SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1997 Ben Hoffman
If you are looking for some follow up, a sequel to SPEED, forget it. Other than Sandra Bullock there was no legitimate reason to include "Speed" in the title; all other principals and the film's locale are different , . . but hey, that's showbiz.
The excitement that was engendered in the original SPEED is here not present until the last half hour when the cruise ship heads for shore. Frantic, yes; exciting, no. Annie Porter (Bullock) is very hyper when she is careening thru Venice, CA., behind the wheel in a driving test being given by Dept of Motor Vehicles' Mr. Kenter (Tim Conway . . . funny but doing his usual befuddled routine). In the film's subsequent scenes aboard ship Bullock continues her frantic behavior, probably trying to stir up the excitement that is not there.
Alex Shaw (Jason Patric) is the capable, daring hero. He is also Annie's betrothed. Because it is the late 1990s it is no surprise that he does not tell his fiancee the truth, in this case about his job. Instead he says he is in some kind of law enforcement where he arrests young pickpockets who frequent the Venice Beach area when in fact he is on a SWAT team. Conveniently (for the story), while Annie is careening around town with one near miss after another she spies Alex crashing his motorcycle in a chase after a criminal.
Annie is upset about Alex's dangerous job but he gets around her by telling her what they need is a quiet, relaxing 6-day cruise to the Caribbean. Annie readily forgives him. That the cruise is anything but relaxing comes as no surprise. Aboard ship is John Geiger (as in "counter") (Willem Dafoe) who is a former employee of the cruise line where he was the computer expert. Geiger is more than a little annoyed at having been fired. He is maniacal. He grins maliciously, his eyes roll in their sockets, and he looks like a caricature of a crazed villain. How best to get revenge on the cruise line than by programming the engines and rudders and anchors and whatever else it takes to have the ship ram into another ship and sink
Fortunately, Alex is there to take on the evil genie. All of the above, it seems to me, may sound more exciting than the movie. Where the film became of interest to me was when the special effects come into play and we see, with camera low to the ground and pointing up to make the most of the ship's height, what appears as an irresistible force (the ship) approaching its doom with nothing to stop it. Quite effective.
Directed by Jan De Bont
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Ben Hoffman
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