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. It is the sequel to Speed (1994) and stars Jason Patric, Willem Dafoe, and Sandra Bullock (who reprises her role from the original). Cruise Control tells the story of Annie (Bullock) and Alex (Patric), a couple who go on vacation to the Caribbean aboard a luxury cruise ship, which is hijacked by a villain named Geiger (Dafoe). As they are 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 he had 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. 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. The film was released by 20th Century Fox on June 13, 1997, to negative reviews. The acting, story, and characters attracted the most criticism, as well as 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, though, prominently stood in defense of the film, calling it a "truly rousing ocean liner adventure story" only weakened by Bullock's acting. The film was also a box-office bomb, earning $164 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.

• published: 29 Nov 2020
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