Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)

Keanu Reeves presumably had better things to do than star in this really far-fetched sequel. Sandra Bullock, however, reprises her role as "Annie", this time dating hunky cop "Alex" (Jason Patric). She isn't best pleased when she discovers his career is only marginally less dangerous than her ex (Reeves), so he decides to placate her by going on a luxury cruise. Unfortunately, it's the self same cruise that the belligerent "Geiger" (Willem Dafoe) has decided to wreck as he has quite some grudge with the shipping company. With relative ease, he manages to hijack the controls of the liner and set it on a collision course with a fully laden oil tanker. Can "Alex" and "Annie" thwart this dastardly plan? The story is just preposterous, and the acting talents of Patric would comfortably fit in an already full ashtray. Dafoe offers a reasonable degree of mania with his performance, but Bullock - except for quite a fun scene taking her driving test - takes very much a back seat during most of this rather fanciful yarn. The ending is actually quite exciting for a few moments but ends in a fashion that seems to elicit joy from a solution that I found quite hard to celebrate. Entirely forgettable from start to finish, this, I'm afraid.