Speed 2: Cruise Control . Tucson Weekly . 06-19-97

Speed 2: Cruise Control

DIRECTED BY: Jan de Bont

REVIEWED: 06-19-97

Almost unwatchable due to the excessive use of close-ups, shaky hand-held shots and meaningless strobe lights, this is perhaps the worst film so far this year. Its only competition is Lost World, and both films follow the same formula: 20 minutes of setting up nothing followed by an hour and a half of running, screaming and explosions. Speed 2 does feature the first villain to be driven to criminal insanity by the lack of insurance regulation, and perhaps the first to express his villainy by sticking leeches to his chest. After the bad guy (Willem Dafoe, naturally) gives his requisite "this is why I'm doing this speech," there isn't much else in the way of plot, so he repeats the speech every 25 minutes, just in case we've forgotten. Then again, there's no time for plot or character development when you've only got two hours of movie and a virtually unlimited special effects budget. Basically, this is The Poseidon Adventure, if that film were incredibly boring and stupid. On the whole, Speed 2 is probably the best case I've ever seen for strict, Islamic-style censorship of cinema (i.e., no plots derived from sex or violence allowed).

--James DiGiovanna

Full Length Reviews
Speed 2: Cruise Control
Speed 2: Cruise Control
Speed 2: Cruise Control

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