Customer Reviews

Speed 2 - Cruise Control [VHS]

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(55)

 

 

What a piece of junk! A ship instead of a bus, so they have to search for something to crash into. A computergenius who takes over the ship and nobody simply puls the plug on the computers and resumes manual steering. It is a ship, for crying out loud, not a supercritical airplane! The original speed kept up the pace. With this movie I kept it up by pushing fast-forward for minutes on end. And then the cast: Dafoe tries to be really bad, but in the end he was the only guy I grew to like. Bullock gave a repeatperformance of the original, without the zest of the original and Patric instead of Reeves is like being out of the frying pan and into the fire. The equivalent of two dollars that I paid to rent this tape was the biggest waste of money ever.

The films of Jan DeBont seem to go downhill with each one.First was Speed-an excellent nonstop thrillride of a movie(5 stars),then Twister-which was very exciting,with great special effects(4 stars),then comes one of the more boring action films I've ever seen-Speed 2:Cruise Control(2 stars),DeBont sort of leveled off with The Haunting(2 stars)-the best thing about that film was the absolutely gorgeous Catherine Zeta-Jones.But anyway,back to Speed 2.It wasn't an awful movie,just incredibly boring as far as action films go.Sandra Bullock looks good as usual,but her chemistry with Jason Patric wasn't there,like with Keanu Reeves in the first Speed.Jason Patric is a pretty good actor,but his performance here was a little too laid back.The plot wasn't all that great either,and I didn't care much for Willem Dafoe as the film's villain.Some of the action wasn't too bad,I guess,but some of it was really annoying,such as when the cruise ship crashed it just seemed to go on way too long.Overall,this isn't the worst movie I've ever seen,but nowhere near the best,either.Sandra Bullock is the main reason I give it 2 stars and not lower.

Okay, when it comes to things like script and genuine quality filmmaking, Speed 2 is pretty bad, with a preposterous plot that's far more unlikely to occur than even the outrageous (but brilliant) premise of the original. But yet, as entertainment value, this movie isn't half-bad at all, even if it takes 75 minutes to get to the big collision course finale (a veerrry long and quite thrilling sequence) which, while not up to par with the bus sequence in Speed, is still a damn good action sequence in its own right. Yes, the film does miss the presence of Keanu Reeves (I never thought I'd say that), who had great chemistry with Sandra Bullock. Jason Patric and Bullock just don't click as a couple, perhaps partially because this relationship lacks the spontaneity that the original Speed gave us. As for the other performances, the only one of note is Willem Dafoe, whose over-the-top, maniacal portrayal of the villain, Geiger, unfortunately ranks as one of the worst performances of this excellent actor's career. Kudos to composer Mark Mancino, who had the putzah not to just recycle the score from the original, and while his work here is similar to that piece, there are enough variations to put them apart and this score is almost as pulse-pounding.

As silly as Speed 2 does have the tendency to get (Bullock finds a chainsaw in the ship), the film never takes itself very seriously and never asks you to, either. Truthfully, I never could see why people hate this film so much, especially when it's superior to the likes of equally silly action thrillers such as Con Air, Bad Boys, Gone in Sixty Seconds, and The Long Kiss Goodnight. In closing, this is very slightly recommended, mainly because of the concluding action and stunt sequences, and if you watch this film as a half-knowingly silly action flick, you might indeed enjoy it.

Let me make some points: First of all, yes, this movie does have lots of action in it. There's even some humor scattered throughout. But apart from those two things, this movie is dreadful in every possible way. Everything is so cliche. The ugly, eccentric villian (he likes leeches). The stupid but beautiful female who is actually smarter in some ways than the villian in that at least she has her head screwed on straight. The buff, handsome hero who comes to the rescue and saves the day. Down-to-the-last-second suspense. Personally, I don't see how this was even made into a movie. The producers probably thought that the earlier movie's success would pull it through. The script and storyline in this movie are very bad. From the looks of things, people saw this movie for 3 reasons: 1--To see Sandra Bullock, whom they adore. 2--In hopes that Speed 2 will be as good as the first one. 3--They were desperate for an action flick. Pass on this movie, your time is better spent elsewhere.

