BEFORE: Another film that was recently added, once I knew I'd be dealing with special agents and terrorists and such. Considering the film's bad reputation, I was willing to screen this much later, but once I shuffled the list a bit, I needed the linking - Liam Neeson from "The A-Team" was also in a film called "Gun Shy" with Sandra Bullock (last seen in "Forces of Nature"). But is this film as bad as people seem to think? Hey, it's probably better than "Gun Shy".
THE PLOT: A computer hacker breaks into the computer system of a cruise liner and sets it speeding on a collision course into a gigantic oil tanker.
AFTER: Well, it's no "Speed". For that matter, it's no "A-Team" either. Perhaps it more closely resembles "Die Hard" (though the lead is no Bruce Willis) but set on a doomed boat, like "Poseidon Adventure". The plight of the few passengers who weren't able to exacuate, forced to work together, reminded me of that classic disaster film, also set on a cruise ship.
I've been on two cruises, and hopefully this film doesn't deter me from taking a third someday. The film does get some things right about cruises, like the wonders (?) of meeting other passengers at dinner, they annoyances of overly zealous photographers, and the mildly horrible entertainment (though this cruise features 80's band UB40, I suppose that's a step up). But mostly a cruise is a chance to explore (eat) and relax (eat) and spend time with someone you love (while eating). Seriously, though, I did enjoy myself on both trips, and only a minimal amount of time was spent wondering what I'd do if the ship started sinking in shark-infested waters.
Here a disgruntled ex-employee of the cruise line with an axe to grind takes over the ship, and since he designed all of their computer systems, he knows everything about how to use them to take control and make all of the passengers and crew head for the lifeboats. Again, the chances of this happening on your cruise are very remote - the ship is much more likely to run aground due to a piloting error, like what happened on that Italian cruise earlier this year.
Of course, only one man has the drive, the abilities, and the technical know-how to go up against this mad genius - plus he's fighting to save his girlfriend, who seems to keep falling for these gung-ho cops/adrenaline junkies despite her previously failed relationships with them. No, things didn't work out with the cop played by Keanu Reeves who saved her in the first film - I don't suppose they would have, unless Keanu had been willing to star in the sequel.
I didn't find this to be the worst film of all time (that would be "Radioland Murders"), or the worst action/disaster film (that would be "The Concorde: Airport '79"), or even the worst Sandra Bullock film (that would be "Premonition"). It's servicable, which sometimes is the best you can settle for.
I don't even have any nitpick points tonight, though the list of goofs on the IMDB suggest that the screenwriter knew close to nothing about how a cruise ship works.
Also starring Jason Patric (last seen in "Sleepers"), Willem Dafoe (last seen in "The English Patient"), Temuera Morrison (the future Jango Fett, last seen in "Green Lantern"), with cameos from Colleen Camp, Kimmy Robertson, Tim Conway.
RATING: 4 out of 10 lifeboats
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