Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)

Director: Jan de Bont
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Jason Patric, Willem Dafoe

Synopsis:
Annie and her new boyfriend go on a cruise, which becomes the target of a disgruntled software designer seeking revenge on the cruiseline.

Impressions:
I remember seeing the trailer for this movie when it was coming out and thinking, "Meh." This wasn't a case of poor marketing but rather an accurate representation of what to expect, a thoroughly mediocre followup to a much better movie. If it weren't for me doing reviews, I would've been content to have never seen this, but now that I have, let's give it a fair shake. In a way, I like the aversion to a happily ever after ending to the first one, but Jason Patric makes for a far less charismatic lead when compared to Keanu Reeves (no, really) and it's kinda cool that Annie has a little more confidence handling a crisis, but her character suffers from a bit of sequel fatigue syndrome (when frequent references are made to previous movies, which often makes the viewers wonder why they aren't just watching that instead). Willem Dafoe isn't bad as the main villain, but this isn't his best performance. The supporting cast isn't nearly as good as the previous film, but I did like Christine Firkins as the deaf girl Drew, though some viewers may be a little weirded out by her innocent crush on Alex. (The fact that Alex and Annie are watching Lolita in one scene might make you wonder if something's being implied by the filmmakers. Actually, I'd almost rather see a story without Annie and just have Alex and Drew working together, but any romantic undertones would likely get too squicky for some people, innocuous or otherwise.) The action isn't great and the CG is atrocious. There's a lot of weird slowdown in action sequences, possibly due to some sort of rendering problems. The sequence with the ship running aground is almost unbearable. Whatever good you can find is more than outweighed by the bad. Do yourself a favor and skip this one.

Rating:
Avoid It