A ship instead of a bus, so they have to search for something to crash into. A computergenius who takes over the ship and nobody simply puls the plug on the computers and resumes manual steering. It is a ship, for crying out loud, not a supercritical airplane!The original Speed kept up the pace. With this movie I kept up by pushing fast-forward for minutes on end. And then the cast: Dafoe tries to be really bad, but in the end he was the only guy I grew to like. Bullock gave a repeatperformance of the original, without the zest of the orignal. Patric is a fine actor, but he is not as good es Reeves. The equivalment of two dollars that I paid to rent this tape was the biggest waste of money ever.

I think the producers of Speed 2 should have cancelled any attempt to actually make the film after lead actor Keanu Reeves turned down another role, claiming how he disliked the script. That's basically enough said. But no, just change the script around and put in another actor-Jason Patric-as the hero.

Speed 2 is simply stupid, or rather, in better terms, moronic and brain dead. It makes Jerry Bruckheimer productions look thoughtful in comparison. Jason Patric is bland the whole way through, Willem Dafoe makes a nice attmept as the villain but doesn't get the job done, and Sandra Bullock continues to show that she makes the worst film choices for a "high profile" actress (though I do see that high profile slipping away film after film).

What a sin ! You take one of the greatest surprises of action movies in the decade ("SPEED") and then make a totally wasted sequel, the kind of sequel responsible for the bad name sequels have! IT's the same director (de Bont), the same beautiful actress (Bullock), but it never works. I feel sorry for Dafoe being in it, he's a great and respectable actor.

It was Randy in Scream 2 who quoted sequels as, "by definition alone they are inferior films." This film goes a long way to backing up that particular statement. Rather it ends the debate of sequels in a heart beat. And what is wrong with this movie? For starters, you have a ditsy heroine (Sandra Bullock from the original Speed) who drives a car much like she drove the bus in the first movie. A hero cop (Jason Patric) who takes about as much interest in what's going on around him as a dog on valuum. And let's not forget the obligatory bad guy (Willem Dafoe) who's bacground and overall purpose make about as much sense as a misspelt chinese manuel to a VCR. The overall story has no logic, no pace, and no direction. It's name is Speed 2: Cruise Control? A more appropriate name would've been, "What Speed?: No Control."

I guess no one read the script thouroughly before jumping feet first with the kitchen sink into the vast mess of this horrible sequel. The only satisfying note I want to add is Keanu Reeves is a genius...he didnt star in this one, thank god. Good for you Keanu..good for you dude. This one has Sandra Bullock (Speed, Murder 8y Numbers) now, without a Keanu Reeves and now with a Jason Patric (Narc, The Lost Boys) only reason he didnt tell her he was working for ironically for the people Keanu was working for. So this pisses her off, he surprises her with a cruise ship....they have a good time but the only thing is they got on the wrong boat at the wrong time see there's this terroist, Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man, Wild At Heart) and he has taking hold of the boat. Now he wants demands and stuff otherwise he blows it up. Patric then thinks he can try to stop Dafoe. Are we sensing a familiar sense? Long, dreadful sequel to the already better original. Jan DeBont must of been smoking the wrong stuff when he came up with this one. Even some interesting but washed away action scenes dont even cut the bill. Also starring Joe Morton (Speed, Executive Decision), Tim Conway, Temuera Morrison (Six Days, Seven Nights, The Island Of Dr. Moreau 96'), Collen Camp (Die Hard With A Vengance, Clue) and Glenn Plummer (Speed, The Salton Sea). what a waste, huh?

Why, oh why weren't Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet on this ship? It would have struck that tanker near the end, gone down and mercifully spared us from "Speed 2" and its gosh-awful acting, plot and execution. Sandra Bullock, who specializes as America's favorite girl-next-door actress, reprises her role as an unwitting hostage, this time aboard a cruise ship hijacked by Willem Dafoe(whose a horrible actor). Jason Patric is great, as usual, but he can't save this garbage. All in all this is one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.