- Director: Jan de Bont (Speed, Twister, The Haunting)
- Writers: Randall McCormick (Titan A.E.), Jan de Bont
- Runtime: 121 minutes
- Release Year: 1997
- Genre: Action / Thriller
- Age Rating: PG-13
- For Fans Of: Fast & Furious, Any film where Jason Statham playing the lead
- Currently Streaming On: Disney+
- IMDb rating: 4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 4%
- WYALAN Rating: 4/5
Cast
- Sandra Bullock as Annie Porter – (Speed, Miss Congeniality, The Blind Side, Gravity)
- Jason Patric as Alex Shaw – (The Lost Boys, Sleepers, Narc)
- Willem Dafoe as John Geiger – (Spider-Man, Platoon, The Lighthouse)
- Temuera Morrison as Juliano – (Once Were Warriors, Star Wars (as Jango Fett and clones), The Mandalorian)
Non Spoiler Synopsis
A young couple attempts to enjoy a relaxing Caribbean cruise, but a passenger has different plans
Full Synopsis
Speed 2: Cruise Control is a 1997 action-thriller film directed by Jan de Bont, serving as the sequel to the 1994 blockbuster Speed. The movie stars Sandra Bullock, reprising her role as Annie Porter, alongside Jason Patric as Alex Shaw, a SWAT officer and Annie’s new boyfriend. Willem Dafoe plays the antagonist, John Geiger, a disgruntled computer expert with a vendetta.
The story begins with Annie and Alex embarking on a romantic Caribbean cruise aboard the luxury liner Seabourn Legend. Unbeknownst to the passengers, Geiger, who once worked on the ship’s automation systems, has devised a plan to hijack the vessel. Motivated by revenge against the cruise line that fired him and left him suffering from copper poisoning due to his work, Geiger takes control of the ship’s systems. His ultimate goal is to crash the ship into an oil tanker, causing catastrophic destruction.
As chaos unfolds, Alex and Annie must step up to thwart Geiger’s plans. Alex, with his SWAT training, attempts to regain control of the ship while Annie aids in evacuating passengers, including a deaf girl named Drew. The tension escalates as the ship hurtles toward disaster, culminating in a dramatic sequence where Alex uses the ship’s bow thrusters to narrowly avoid a collision with the oil tanker. However, the ship crashes into a marina, causing widespread destruction in a small island town.
The film’s climax sees Geiger kidnapping Annie and escaping on a seaplane. Alex pursues them, ultimately rescuing Annie and forcing Geiger’s plane to crash into the oil tanker, which explodes. The movie concludes with Alex proposing to Annie, symbolizing their commitment to each other amidst the chaos.
Speed 2: Cruise Control Trailer
Why You Should Watch
- If you like over the top 90’s action thrillers
- It set records as both the largest and the most expensive stunt ever filmed (you’ll know which one when you watch)
- Wilem Dafoe plays a camp, deranged baddie. He just has the perfect face for a baddie (this was before his part as Green Goblin in Spiderman)
- It contains several intense ‘nearly’ moments and stunts that I don’t think the critics gave enough credit
- Despite being nominated for Worst Screen Couple at the Razzie’s, I think the love story is believable and adds jeopardy to the plot
Tim’s Take
All this time I have avoided watching Speed 2: Cruise Control, due to it having a bad reputation (it has a 4% score on Rotten Tomatoes, ouch). But I’ve been watching more ‘bad films’ recently like The Beekeeper and The Meg 1 and 2 (I don’t mean to pick on Jason Statham, but these came immediately to mind) and enjoyed them for what they are – unrealistic but impressive fight scenes and snarky one-liners. Sure, these types of films won’t win Oscar nominations any time soon. But sometimes you just need a movie that’s easy to watch (I’m looking at you, Samurai Cop).
Of course, it’s not anywhere near as ‘good’ as Speed 1, but if you change your expectations Speed 2 is worth 121 minutes of your time and is actually worth watching in 2025. I’m going as far to say that I enjoyed it and would watch again at some point.
