Willem Dafoe: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. John Geiger - Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)

When Speed 2 was first released, British film critic Mark Kermode interviewed stars Sandra Bullock and Jason Patric for BBC Radio 1. Having seen the film and found it to be terrible, he attempted to skirt the issue by asking the cast what they had achieved by changing the setting from a bus to a boat. They responded, with refreshing honesty, that they had killed the franchise - though judging by Dafoe's performance, they were not the only ones responsible. Speed 2 begins with Annie Porter from the first film (Bullock) crashing into her boyfriend Alex's motorcycle. After she discovers that he was a SWAT team member, Alex (Patric) apologises by taking her on a luxury cruise to the Caribbean. But their holiday soon goes awry when fellow passenger John Geiger (Dafoe) hacks into the ship's computer systems, rigging charges all over the ship and setting the boat on a collision course with an oil tanker. With most of the passengers abandoning ship, Annie and Alex have to work with the remaining crew to prevent disaster. Speed 2 is widely considered one of the worst sequels of all time, confirming that Jan de Bont is better at lighting other people's films rather than directing his own. Dafoe's performance is one of the weakest elements, being needlessly over-the-top and with his motivation making little sense. While his performance in the Spider-Man films had a certain amount of range and played up to the comic-book feel that Sam Raimi wanted, here he does little but gurn and ham up for two hours. Like Cob in 'Earthsea, it's a dull and unconvincing villain which leaves the film completely becalmed.