Speed 2: Cruise Control

This article is about the film. For the soundtrack, see Speed 2: Cruise Control (soundtrack).
"Speed 2" redirects here. For the TV network, see Speed (TV network).

Speed 2: Cruise Control
The faces of Jason Patric and Sandra Bullock and shown among streaks of diagonal lines in blue and orange. The top reads "From the director of 'Speed' and 'Twister'" and right side reads "Rush Hour Hits the Water". The bottom features Sandra Bullock's and Jason Patric's names, followed by "Speed 2" and "Cruise Control" in red text, with film credits underneath.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJan de Bont
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Jan de Bont
  • Randall McCormick
Based onCharacters created
by Graham Yost
Produced by
  • Jan de Bont
  • Steve Perry
  • Michael Peyser
Starring
CinematographyJack N. Green
Edited byAlan Cody
Music byMark Mancina
Production
company
Blue Tulip Productions[1]
Distributed by20th Century Fox[1]
Release date
  • June 13, 1997 (1997-06-13)
Running time
126 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$110–160 million[2]
Box office$164.5 million[3]

Speed 2: Cruise Control is a 1997 American action thriller film produced and directed by Jan de Bont, and written by Randall McCormick and Jeff Nathanson. The sequel to Speed (1994), it tells the story of Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock, reprising her role from the original) and Alex Shaw (Jason Patric), a couple who go on vacation to the Caribbean aboard a luxury cruise ship, which is hijacked by a villain named John Geiger (Willem Dafoe). While trapped aboard the ship, Annie and Alex work with the ship's first officer to try to stop it after they discover it is programmed to crash into an oil tanker.

De Bont had the idea for the film after having a recurring nightmare about a cruise ship crashing into an island. Speed star Keanu Reeves was initially supposed to reprise his role as Jack Traven for the sequel, but decided not to commit and was replaced by Patric before filming. The writers had to rework the script to accommodate the addition of a new character. Production took place aboard Seabourn Legend, the ship on which the film is set. The final scene, in which the ship crashes into the island of Saint Martin, cost almost a quarter of the budget, and set records as the largest and most expensive stunt ever filmed. Many interior scenes aboard the ship were shot on soundstages in the Greater Los Angeles Area. The soundtrack featured mostly reggae music. Mark Mancina returned to compose the film score, released as an album 13 years after the film's release.

Released by 20th Century Fox on June 13, 1997, the film received largely negative reviews from critics, who criticized the acting, story, characters, absence of Reeves, and its setting on a slow-moving cruise ship, citing it as less thrilling than that of Speed on a fast-moving bus. Eminent critic Roger Ebert defended the film, calling it a "truly rousing ocean liner adventure story". The film was also a box-office bomb, earning $164.5 million worldwide against a production budget as high as $160 million. It was nominated for eight Golden Raspberry Awards, winning the Worst Remake or Sequel category.

  1. ^ a b c "Speed 2: Cruise Control". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Archived from the original on October 20, 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference waterwhirl was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference BO was invoked but never defined (see the help page).