WYALAN Rating: 4/5 stars
My Favourite Facts About Speed 2: Cruise Control
- Although he felt the film was a “one-time story” with no sequel potential, Speed director Jan de Bont was contractually obligated to direct a sequel
- Hundreds of ideas for a sequel were submitted to De Bont, all of which he turned down in favor of his own idea, based on a recurring nightmare he experienced about a cruise ship crashing into an island.
- Bullock initially declined to star in the sequel, but later agreed in order to secure financial backing for the drama film Hope Floats (1998)
- Reeves was offered $12 million to reprise his role as Jack Traven, but turned it down because he did not like the script, was financially secure from the success of Speed, and felt he was not “ready to mentally and physically” star in another action film after having completed Chain Reaction (1996)
- Many actors were considered to replace Reeves including: Simon Baker, Jon Bon Jovi, Patrick Muldoon, Johnathon Schaech, Christian Slater, and Billy Zane. Bullock initially suggested Matthew McConaughey, who passed on the role
- Gary Oldman turned down the role of the villain, Geiger, to star as another villain in Air Force One (1997)
- For the climactic scene when the ship crashes into an island, De Bont wanted to create and destroy an actual town. He opted against miniature scale models or computer-generated imagery (CGI) to provide a sense of realism for the actors and the audience. A $5 million, 35-building set was constructed in Marigot, Saint Martin. A hurricane struck the town and destroyed the set during construction. It had to be rebuilt with hurricane-proof buildings.
- The five-minute end scene cost $25 million to produce, roughly one quarter of the film’s entire budget, and set records as both the largest and the most expensive stunt ever filmed.
- Instead of using stunt doubles, De Bont persuaded Bullock, Patric, and Dafoe to perform their own stunts, so the scenes would appear more realistic. Stunt coordinator Dick Ziker was very impressed with Patric’s stuntwork, and said that he “is so physical he probably could be one of the top stunt men in the world.” During a motorcycle stunt on a Ducati 916 on the second day of filming, Patric flew off the bike 30 feet (9m) into the air and landed on a small bush; Bullock said the incident was so serious that Patric “should be dead.” After surviving a traumatic surfing incident as a teenager, Bullock had to overcome her fear of water to perform necessary stuntwork in the film. During production at sea, Bullock was smacked into the ship on multiple occasions, and was saved by Patric from dangerous situation by the ship’s rudder in one scene. Following the production at sea, De Bont said that filming on water “was 100 percent more difficult than [he] imagined.”
- It tops many publications’ list for worst film sequels of all time.
- The film received eight Razzie Award nominations out of 12 possible categories at the 18th Golden Raspberry Awards. Still, this was the second-highest number of nominations that year which went to Batman & Robin (1997) – 11 nominations.
- Worst Remake or Sequel – Speed 2: Cruise Control – Won
- Worst Picture – Jan de Bont, Steve Perry, Michael Peyser – Nominated
- Worst Actress Sandra Bullock – Nominated
- Worst Supporting Actor – Willem Dafoe – Nominated
- Worst Screen Couple – Sandra Bullock, Jason Patric – Nominated
- Worst Director – Jan de Bont – Nominated
- Worst Screenplay – Randall McCormick, Jeff Nathanson, Jan de Bont – Nominated
- Worst Song – “My Dream” (written by Orville Burrell, Robert Livingston, Dennis Haliburton) – Nominated
Speed 2 criticisms
When Speed 2: Cruise Control was released in June 1997, it should have been an easy win. The original Speed (1994) had been a critical and commercial success, earning over $350 million at the global box office and revitalising the action genre. With Sandra Bullock returning, a bigger budget, and director Jan de Bont back at the helm, the sequel seemed like a sure thing. Instead, it became one of the most notorious flops of the ’90s—widely mocked, critically panned, and remembered more for what it got wrong than anything it did right. Here’s a breakdown of why Speed 2 crashed and burned so spectacularly.
