Speed 2: Cruise Control is a 1997 action film produced and directed by Jan de Bont, and released by 20th Century Fox. It stars Sandra Bullock, Willem Dafoe, Temuera Morrison and Jason Patric. It is a sequel to Speed, although Keanu Reeves chose not to star in it. In the film, Bullock is trapped on the Seabourn Legend, an out-of-control luxury cruise liner whose navigation computers were reprogrammed by a computer hacker, setting the ship on a collision course with an oil tanker. The film was a notable failure at the American box office.
Plot summary
Returning for the sequel, Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock) is taking her driving test with a paranoid driving instructor, Mr. Kentor (Tim Conway). She has broken up with her boyfriend Jack Traven (originally Keanu Reeves) two years prior because she could not accept his dangerous occupation as an explosives expert of the LAPD SWAT team. Annie is now dating another LAPD SWAT team member Alex Shaw (Jason Patric) who is on a high speed chase in the Los Angeles area. Alex originally told Annie he is a patrol cop in Venice, but after capturing a criminal on his chase, Annie learns the truth when she runs into him in the aftermath of his high speed pursuit. As an apology, Alex surprises her with a trip to the Caribbean, on the cruise ship, the Seabourn Legend.
As the ship sets sail, Annie meets John Geiger (Willem Dafoe), a fellow passenger who is first upset that his golf clubs have not arrived. However, while on deck, Alex finds Geiger a little suspicious when he is sitting at the bar and does not notice the golf tournament on TV at least once. They brush it off, and Alex and Annie continue their vacation. Alex happens to be carrying with him an engagement ring, hoping to ask Annie to marry him.
Meanwhile, Geiger is sneaking around the cruise ship, plotting out a deadly plan. His former golf clubs are revealed to be small explosive devices, which he uses to destroy the ship's communications and power systems. It is eventually revealed that Geiger was a dedicated employee to a software company that designed computer systems for several cruise ships, including the Seabourn Legend and that he developed a sickness regarding copper in his blood, which helped cause him to get fired. Now in a state of revenge, Geiger has successfully managed to hack into the cruise ship's computer systems and control the ship via remote control. He furthers his nefarious plan by overloading one of the engines, causing the port propeller to shut down, by doing so causing damage onboard the ship. In the main hall, Alex is about to ask Annie to marry him when the chaos ensues, and passengers and crew find themselves bracing for their lives. After killing the captain by throwing him overboard, Geiger forces the first officer Mr. Juliano (Temuera Morrison) along with the rest of the ship's crew to initiate an evacuation of the vessel. Geiger gives them 15 minutes to do so while he commits a jewelry heist in the ship's main vault.
The evacuation plan fails when the last lifeboat fails to be lowered and Geiger sets the now automated cruise ship moving again. Alex, Annie, Mr. Juliano, and other crew members quickly work to save the passengers on the lifeboat as it dangles on the side of the speeding ship. After successfully rescuing them, Annie and the crew lead the passengers to the main deck while Alex searches for Geiger, now learning he must be the mastermind behind the chaotic events on the ship. After several chases through the ship, Geiger traps Alex in an explosives-rigged shopping hall. Annie and Mr. Juliano quickly work to rescue him, and after doing so, learn the rest of Geiger's plan. Geiger has set the cruise ship on a collision course with an oil tanker, the Eindhoven Lion off the coast of the island of St. Maarten. Fearing a collision is imminent, Alex, Annie, and Mr. Juliano work to avoid a major disaster by ramming a steel cable into the ship's starboard propeller (after flooding the ship with water to slow it down failed) in hopes of stopping the ship. Geiger thwarts their efforts and takes Annie hostage. Alex pursues them to the marina where they depart the ship via ski jet, but he is too late to rescue Annie. Alex then heads to the now-flooded bow thruster room in hopes of steering the ship out of the collision, and with the help of the ship's vacationing photographer Dante, they steer the cruise ship out of the way before it violently slams into the side of the oil tanker. After sailing away from the oil tanker, the passengers and crew believe they've averted disaster. But this proves false when it is revealed the Seabourn Legend is now heading straight into the coastal town on St. Maarten. After it rams down sailboats and nearly kills innocent sailers in the harbor, the cruise ship crashes right into town and plows directly into the populated area. The ship finally comes to a stop, and Alex races to find Annie.
With the help of Maurice (Glenn Plummer) and his girlfriend, Alex pursues Annie and Geiger on the water. Geiger and Annie are now on a seaplane speeding to takeoff. Alex manages to reel himself in, on the plane, with a high-advanced fishing rod. He punches out Geiger and rescues Annie. They land on the water off of one of the seaplane's landing skis and speed near the oil tanker. Geiger takes control of the plane again, but whinds up crashing the plane into the oil tanker. Tuneman and his girlfriend rescue Alex and Annie just before the oil tanker explodes, killing Geiger. The four of them return to the shore, and Alex proposes to Annie, holding the engagement ring. Annie happily accepts his proposal and the two kiss before the boat docks in the harbour, adjacent to the heavily wrecked cruise ship. A week later, Annie is doing her driving test again with Mr. Kentor. Before they set off, they avoid a collision with a citybus (same one as in Speed), and Annie says the words: "Sorry Mr. Kentor, but that bus was just going way too fast."
