Directed by: John Woo
Starring: Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Brendan Gleeson, Thandie Newton, Dougray Scott, Richard Roxburgh, John Polson
Continuity mistake: The tyres on the crotch rocket motorcycles they were riding kept changing from knobbly tyres to road slicks, back and forth depending on what terrain they were on. Easiest to see when Ethan skids on the road to avoid the white van - clear shot of slick tyres - then about 30 seconds later they're on the dirt, he skids into the old car and you can easily see that he's got off-road tyres front and back.
Factual error: In the scene at the race track where they show the virus infecting and destroying cells in the blood stream, they clearly show that it is red blood cells being infected. Viruses, in order to replicate, require the cell's DNA replication machinery. However, mature red blood cells in the circulation no longer possess this machinery since they no longer have a nucleus or DNA. It would therefore be impossible for this virus to replicate.
Visible crew/equipment: As Tom Cruise is listening to his mission via the sunglasses at the beginning of the film, the camera and several crew members are reflected in the right lens as the shot pans around him.
Trivia: When Nyah is trying to convince Ethan to shoot her, she says "Do it. Now!" There is still about forty minutes left in the movie, but those are the last words she says.
Trivia: In the movie trailer Tom Cruise greets Ving Rhames when he lands in a helicopter on a remote property in Australia. He says "Welcome to Australia, mate" with an attempted Aussie accent on the word "mate". But that line was never shown in the movie. Not sure why. Perhaps the producers thought that it may come across as Tom mocking Australians?
Trivia: The delays on the MI:2 shoot cost two of the actors high profile roles: Dougray Scott was replaced by Hugh Jackman in X-Men, and Thandie Newton was set to play Lucy Liu's role in Charlie's Angels, but this shoot ran so long that she didn't want to commit to another 6 month shoot immediately, so pulled out.
Ethan Hunt: You turned around.
Nyah Nordoff-Hall: What are you going to do? Spank me?
Sean Ambrose: You know women, mate. Like monkeys, they are - won't let go of one branch until they've got hold of the next.
Sean Ambrose: In just a few hours you can be assured of going down in history as the typhoid Mary of "Aus." G'day.
Question: Why didn't Ethan just give Nyah one of his guns after she infected herself? She could have easily killed Ambrose and others with a surprise attack since they were more interested in keeping her alive and she wanted Ethan to kill her anyway. She had better odds of surviving that way than the impossible plot that followed. She could have killed everyone but Ambrose and he may have let it happen in order to still have a chance at selling the virus.
Question: When Ambrose noticed the envelope was in the wrong pocket, and was thus tipped off that Nyah was a spy, how did he jump to the conclusion that Ethan was her contact? Did he play a mere hunch when he impersonated Ethan in front of her?
Answer: Ethan was the most probable candidate. Remember that Ambrose and Ethan had specifically worked together a few times with IMF in the past, as stated in the film, with them body doubling each other. Once Ambrose had his suspicious raised by the envelope, he decided to test Nyah. So showing up to her with Ethan's face would indicate if she recognized Ethan, or thought she was being approached by a total stranger at night.
Answer: Ambrose has stolen Chimera, a virus developed by Dr. Nekhorvich. Dr. Nekhorvich was an associate of Hunt, and trusted him. This is why Ambrose had to pose as Hunt to extract him at the beginning. Given that Ambrose was posing as hunt on the mission he went rogue, it is logical that Hunt would be the one sent to take him down.
Question: How did Ethan Hunt know he was going to switch places with Hugh at the end of the film requiring him to take two masks with him to swap different faces?
Answer: The only thing I can think is because they're in Sean Ambrose's hideout, and he's an ex-IMF operative, then he possibly had the gear required in there. Ethan found it before the encounter with Hugh, and it's simply not shown. Other than that, it's an error.
Answer: Ethan did not want her to kill herself. Giving her a gun would allow her to do so.