Speed 2 Month – Day 2. We are not on cruise control.

The motto of the day at A Leaf of the Wind is “Eternally Hopeful”. Considering the basis of the plot of our focus this month, one would have to be eternally hopeful. In fact, I would propose that any movie that pushes into the budgetary levels of over 100 million dollars and expects profit is ‘eternally hopeful’.

SPEED was released in 1994 and was made with a budget between 25 and 30 million dollars, depending on your source. By the time it had reached the home video market, it’d made in excess of 121 million at the US box office and more than 350 million worldwide. In other words, a hit for the summer release schedule. No matter your personal thoughts of whether or not the movie was worth the ticket price, regardless of personal opinion of Keanu Reeves’ abilities and even if you feel that the bus jump was completely preposterous, the movie made money, surprising many. So, as most movie studios want that fast buck, a sequel was green lit quite quickly, much to the unending chagrin of cinephiles.

I’ll keep it brief, as we have a WHOLE MONTH to go over the intricacies of totalitarian turpitude that is (arguably) the Worst Movie Ever Made. SPEED 2 was released in June of 1997, with a budget between 110 and 160 million dollars, again, depending on sources. Considering the usual budget for a movie where any of it is in water, I’d tend to believe the higher figure. During its run at the US box office, it gathered up a “meager” 48 million dollars, while totaling out at 164 million worldwide. See Hollywood, sometimes you may put a spit shine on shit and hand it to us, but there is a time when the viewing audience says “Fuck you!” rather vehemently. (Insert observation – I sometimes wish that had happened with Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.) Yes, SPEED 2 was a bomb, a complete, utter dud of monumental levels. Sure, it may have seen a better profit than BATTLEFIELD EARTH or the latest Lone Ranger debacle, but man… this crapfest was screaming “Mystery Science Theatre 3000, I am for YOU!” as it hit the first theatre.

I’m digressing.

It’s obvious that the studios were ‘eternally hopeful’ they would have another hit on their hands, as I’m sure most investors would be. Still, SPEED was no STAR WARS, DIE HARD or even a PHANTASM. This was a fairly one-note idea that would really need to be retooled to make it work. The director, Jan de Bont, spent roughly one third of the budget on a spectacular boat collision effect towards the end of the movie that made the bus jump in the first movie not only that much more plausible, but entertaining and exciting as well. It screamed of, “Plot? What plot? We have crashes and ‘splosions for you rubes!” I’m sure they were also hopeful that Jason Patric (best known for THE LOST BOYS, maybe? No?) would supplant popular Keanu, who chose to do CHAIN REACTION over this mess. Hope didn’t hurt, but it surely didn’t help.

Looking at CHAIN REACTION, a forgettable film, but not a bad story, really, (your opinion may vary, of course) if you can follow it. I like the heavy, applied science fiction of it and the multi-faceted characters that lace the detailed plot. O, I’m sure the science is flawed and the fact people wanted Fred Ward to be doing more TREMORS movies than this kept people away, but when isn’t science fiction flawed in some way? In Star Trek, the Enterprise’s warp drive works by smashing matter and anti-matter together in a matrix controlled by a farcical crystal called dilithium. Yup, crashing two diametrically opposed things together to create power sounds so controllable or feasible. Except when it’s possible. I’d watch the movie again to gain some traction on this flawed approach of comparison, but I don’t want to.

CHAIN REACTION was called a “minor financial hit” (if you’re to believe Wikipedia) even though it grossed only about 60 million worldwide off a 50 million dollar budget. It’s my understanding that a movie needs to double its budget to break even, so I’m not sure how that’s possible. Then again, I’m not working in an industry where a set budget could have you buy a piece of Somalia and become a warlord. Is CHAIN REACTION a lesser movie because it didn’t make as much money as SPEED 2? If we were examining only that movie merit is based off box office receipts, then many of my personal favorites would never even chart. I’m certain that would be the same for anyone that watches and enjoys movies.

Eternally hopeful also doesn’t merit much when it comes to movies. THE IRON GIANT died at the box office and ended careers at Warner Brothers because it was hoped to be the great return of Warner’s animation to the big screen. It remains one of my favorite animated movies of all time. It enjoyed a much larger audience after the fact, like many ‘cult’ movies tend to. BLADE RUNNER follows a similar path, if you can believe it. I don’t think SPEED 2 will ever be considered a ‘cult’ movie, or be eternally hopeful on that front. I’ll find a way to remind you all why.

Coming up, HIGHLANDER 2: THE QUICKENING and why you should never forget it exists.