Production details
Casting
Sandra Bullock agreed to star in the movie in order to get financial backing for a pet project, Hope Floats (1998), a low-budget drama. Jason Patric also used his $8 million fee to help finance Your Friends & Neighbors. Patric took over the role of hero cop from Keanu Reeves, who chose not to appear in the movie due to his dissatisfaction with the script. Gary Oldman turned down the role of the villain, and instead chose to star as another villain in Air Force One.
Two other characters from Speed reprised their roles in the film: Joe Morton, who was uncredited as Lt. Herb "Mac" McMahon, and Glenn Plummer, who played Maurice (only credited as "Jaguar owner" in the first film). Maurice's boat name is "Tuneman," the same title on Glenn Plummer's licence plate in the original film. Susan Barnes, who played a frightened woman on the elevator in Speed, appears in this film as the character Constance.
Comedian Tim Conway makes a cameo in the beginning and the end of the movie as Annie's driving instructor. The band UB40 and Brazilian musician Carlinhos Brown also appear, performing at the cruise banquet hall.
The ship
A total of three different ships were used in this film, and all other shots of the ship were CGI effects. Seabourn Legend, a Seabourn Cruise Line ship, was used for most exterior shots of the ship, while the Sturgeon Atlantic, a freighter built with a false hull and bridge, was used for shots of the bridge and the scene where the ship crashes into boats through the marina. A false hull built on an underwater rail was also used for the island crash finale scene.
The movie is known for numerous technical inconsistencies with the reality of how ships operate:
- Bow thrusters are depicted in the movie to turn the ship's direction radically at high speeds. However, in reality, they only can be operated at very slow speeds, otherwise they will have no effect on direction.
- Ships also do not have ballast rooms. They have ballast tanks which are only accessible through small hatch at the bottom of the ship. Also, filling/emptying a ballast tank is done with a pump and a pipe, not by opening/closing gigantic doors in the hull.
- A ship running aground will not continue moving across land for hundreds of yards. It will stop almost immediately.
- The ship takes about three minutes to decelerate across those few hundred yards. In reality, this produces acceleration so tiny as to be undetectable. In the movie, people are thrown horizontally through windows.
- Ships have emergency fuel shutoff devices that can be operated manually.
- Fire doors can be opened/closed by hand, and therefore will not trap people behind them.
The finale boat crash scene in the film cost more than the entire budget of Speed.
In addition, the 7 short, 1 long blast of the ship's horn is referred to as a "General Alarm", which is incorrect terminology. This signal is properly called the Assemble at Muster Stations or Abandon Ship code, and it instructs passengers to proceed to their muster stations for attendance and possible loading into the lifeboats. Also, the lifeboats would only be launched at the continuous sounding of all alarm signals on the ship.
On Carnival Cruise Ships (which incorporate Princess Cruise Lines, Holland America, Costa, Cunard and Yachts of Seabourn) the 7 short and 1 long alarm is called the General Emergency System (G.E.S.) the Abandon Ship command is verbal from the Captain.
Other details
The oil tanker bears the name Eindhoven Lion, named after Eindhoven, Netherlands, the hometown of director de Bont.
At the end when Annie is taking her driving test again, when she goes to pull out of the carpool, she nearly gets hit by a bus. The bus is number 2526, while the original bus used for Speed was number 2525, although this exploded. She apologizes to her driving instructor, saying "Sorry Mr. Kenter, but that bus was goin' way too fast!"
The island, in which the boat crashes into is the northern half of the island of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten. It is one of the few islands to be separated in half by two countries. Sint Maarten is the Dutch side of the island, belonging to the Netherlands Antilles (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands); the French side, Saint Martin, belongs to the country of France.
The WB sitcom Unhappily Ever After made numerous jokes about how terrible the movie was, in its latter seasons.
On The Simpsons episode "Bye Bye Nerdy", Marge engages in a high-speed chase with Otto the school bus driver, prompting Milhouse to ironically note "It's like Speed 2, only with a bus instead of a boat!".
Reception
The film was generally regarded as a critical disaster and received mostly negative reviews. However, according to the video release cover, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave it "Two Thumbs Up," while Sky Magazine said that it was "Brilliant in all the ways that a disaster movie should be". Despite the poor reviews most critics did award some praise for the film's ending. In the years since, Roger Ebert has noted in reviews that he liked Speed 2: Cruise Control more than Sandra Bullock actually did.[1][2][3]
Currently the film has a 2% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 28 reviews.[4] Speed 2: Cruise Control was also nominated for 8 Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Actress, Worst Director and Worst Picture. It "won" the award for Worst Remake or Sequel.[5]
Although the movie is considered to be a flop in U.S., as it only made $48 million, it made USD $164,508,066 worldwide.[6]
The film was parodied in the Irish sitcom Father Ted. An episode was created called "Speed 3", where a bomb is planted on a milk float, which will explode if the float travels under 4mph. "Speed 3" was written after the show's writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews asked themselves: "How can we make a worse sequel than Speed 2: Cruise Control?"[7]
See also
References
External links
