
- Brendan Gleeson as McCloy
- Rade Šerbedžija as Dr. Nekhorvich
- William Mapother as Wallis
- Dominic Purcell as Ulrich
- Mathew Wilkinson as Michael
- Nicholas Bell as McCloy's Accountant
- Cristina Brogeras as Flamenco Dancer #4
- Kee Chan as McCloy's Chemist
- Kim Fleming as Larrabee
- Alan Lovell as Biocyte Security Guard #2
- Dan Luxton as Relief Pilot
- Christian Manon as Dr. Gradsky
- Karl McMillan as Biocyte Security Guard #1
- Lester Morris as Bookie
- Kelly Ons as Flamenco Dancer #1
- Nicholas Papademetriou as Prison Guard #2
- Brett Partridge as Biocyte Security Guard #3
- Candice Partridge as Flamenco Dancer #7
- Natalie Reis as Flamenco Dancer #2
- Daniel Roberts as Co-Pilot
- Adriana Rodríguez as Flamenco Dancer #5
- Sandra Rodríguez as Flamenco Dancer #6
- Nada Rogic as Flamenco Dancer #3
- Antonio Vargas as Senor De L'Arena
- Anthony Hopkins as Mission Commander Swanbeck (uncredited)
- Alison Araya as Girl (uncredited)
- Rebecca Barratt as Art Teacher (uncredited)
- Douglas Bunn as Race Track Crowd (uncredited)
- Caine as Race Track Punter (uncredited)
- Fred Chen as Club Patron (uncredited)
- Mark Connolly as Gate Guard #1 (uncredited)
- Ryder Davis as Server (uncredited)
- Alan Hennessy as Race-goer (uncredited)
- Patrick Marber as Train Driver (uncredited)
- William Morts as Man with Mission Rocket in Helicopter (uncredited)
- Tory Mussett as Flamenco Guest (uncredited)
- Paul Roget as Spanish Party Goer (uncredited)
- Shant Sarkissian as Party Attendant (uncredited)
- Darren Dupree Washington as Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 124
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 1 | 15 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 20 |
| 7 to 9 | 21 | 25 |
| 10 to 12 | 28 | 88 |
| 13 to 15 | 17 | 19 |
| 16 to 18 | 9 | 11 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 16 |
| 22 to 24 | 12 | 57 |
| 25 to 27 | 17 | 43 |
| 28 to 30 | 14 | 46 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 8 |
| 34 to 36 | 6 | 17 |
| 37 to 39 | 2 | 27 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 13 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 13 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 12 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 1 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 14 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 0 |
| 58 to 60 | 2 | 29 |
| 61 to 63 | 8 | 34 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 2 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 0 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 5 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 12 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 12 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 0 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 6 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 1 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 10 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 6 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 9 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 0 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 6 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 4 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 3 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 4 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 4 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 1 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 2 |
| 121 to 123 | 0 | 23 |
| 124 to 124 | 4 | 10 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 18 are women's.
141 lines from women, 628 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
4 women and 27 men in the cast. 1 women and 18 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 791.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 127 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 16% of the words (1,423), men 84% (7,235). Women have 18% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
0
Two men
59
Exhibit E: behind the camera
4 of the 16 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 19% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Woo (man)
- Written by
- Robert Towne (man)
- Story by
- Ronald D. Moore (man), Brannon Braga (man)
- Produced by
- Tom Cruise (man), Paula Wagner (woman)
- Shot by
- Jeffrey L. Kimball (man)
- Edited by
- Steven Kemper (man), Christian Wagner (man)
- Music by
- Hans Zimmer (man)
- Production design by
- Thomas E. Sanders (man)
- Costumes by
- Lizzy Gardiner (woman), Timothy Everest (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Gregory Apps (man), Deborah Aquila (woman), Sarah Halley Finn (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
7 women, 32 men, 13 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 17 men, 23 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 10 men, 16 not listed
-
Art
5 women, 12 men, 12 not listed
-
Camera
2 women, 8 men, 10 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 9 men, 10 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 3 men, 10 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 5 men, 5 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 27 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Thandiwe Newton 27
Men
Dominic Purcell 30, Dougray Scott 34, John Polson 34, William Mapother 35, Tom Cruise 37, Richard Roxburgh 38, Ving Rhames 41, Brendan Gleeson 45, Rade Šerbedžija 53
Exhibit G: the money
It made 4.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $125 million
- Box office
- $546 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 124 scenes and 791 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
