Slow Moving Disaster

June 13, 1997

“Speed 2: Cruise Control” is a manufactured sequel that does nothing the original thriller did, instead opting for a slow-moving boat heading toward an island. Sandra Bullock returns as Annie and goes on vacation with her SWAT cop boyfriend, Alex (Jason Patric,) after she discovers he is a daredevil LAPD Officer like her previous boyfriend, Jack, in the original film. Annie drove the bus in the original, and this time around she finds herself in implausible dumb situations where she snarls every time Alex tries to do something stupid and turns on the Bullock charm.

It opens with Annie failing her driving test while Alex is paradoxically chasing after a truck on a motorbike. Mack (Joe Morton) from the original movie returns for ten mins before Annie discovers that Alex is not the beach officer he said he was, and in an attempt to settle her down, he sets them up to go on a cruise. What could possibly go wrong?

Probably the dumbest aspect here is that it defeats the purpose of the original. A mad bomber rigged a bus, and if it went above 50, it was armed. If it went before 50, it blew up. There was a genuine sense of danger and fear throughout the movie. There is no danger when the movie is action set pieces for something wild to happen such as a bunch of people trapped behind fire doors, and Annie uses a chainsaw to rescue them. Every time someone floats, it looks like they are in a tank. Perhaps one of the dumber and implausable sequences is when Alex crawls under the ship but I will explain that later.

Aboard is a deranged electronics genius, John Giger (Willem Dafoe,) who is vengeful towards the cruise line for something, and it’s one of the more interesting aspects of the movie but, it’s an excuse for an action picture set aboard a boat. They do nothing with him, and he is portrayed as smart, but he is the typical villain we have seen before. Dafoe’s performance is nothing short of spectacular. Too bad he’s in the wrong movie.

The captain gets thrown off the boat early in the film, and the ship has the typical passengers: fat guy, rich wives, rich husbands, diamond jewellers and a deaf girl, Drew (Christine Firkins,) who becomes one of the central characters when she becomes trapped and can’t hear the ships emergency alarm. A better story would’ve been about her getting trapped in the boat and Annie and Alex having to rescue her. Annie doesn’t do much until the end of the movie.

Alex realizes Geiger is controlling the ship, and he explains why he is doing it, which is another interesting idea they do nothing with. Alex chases him throughout the ship until he sets the course for an oil tanker. Alex orders the ship’s first mate to open the ballast doors, to flood the ship, and slow it down. Not before he sees Drew on the security camera and sets out to save her. These are the manufactured action sequences that are scattered throughout the movie and leave no suspense.

Gieger realizes Alex is trying to jam the ship to slow it down while Alex is underwater, and he jams the propellor, and Alex doesn’t get sucked in, leaving no danger. It looks like Alex is in a big tank, and you wonder where the money went. The cable breaks while Annie is taken hostage, and you can figure out the ending because we’ve seen it before.

Gieger is an interesting villain, and we learn nothing about him other than he is sick, and it’s part of the reason why everything is happening, but, I won’t spoil it. Alex manages to crash Geiger’s escape on a speedboat while the ship crashes into a marina and the town that accompanies it, causing the budget to go up, with a budget, they do nothing in the first place except make the ship look good and overpay Sandra Bullock to appear as a star power.

“Speed 2: Cruise Control” is entertaining, yes! But it’s disappointing when they do nothing to make the movie intense or suspenseful. Nobody wants to be here. Jason Patric is out of place, and no replacement for Keanu Reeves. It’s disappointing when they do nothing with the movie, and it’s your typical, bad-action thriller with no love put into it. Willem Dafoe is the best thing about the movie, but it’s not enough when the actor is great, and the character is a very pissed-off villain we have seen before leading to a dumb conclusion only a thwarted disaster could make happen.

4/10