Movie Info
Movie Name: Speed 2: Cruise Control
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Genre(s): Action/Adventure
Release Date(s): June 13, 1997
MPAA Rating: PG-13
OMG! A cruise ship is going to run me over! Here it comes…slowly!
Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock) is still having trouble with men. When she learns that her new boyfriend Alex Shaw (Jason Patric) is also a member of the LAPD, a getaway might be the only thing to save their relationship. A Caribbean cruise seems like the perfect getaway, but when a dying man named John Geiger (Willem Dafoe ) takes over the ship in a plot for revenge against the company that sleighted him, Annie and Alex must stop the madman before he kills the remaining passengers and anyone in the way of the ship.
Movie Exec: You know what would be Hi-larious? A scene with funnyman Tim Conway and Sandra Bullock in a driving test…It will be magic!
Directed by Jan de Bont, Speed 2: Cruise Control was the follow-up to the blockbuster 1994 hit Speed. While Speed was meant with admiration, Speed 2: Cruise Control was met with almost entirely negative reviews. The film won the Razzie for Worst Re-Make or Sequel and was nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Actress (Bullock), Worst Supporting Actor (DaFoe), Worst Screen Couple (Bullock/Patric), Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, and Worst Song (“My Dream”).
Speed 2: Cruise Control is a train wreck…or a shipwreck I guess. The story is made up of one lame chase after another and instead of having a lot of energy like the first Speed, here they move at a snail’s pace. The movie feels very forced and has no purpose but to make money…I also hate films where the point of the first film was to bring two characters together (Bullock and Reeves), but it “doesn’t work out” simply because one of the actors doesn’t return.
You know something crazy? This happened to me in L.A. with a completely different actor and a bus!
The movie originally was planned for Keanu Reeves, but Reeves dropped out and a back story involving Annie leaving him had to be created. This ended up not only screwing up the chemistry of the film, but also leads to a rather pointless return of Maurice (Glenn Plummer) who originally had his car taken by Keanu Reeves in the first Speed to catch up to the bus. It doesn’t make sense for him to return since Bullock’s character never knew him and Patric wasn’t in the first one…It would have only worked if it was Keanu Reeves again (kind of like Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun which has Sheriff J.W. Pepper (Clifton James) show up again in James Bond’s life again for no reason).
I’m laughing because I’m a good actor and this is crap!
I do like Willem Dafoe in most of his roles, but this is even a stretch. His crazed character doesn’t seem to have much of a goal…I guess he wants the money to cure himself (maybe, it isn’t even very clear if it is that or straight revenge). He doesn’t live up to Hopper’s character in the first film and it is rather weak that Annie becomes the victim again in this film since she was more proactive in the first Speed.
The film just looks bad both in effects and concept. There isn’t much intimidating about a cruise ship and piloting a cruise ship doesn’t seem like a high stakes event. Near the beginning of the takeover, most of the crew of the ship is dumped in the ocean…yet no one seems to know about the cruise ship when it arrives at Saint Martin. Does that mean that the people are still drifting in the ocean? I guess so…the cruise ship crash goes on forever and is followed by a tedious Jetski/plane chase…it just doesn’t work.
Speed 2: Cruise Control is awful…and surprisingly, both Ebert and Siskel liked it! The movie highly touts that they were two of the only critics to give the film a positive review. Speed 2: Cruise Control fortunately ended the series but also soured Speed a bit. If you actually watch Speed 2: Cruise Control however, it does make Speed seem like Citizen Kane.
Related Links:
