The whole set up never really feels immediate or threatening, even when the boat swings out of control it is difficult to feel terrified as the boat slooooowly goes towards the tanker, worst come to worst people can jump off to safety. Likewise the supposed big climax is unengaging and smacks of desperation - bang for buck and all that. To demonstrate this, I never once gave a rats' ass what was happening - people got crushed by the boat and mangled in it's propellers (unseen) but the film (or me) never care and never lingers. The plot is plain silly and never gets close to being involving. That the film is constantly harking back to a much better film is a big problem, it would almost have been smarter just to move totally away than to retread. This caused Annie to repeatedly state that `relationships built on etc etc never work out', all in an effort to explain it away and help the audience move on.

The smell of desperation is in the air from the very start when Reeves declined to star, although Bullock was more desperate and did it. As if Twister hadn't done it already, Speed 2 basically showed us that the potential that was shown by De Bont's debut was clearly misplaced and he has yet to show he was really anything other than in the right place at the right time when it came to Speed.

Alex has to take him on and try to stop the ship as it `races' out of control. When onboard a disgruntled ex-employee of the liner disables the computer controls and sets it on a collision course while he escapes with his goods. Having long since broken things off with her boyfriend, Annie and her new beau plan a romantic holiday on an ocean liner.

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