Speed 2: Cruise Control Reviews

Poor Annie (Sandra Bullock), the plucky lass who got stuck on that bus with the bomb rigged to the speedometer! She's broken up with the wild man who saved her -- enough of these compulsive thrill-seekers! -- and nice, quiet new squeeze Alex (Jason Patric) turns out to be another daredevil cop. And there's worse to come: He's bought them tickets for a relaxing sea cruise to the Caribbean, but surprise, surprise -- there's a mad bomber on board. SPEED was a surprise hit. This is not a surprising sequel, popped out of the same-only-different mold. The bomb-planting maniac is toothy Willem Dafoe instead of Dennis Hopper, his lethal grudge is against a manufacturer of electronic systems for cruise ships rather than the LAPD, he-man Jason Patric has some hair on his chest where Keanu Reeves was waxed to lacquered, boy-toy perfection... but the bottom line is Sandra Bullock, a mad bomber and a ticking clock. Bullock works the spunky thing, even in some extremely mean-spirited scenes in which Dafoe seems to be channeling Bobby Peru, the sleazy, rotting-from-within psycho-rapist he plays in WILD AT HEART, but the movie by which she's surrounded is curiously listless -- dispiriting, even. Randall McCormick and Jeff Nathanson's script has a disheartening let's get on with it air, and the film feels like marathon training: Got through explosion in the engine room -- check. Saved soaking wet passengers in malfunctioning lifeboat -- check. Rescued little deaf girl who got stuck in the elevator shaft: check. Swam under the ship to jam engine blades and through flooded ballast rooms to operate manual rudder controls -- check. By the time you get to rescue Annie from the madman one last time, it's time to check out.