‘Speed 2’: Sandra Bullock’s feature-length embarrasment that Roger Ebert loved
Whether it’s down to chasing money and fame or simply bad acting, not every role an A-list movie star takes is going to make them proud. Some are lucky that it’s just the one or two that they’re ashamed of. For Sandra Bullock, there is one movie that still manages to haunt her nearly three decades on. And it’s not surprising when said movie remains one of the lowest-rated films of her entire career. That movie is, of course, Speed 2: Cruise Control.
Following the instant success of the original film Speed, which earned an estimated $350million at the box office, the sequel was officially announced only a week after its opening. However, it didn’t go quite as they imagined, with Speed 2 still considered one of the biggest box office flops and frequently listed as the worst sequel in cinema history. Making only $4million against its $60million budget, it’s no surprise that Bullock remains a little embarrassed by her decision to stay on.
A frequent face in 1980s and 1990s rom-coms and action movies, Bullock was asked by TooFab if there were any embarrassing roles she’d come around, to which she replied, “I have one no one came around to and I’m still embarrassed I was in,” which was, of course, Speed 2. Elaborating further, she explained her frustrations with the plot, “I’ve been very vocal about it. Makes no sense. Slow boat. Slowly going towards an island.”
This turn in opinion over the film must sting ever the more when Bullock considers why her beloved co-star Keanu Reeves turned down the second film. For him, the script was so bad it didn’t even warrant consideration of the $12million they had offered him. Compared to the first film, where Reeves and Bullock attempt to save a bus full of people from exploding if they drop below 50mph, Speed 2 follows a relatively slow cruise ship as a terrorist threatens to blow it up and crash it.
However, luckily for Bullock, it isn’t all bad when it comes to the film. While many critics panned it, the was one shining light at the end of the tunnel: Roger Ebert. Despite his credentials as one of the biggest film critics of all time, Ebert gave the sequel a glowing review of three out of four stars. He called it a truly rousing ocean liner adventure story and cited some of its obvious use of action tropes as one of the most entertaining parts of the film, including “An explosive device with a red digital read-out that nobody will ever be able to see” and “A villain who travels with jars of leeches, to suck the copper poisoning from his blood.”
Ebert also praised its special and practical effects, most notably the crash sequence, which was at the time the most expensive effects in film. Not to mention the sheer entertainment factor of the films. As he puts it eloquently, “movies like this embrace goofiness with an almost sensual pleasure. And so, on a warm summer evening, do I.”
Approaching the film more as a comedy and entertainment over a serious action drama, Ebert was much happier than most other viewers and Bullock herself. In fact, his one major criticism was of the sequel’s underutilisation of the actor’s characters. After Reeves left, she was sidelined with most action sequences being given to her male co-star. In his own words, “the screenplay gives her a secondary role and hands most of the best scenes to Patric, who handles them like a traditional action hero.”