A Box Office Misfire
Despite its franchise pedigree and summer release date, Speed 2 failed to turn a profit. It had a reported budget between $110 and $160 million, yet it only earned $164.5 million worldwide—a razor-thin margin that didn’t cover marketing costs. In the US, it was especially weak, grossing just $48 million, compared to the original’s $121 million domestic haul.
For a blockbuster sequel with major studio backing, this was a major underperformance. It was quickly labelled a financial disappointment and added to lists of high-budget Hollywood misfires.
Critical Punching Bag
Critics tore the film apart upon release. On Rotten Tomatoes, it sits at 4%, with reviewers calling it “slow, silly, and pointless.” On Metacritic, it fares no better, with a score of 23/100, indicating “generally unfavourable reviews.” Even audiences weren’t impressed, giving it a CinemaScore of B–, far lower than the first film’s enthusiastic reception.
Speed 2 also earned eight Razzie nominations, including Worst Picture, Worst Actress (Sandra Bullock), Worst Actor (Jason Patric), and Worst Screen Couple. It won the award for Worst Remake or Sequel.
A Sluggish Setup
Perhaps the film’s most ridiculed decision was its premise. While Speed kept audiences on edge with a bomb-laden bus that couldn’t drop below 50mph, Speed 2 features a hijacked cruise ship that slowly drifts toward disaster. The ship’s top speed? Around 20mph. As one critic joked, “There’s more tension in a traffic jam.”
The central concept—replacing a high-speed, landlocked thriller with a plodding nautical cruise—sapped all urgency from the story. Even the climax, which involves the ship crashing into a port town, unfolds at a painfully slow pace.
Missing Its Leading Man
A huge part of Speed’s success was Keanu Reeves, whose stoic but likeable cop grounded the chaos. Reeves declined to return for the sequel, citing issues with the script. In his place, the studio cast Jason Patric as Bullock’s new love interest and action lead. Unfortunately, Patric lacked Reeves’ charisma and chemistry with Bullock, and his performance was widely criticised as flat and forgettable.
Critics noted that the romantic dynamic felt forced, and audiences never fully accepted the new pairing.
Over-the-Top Villainy
Speed 2’s villain, John Geiger, played by Willem Dafoe, is a disgruntled computer programmer who infects the ship’s systems with a virus. He spends much of the film grinning madly, muttering to himself, and tending to leeches for a copper poisoning condition. While Dafoe’s commitment is undeniable, the character came off as cartoonish and implausible.
What was intended as a sinister tech-based threat quickly became unintentionally comedic, especially when paired with clunky dialogue and exaggerated theatrics.
Poorly Written and Tonally Inconsistent
The script, co-written by de Bont, is full of awkward exposition, unfunny jokes, and oddly placed romantic banter. Sandra Bullock’s character, Annie, who had been resourceful and witty in the original, is reduced to a one-note passenger constantly reacting to chaos.
The tone wavers uncomfortably between disaster thriller, romantic comedy, and slapstick. Attempts at humour—such as a deaf girl stuck in an elevator or passengers sipping cocktails while the ship floods—undermine the supposed tension.
A Bloated Production
Behind the scenes, Speed 2 was a logistical nightmare. It was filmed on location in the Caribbean, involved the use of real ships, and required large-scale practical effects—including crashing a full-sized cruise liner into a constructed port town. While the ambition is admirable, it inflated the budget significantly and delayed production.
The final product, though technically impressive in some sequences, felt indulgent rather than thrilling. Audiences weren’t wowed by spectacle alone—especially when the story and characters didn’t land.
A Sequel Nobody Asked For
Ultimately, Speed 2 suffered from being a sequel that didn’t need to exist. The original film wrapped up neatly, and there was no natural continuation. Instead of building on what made Speed work—tight pacing, clever action, and grounded performances—the sequel tried to go bigger, louder, and flashier, but ended up bloated and absurd.
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