Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)

I really don't understand how the director, Jan de Bont, goes from directing two solid movies, Speed and Twister, to making an awfully horrible sequel, Speed 2: Cruise Control. It really makes you wonder, "What the hell happened?"

Speed 2: Cruise Control is just downright terrible. Keanu Reeves didn't come back because he did the right thing, and read the script and thought it sucked. Basically this time around, instead of on a bus, it takes place on a cruise ship. This was a stupid idea to begin with from the get-go.

Sandra Bullock comes back as her character Annie, and has a new boyfriend, Alex (played by Jason Patric), and they go on a cruise ship for a vacation, and there is a crazed passanger named John (played by Willem Dafoe) that hijacks the cruise, and is heading to blow up. So now Annie and Alex do what they can to fight for survival.

This movie had such a stupid concept. The acting was godawful, there was hardly any action, and it so incredibly boring. Sandra Bullock was unlikable, Jason Patric was a weak follow up for Keanu Reeves, and Willem Dafoe was mediocre as the villan. The opening to this movie was also very rushed tells you right from there that it is going to suck badly.

Overall, this movie blows.

Fmovies: Sad sequel to the early 90's hit with Bullock and Patrick playing a vacationing couple who save the day when a madman (overbearing and overacting Willem Dafoe) commandeers their cruise ship. Director Jan DeBont still pours energy into the effects, but the story and performances lack that polish and care.

Even though I write this review almost seven years after viewing, I have to alert anyone who might be interested in renting or buying this heap. Surely this movie still can't be rented? Please, don't waste your money, just stick with the first Speed and walk away slowly.

At the time I was a projectionist for the movie theater where I worked. I had to watch this film to make sure the print was in good condition and that I put it together correctly. The only thing that made it worth seeing? I guess is that I was on the clock while watching. This movie was terrible and very uninteresting.

OK, the first Speed was exciting and interesting. Keanau Reeves is dopey, but he does give cool-headed action hero quality to his characters. So does he show up in the sequel? No. I'm sure he read the script or saw SOME red flag that made him think, "Walk away slowly". Perhaps he had other commitments. Either way he was fortunate enough to not be involved in this wreck. The villain, Willem Dafoe, is just not convincing (Ooooh, he's a disgruntled computer programmer!). Jason Patrick's character seems to be a cardboard stand-up, and Sandra Bullock gives classic lines like, "Oh man!". The end sequence DOES have an impact, but they drag it out SO LONG that I started laughing! I mean, one minute would have been cool to see all that destruction, but FIVE MINUTES of crashing?!? It might look cool to a six or seven year old (maybe a preteen), but for me it was a barrel of laughs...and this isn't suppose to be a comedy.

Speed 2: Cruise Control fmovies. Oh Dear. Speed never need a sequel. It was a solid action movie with good performances and - most importantly - lots of speed, the essence of the film. Unfortunately, Speed 2 lacks both of these things, as well as anything else which could make it a good film.

Annie (Bullock) is off on a cruise with her new boyfriend, Alex (Patric). But surprisingly things don't go to plan when a crazy ex-employee of the ferry company with a terminal disease (Dafoe) takes over the ship using only his laptop. So its up to Alex, Annie and a few stupid crewmen to save the day.

So that's it in the way of plot. I'd go onto character development but there's nothing to say about that so I'll skip to the acting. Although Bullock is given top billing, she is (unfortunately) relegated to the sidelines and Keanu replacement Jason Patric does most of the work. As for his acting abilities, lets just say a coffee table would have been more convincing. And you thought Keanu Reeves was wooden. Dafoe is almost as bad.

Another area of dire quality is the script. Actually, atrocious would be more appropriate. Unlike the original it's filled with lots of "funny" bits, which only made me cringe even more than I was doing before. Even the action is poor. Where Speed screamed along at 100mph, the sequel kind of meanders along like a pensioner driver.

Verdict: Bad story, bad acting, bad script, bad film. Sitting through this film is as torturous as listening to Westlife. So in case you haven't caught on yet, AVOID THIS FILM.

Nah, it just isn't worth watching, or renting, why? Well let's just say it didn't live up to the first one. It wasn't very fast paced, or exciting, it was very predictable. And it's mostly them on the boat, trying to get everyone out, because it is out of control. It lost most of the elements the first one had. It didn't have the 'speed' theme, it was mostly a boat out of control, how? Someone just hacked it, and there it went, it wasn't on the threat of terrorists, there wasn't the threat of a bomb explosion, and it wasn't even sinking. Where's the excitement? The movie doesn't even deserve to be called 'Speed' because there was nothing about 'speed' in it, sure it had Sandra Bullock in it, but Keanu Reeves was missing in it. If you want to see a film about a boat out of control, just watch Titanic.

After seeing THE best action movie ever (Speed) I went to this expecting more of the same awesome action.

Instead I was physically sea sick! Sat through the entire thing feeling like I was at sea in a teacup (in the middle of a cyclone), made worse by the terrible acting (even Temuera Morrison wasn't up to par in this) and lame 'action scenes'. The baddie wasn't bad enough, his reasons for hijacking the ship was just plain dumb, and Keanu Reeves, where the heck was he?

This whole flick was over-the-top-bad, trying waaaaay too hard to equal Speed One. But putting all the action on a cruise ship - a SMALL cruise ship at that? There was twice as much action in the elevator scene at the beginning of Speed One!

I found the gigantic tanker explosion, the ship crashing through the dock at the end TOO long and boring. By this time, however, the sea sickness had subsided (probably because the ship had already landed!) The ending would've been easier to bare if the characters hadn't said such dumb cliches....

I think I should've stayed at home....