Speed 2
20th Century Fox
2.35:1(NON ANAMORPHIC)/Dolby Digital 5.1
Also:English Dolby Digital 2.0, French Dolby Digital 2.0
121 Minutes
Rated:R
Region:1
Dual Layer:Yes
Subtitles:English, Spanish
Reviewed on a Panasonic A110
The Film:
A horrific production that many aren't likely to forget, "Speed 2" was the other major water-based film that Fox had in production at the same time as James Cameron's "Titanic". Obviously, this film wasn't quite as successful commerically or critically,
with none of the energy or wit that the original "Speed" had.
Keanu Reeves left this production and was replaced by Jason Patric, yet another cop to be paired up with Annie(Sandra Bullock), the heroine from the first "Speed" picture. Now that Reeves's Jack Traven character is suddenly nowhere to be found, Annie
has begun a relationship with Alex, and what's a better romantic trip, decides Alex, than a cruise. Of course, the two find themselves in the midst of a whole lot of trouble when a lunatic hijacks the boat. This enemy is played by Willem Dafoe, as
probably the worst performance by a villian in recent cinema, with no charm or spark at all to liven up the plot or give the "good guys" a good "bad guy" to fight against. His plot is to take the ship that he's helped to build and send it crashing.
Director Jan De Bont's previous film, "Twister" had some fun performances by Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt and its share of computer generated joy in the form of the tornadoes of various strengths that came at the audiences. "Speed 2" lacks the performances;
Bullock, who's normally a winning and sweet actress, seems unhappy in the part and the "Annie" character here is simply whiny instead of the resourceful, fully realized character she was in the first "Speed" picture. Jason Patric isn't meant for the
action business; he's certainly fit for the role, but there's no charisma in his performance: he doesn't have the charm of a Mel Gibson or the, well, whatever Keanu Reeves has that made him popular in films like the first "Speed" picture. Not just that, the
surrounding characters seem quite annoying this time around as well as the ships passengers are a bunch of fairly silly one-dimensional characters with lines that fail time and time again to interest or entertain.
Occasionally, "Speed 2" has a decent spark, but nothing ever fully ignites as this film has a problem with pacing where the film feels as if it is sort of stopping and starting, due to a dull script full of action one-liners that seems to cut the film
short whenever it tries to start up a decent run of a few nicely crafted scenes together. This is one of those rare films where no matter how much is exploded in front of your eyes, you just simply sit there because the script has given you no reason
to be attached to any of these characters or what's going on; even the film's very huge and very expensive final big sequence lacks the kind of visual snap that would make it successful: it just seems excessive and by this late in the film it just
seems repetitive and dulling.
Reportedly, ideas for a 3rd in this series are being tossed about. Might I suggest a plane? It certainly sounds like more fun than a gigantic cruise ship. "Speed 2", although it has a few fairly exciting action sequences, lacks energetic performances
and a solid villian. And most importantly, next time, don't forget about the script.
Enough about the film, let's get to the DVD:
Picture Quality: I was actually very pleased with the quality of the 2.35:1 image on this disc, spread across two layers of a dual layer disc. Images, especially during the day on the boat deck, are actually quite stunning, with crisp, razor sharp
images. Colors are consistently vibrant; check out the reds of the life jackets on the passengers or the pink and red hues of the buildings on the island. These images are wonderfully rich and breathtaking on this disc. The beautiful blue sky is also very nicely rendered. It's only during some of the darker scenes
in the middle of the movie in the depths of the boat that occasionally I saw a little spot of grain or some slight compression artifacts; still, these scenes are clear and colorful; shadow detail is very nice throughout. Skin tones, especially during
the daylight scenes, are very well rendered and realistic. Contrast and color saturation are really well done; as I said previously, some of the daylight scenes, especially towards the end of the film, are really quite stunning. This is obviously taken from
crisp and clear source material, and overall, this is a really pleasing presentation that helps the viewer keep interested in what's not exactly the greatest film of all time. I spotted very few problems with the image on this disc, but...you know
what I'm going to say next, right? I thought so. This disc, like all other recent Fox discs, should have been anamorphically enhanced; it would have benefited the transfer overall, although what's here is very, very nice. Black level in the image
is definitive and very pleasing. Image detail on this disc is quite good as well in what is, overall, not exactly a perfect disc, but one that's more than satisfying. With the exception of a few dark scenes, I didn't spot any problems of note with
this disc. I did not notice any problems with shimmering, which is something that I've been seeing on a few discs lately. Again, I must say I was pleasantly suprised with the quality of this DVD.
Audio Quality: Again, really excellent presentation as the soundtrack is wonderfully crisp and razor sharp, bringing to life a wonderfully enveloping sound that brings the viewer straight into the action. Mark Mancina's funk and reggae score is
delivered with fullness and detail for an impressively entertaining sound experience with some wonderful bass-filled tunes that excite the senses. There's also some fantastic action sequences in this film; the explosion/action scenes rip through
the room with impressive force such as the scene where an anchor from another ship tears through the side of the cruise ship Annie and Alex are traveling on. Ambient sounds are picked up very nicely for what is overall a really entertaining
experience. The movie itself isn't very good, but sounds like the deep, full bass rumble of the boat tearing through the water, the propellers of the boat coming to life or the boat shifting heavily from side to side is very impressive. This is a disc with some very, very nice powerful sound.
Extras: Just the decent trailer(and it's not letterboxed! Not cool!).
Menus: Not animated, but fairly nice looking and easy to navigate.
Grades:
Video Quality:A-
Audio Quality:A-
Menus:D+
Extras:D+
The Movie:D+
Overall:B-
Overall Notes: It's definitely not a good movie, but if you're looking for a nicely done disc to rent and maybe watch once or twice, I was very pleased with both the audio(although it should have been anamorphically enhanced) and the video; I would have
liked to have seen some extras, but I doubt anyone participating in this movie would have been willing to contribute a commentary.
