
DATE: Tuesday, June 17, 1997                TAG: 9706170058

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E7   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC 

                                            LENGTH:   73 lines

SEQUEL TAKES US CRUISIN' FOR A SNOOZIN'

IT WAS BETTER to take the bus.

There is no question that ``Speed 2: Cruise Control'' is action-packed. Every moment or so there's a motorcycle chase, a potential explosion, a near-miss collision, and finally, as chronicled for free on every TV set in the nation, a ship crashing into dry land. The big problem with ``Speed 2'' is that it's not as easy to find something to collide with in the middle of the ocean. The other problem is that this movie is lacking in plausibility; surprisingly, that actually makes a difference.

By playing things so seriously, director Jan De Bont, who graduated from photographer to superdirector with the ``Speed'' hit three years ago, suggests that we're not allowed to just have fun here. We are actually supposed to take seriously the silly plot about a madman computer genius who takes over a totally computerized cruise ship.

We're also supposed to believe that Annie, the character played by the delightfully unaffected Sandra Bullock, is still just as naive and pert as she was before she drove the bus. Of course, no one really believed that the bus could make that crosstown trek in the first movie, but we were sent signals to let us know we didn't have to believe.

The serious route is not the way to go. ``Con Air'' survived its implausibilities because it had a deadpan way of letting us know it was in the know.

``Cruise Control'' is out of control - and cruising for a snoozing.

A major problem is Bullock's character. She has to be cute, likable, and All-American at all times but yet she MUST have become somewhat conditioned to violence after the events of the first film. Bullock's naturalness as an actress works beautifully. We like her. We really like her, but she's, unfortunately, saddled with a role that alternates from ``Gee whiz, I don't know where I am'' to a woman of action.

The absence of Keanu Reeves, the boyish hero of the first film, is hurriedly explained by her line: ``Relationships based on extreme circumstances never work out.'' (Actually Keanu opted to pass because he was tired of action flicks and wanted to tour with his rock band Dogstar, which plays at Strawberry Banks in Hampton on Saturday). Jason Patric, playing yet-another cop who has action thrust upon him, is known primarily for dark, dramatic, uncommercial roles. He shows here that he's fully capable of executing the action scenes, although he sometimes sends the message that he's slumming and would rather be doing ``Hamlet.''

With Las Vegas getting trashed last week (in ``Con Air''), it was St. Martin's turn here. But if a boat hits dry land, doesn't it stop? Well, at least faster than this one, which barrels on and on through the town. In any case, this St. Martin's looks more like a set that was built to fall than a real village.

The silliest scenes are of all those unsuspecting boaters and townsfolk who apparently are either deaf or blind and never see the huge cruise ship approaching. In ``Earthquake'' style, an outmoded silly-disaster genre, they are continually caught on the phone or in other casual postures when the ship comes smashing through.

``Speed 2'' could be something to do while waiting around for the Titanic to sink. On the other hand, you can always rent the bus at the video store. ILLUSTRATION: RON PHILLIPS

Jason Patric as Alex and Temuera Morrison as Juliano are bruised and

battered after narrowly escaping disaster in the action-packed

``Speed 2: Cruise Control.'' Sandra Bullock returns as Annie.

MOVIE REVIEW

``Speed 2: Cruise Control''

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Jason Patric, Willem Dafoe, Lois Chiles, Bo

Svenson, Tim Conway

Director: Jan De Bont

Screenplay: Randall McCormick and Jeff Nathanson

MPAA rating: PG-13 (leeches, tension, little that's offensive)

Mal's rating: **