It’s a rare movie that survives its sequel, or to put it another way, some movies should be one-offs. especially successful ones. I mean, can you imagine Casablanca II? More Unusual Suspects? The Matrix 2? Oh, wait …. Well, a decent movie has quite often been ruined by one, two or more sequels, or in the case of one, a trilogy of prequels (cough!). But Hollywood is Hollywood and worships the Yankee Dollar, as Matt Johnson once wrote, and if there’s money in a sequel then hell, let’s make one.
Speed was a great movie. The idea was new, the acting was pretty superb and the action was more or less nonstop. Set onboard a bus which will explode if its speed drops below a certain rate, it was a big hit. It was not meant to have a sequel, but money talks and so Fox, in their wisdom and seeing dollar signs in their eyes, emulated Captain Jean-Luc Picard and said “Make it so.”
And they did. Though Keanu Reaves had at least the good sense and taste to refuse to reprise his role from the original move, co-star Sandra Bullock wanted the cash so agreed to star. The movie was a mess. Set this time aboard a cruise ship (yeah, you heard that right!) it was doomed from the beginning. The whole idea of
Speed was based around the fact that the bus had to go fast. Cruise ships don’t go fast. That’s why they’re called cruise ships and why in a previous era they were known as pleasure or leisure liners. They attract the kind of people who want to take it easy, get there slowly, go the scenic route and have a lot of fun getting there.
But enough about the movie. It’s already earned enough “reverse awards” to justify the claim that it is one of the worst sequels in cinema history. It does however have one saving grace. Can you guess what it is? You can’t? Seriously? Look at the title of the thread. Yeah that’s right: it has a bitchin’ soundtrack, which is what we will be concentrating on here.
Speed 2: Cruise Control Original Soundtrack - Various Artists - 1997 (Virgin)
With contributions from Shaggy, Jimmy Cliff, Maxi Priest, UB40 and others, it’s got a lot of heavyweights on it, God knows why. Maybe they assumed the sequel would be as successful as its predecessor and hoped for maximum exposure. Maybe they saw the movie and rightly sussed that it would bomb (pun intended) and so would need at least a decent soundtrack to save whatever shred of dignity the writer, producer, director and cast could.
We kick off with UB40 and “Tell Me is it True”. Now I’ve never been a fan of these guys, but given the Caribbean link with cruise ships I suppose it’s inevitable that much of this soundtrack would be based around reggae music and artistes. For what it is, it’s okay; uptempo and quite a bit of fun, though I have always had a problem with a white guy singing reggae. Probably just me, but it’s like a white guy rapping: just doesn’t chime with me. Marshall who?
Shaggy is up next with “My Dream”, but am I going mad or does he sound like Macy Grey there at the opening? Ah yeah, there’s the “Mister Bombtastic” voice I remember! Again it’s a decent enough song, though again as you all know reggae’s not my thing. But if it’s yours then this is going to (sorry sorry!) float your boat.
Tamia I do not know, but apparently she’s Canadian and here she puts in a fine performance on “Make Tonight Beautiful”, the first ballad on the album. Very sensuous voice I must say and the soft percussion is really nice. Not too much digital piano; I hate it when ballads are swamped by digital piano. And this one is not. Swamped by digital piano, that is. Some sentimental acoustic guitar which of course will never be credited, as on these soundtrack albums only the singer gets named, unless it’s an instrumental and a musician is playing it. Effective backing vocals too, one of the better tracks on the album.
Mark Morrison brings us “Crazy” and to my untrained ear sounds like Larry out of Cameo in a mid-paced disco/dance number heavy with bass and ticking percussion. Apparently this is the twelve-inch mix, but given that it only runs for three minutes and forty-two seconds you have to wonder what length the regular mix was? I definitely find the melody very like “Word Up”, but again, what do I know about this genre? Tetsuya Komuro, who goes under the name of TK, is a Japanese composer who was very influential on the pop scene (it says here) and wrote soundtracks for anime and films. However, “Speed TK remix” is exactly the kind of music I hate: uptempo, upbeat trance/rave dance. Urgh. But if you like it then this will be right up your alley. Still, as it goes on I kind of find myself getting into it despite myself. Catchy certainly.
I have absolutely no idea what “A namorada” means, but it’s the title of the next track by Brazilian musician Carlinhos Brown, and as you would expect it’s not in English. With it being the national language of Brazil I can only assume it’s Portugeuse, though it could be Spanish or Mexican, as I wouldn’t know how to differentiate one from the other. Lots of peppy horns and they don’t annoy me; it’s very cheerful and celebratory. Given the eventual fate of the movie, perhaps a premature celebration?
Reggae star Maxi Priest does a passable rendition of Blondie’s “The Tide is High”, which is written in a reggae rhythm anyway, so he hasn’t exactly got to work too hard to interpret it, and it’s followed by another cover, this time of Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move”, rendered by Leah Andreone, whomever she may be.
It’s in fairness a pretty uninspiring version, and Common Sense’s “Never Give Up” is fairly pedestrian too, then the great Jimmy Cliff kicks it up with “You Can Get it if You Really Want”, some fine hornwork and a nice upbeat message in the song. Nice soft organ and kettle drums and it’s bright and breezy, a nice change after two pretty substandard songs. Despite the few cover versions that litter this soundtrack, “Some People” is not the Belouis Some hit, but Shaggy’s mate Rayvon delivering another nice midtempo Marleyesque song which is actually a love song. I must admit I like this a lot. The album then closes on one more cover, the Police’s classic “Every Breath You Take”, interpreted by seventies soul icon Betty Wright, and does she do a smouldering version of it. Great way to close what’s a pretty damn fine soundtrack.
TRACK LISTING
1. Tell Me is it True (UB40)
2. My Dream (Shaggy)
3. Make Tonight Beautiful (Tamia)
4. Crazy (Mark Morrison)
5. Speed TK remix (TK)
6. A namorada (Carlinhos Brown)
7. The Tide is High (Maxi Priest)
8. I Feel the Earth Move (Leah Andreone)
9. Never Give Up (Common Sense)
10. You Can Get it if You Really Want (Jimmy Cliff)
11. Some People (Rayvon)
12. Every Breath You Take (Betty Wright)
As I say, reggae is not my thing but even I found something to enjoy here, so if this is your music then don’t let the fact that the movie was so piss-poor put you off checking out the soundtrack to
Speed 2: Cruise Control: it’s the only decent thing about the whole film.
Which is, after all, sort of the point of this section.
So why not just get the soundtrack, turn up the volume, pour yourself a Pina Colada and try to forget this movie was ever made? I bet the actors wish they could.