All 5 Jan de Bont Movies, Ranked (original) (raw)
Stills of Twister, Speed, The Haunting
Image by Federico Napoli
Published Sep 28, 2024, 7:50 PM EDT
Lucas Kloberdanz-Dyck is a writer for Collider. He grew up creating lists, stories, and worlds, which led to his love of anime and video games. He attended Sheridan College where he earned an Honours Bachelor of Game Design. Lucas and his group won 1st place for technical innovation at LevelUp Toronto 2023, and he was also an intern for the Oakville Film Festival of Arts.
Sign in to your Collider account
Born into a large family of seventeen children, Jan de Bont was a famous cinematographer and director before retiring in the 2000s. De Bont got his start as a cinematographer in the 1970s with the movie Turkish Delight and would continue to excel, helping with blockbuster titles such as Die Hard and Cujo. Despite being primarily renowned as a cinematographer, De Bont did get into directing in the 1990s, where he would unfortunately have a shorter career than fans would have liked. He was also infamously one of the many injured on the set of Roar, with a lion scalping him, requiring over 200 stitches.
With many unreleased and canceled projects, such as a Godzilla movie, De Bont didn't reach his full potential when it came to directing. However, fans can clearly see glimpses of brilliance. With only five movies directed, his reputation is very polarizing, with some of his films being critically acclaimed and others winning awards at the Razzies. His loud and in-your-face directing style has produced unique and entertaining movies, some better than others, but all deliver a fun film for fans to enjoy.
5 'Speed 2: Cruise Control' (1997)
Starring Sandra Bullock, Jason Patric, and Willem Dafoe
Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock) and John Geiger (Willem Dafoe) in 'Speed 2: Cruise Control'
Image via 20th Century Fox
After the massive success of Speed, De Bont returned with the infamous sequel Speed 2: Cruise Control. The film takes place on a cruise, with De Bont getting the idea from a nightmare he had about a cruise ship crashing into an island. With Keanu Reeves refusing to star in the movie because of the script, writers had to rework everything to fit in a new character. The film follows Annie (Sandra Bullock) and her husband on a cruise vacation. However, they find out that a crazy passenger has rigged the vessel to crash into an oil tanker.
Movie sequels are infamous for being worse than their predecessors, with many failing to understand what they need to do. Speed 2 goes above and beyond this, winning the Razzie for worst sequel and having eight nominations. With an abysmal score of 4% on Rotten Tomatoes, there isn't anything good about this movie besides the general enjoyability. With poor acting, writing, directing, story, characters, and no sense of speed, the film is slow-moving with nothing thrilling about it. While fans may get some enjoyment out of Speed 2, this film is undoubtedly De Bont's worst film, with many fans wondering what would have been different if the studio hadn't controlled it so much.
Speed 2: Cruise Control
Release Date
June 13, 1997
Cast
Sandra Bullock, Jason Patric, Willem Dafoe, Temuera Morrison, Brian McCardie, Glenn Plummer, Colleen Camp, Lois Chiles, Mike Hagerty, Bo Svenson, Francis Guinan, Jeremy Hotz, Royale Watkins, Christine Firkins, Tamia, Kimmy Robertson, Patrika Darbo, Connie Ray, Susan Barnes, Charles Parks, Enrique Murciano, Jessica Diz, Alex Montesino, Mark Adair-Rios, Xavier Coronel, Tyler Patton, Craig A. Pinckes
Runtime
125 Minutes
Director
Main Genre
4 'The Haunting' (1999)
Starring Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Owen Wilson
The-Haunting poster with Liam Neeson, Owen Wilson, and Catherine Zeta-Jones
Image via DreamWorks Pictures
The Haunting is based on Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House, which was critically acclaimed and received multiple adaptations, including the classic 1963 movie and the 2018 miniseries. Steven Spielberg and Stephan King initially collaborated on this project, but they eventually dropped it due to creative differences, which is when the studio picked up De Bont as the new director. The film follows a group invited to the haunted mansion by a doctor who is researching insomnia. Little do they know, he is actually researching fear and plans to frighten them. But, much to the surprise of everyone, the mansion is actually haunted, with the group needing to escape the vengeful ghost.
There is little to get excited about in The Haunting, with critics slamming the movie for its reliance on horror tropes/clichés, overuse of CGI, and poor screenplay. Despite this movie being one of the worst haunted mansion movies, it does feature incredibly impressive production design, with stunning set pieces, brilliant sound design, and art design. The good aspects of the film are almost enough to recommend it, but The Haunting is an overall mess with little to no scary scenes, coming off as a campy and cheesy 1990s horror movie that earned five Razzie nominations.
3 'Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life' (2003)
Starring Angelina Jolie, Gerard Butler, and Djimon Hounsou
Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft riding a motorcycle in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life
Image via Paramount Pictures
Based on the popular video game franchise Tomb Raider, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life is a sequel to the box office hit Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which sees Angelina Jolie reprise her role as the titular character. In a race to find Pandora's Box, Lara Croft teams up with her old partner, going on a globe-trotting adventure to find the box before the evil criminals use it to wipe out most of humanity.
While The Cradle of Life received much more positive reviews than the first one, improving on the action and thrills, it is still a disappointing movie that fails to capture the essence of Indiana Jones, which they were trying to replicate. The film is a dull and brain-numbing experience, with each shoot-out leading nowhere and feeling less imaginative than it could have been. While fans can enjoy The Cradle of Life if they turn their brain off, too many studio hands interfered with production, creating a jumbled and lifeless mess. However, with the upcoming Lara Croft animated series, fans hope to get the best out of the character on the small screen.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life
Release Date
July 21, 2003
2 'Twister' (1996)
Starring Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, and Jami Gertz
Jo (Helen Hunt) and Bill Harding (Bill Paxton) standing in a corn field staring ahead with concerned expressions and Jo reaching her hand forward in Twister
Image via Warner Bros.
Twister is a massive blockbuster disaster movie and the second biggest of the year of its release. Its success helped birth the sequel Twisters in 2024, bringing the franchise to new heights. With the largest storm in decades fast approaching, a university professor (Helen Hunt) teams up with her students to use a new device, Dorothy, to gather data about the massive tornado. But when they learn that their rival plans to do the same thing, they call for her estranged husband (Bill Paxton) and the creator of Dorothy to help out, delivering an intense thrill ride in the heart of the storm.
Before De Bont's mess of a later career with his three final movies disappointing, Twister is a massive jump in quality. The blockbuster brought in the money, something it shares in common with Twisters, which continues to rake in the money. Box office aside, the visual effects put the audience right in the middle of the danger, creating an extremely real and tense atmosphere, especially for its time. Twister is loud and rowdy, with De Bont's style being very apparent, as the film uses the rush of excitement and loveable characters to create a thrilling experience like no other.
Twister
Release Date
May 10, 1996
Cast
Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz, Cary Elwes, Lois Smith, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck, Sean Whalen, Scott Thomson, Todd Field, Jeremy Davies
Runtime
113 minutes
Director
Main Genre
1 'Speed' (1994)
Starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, and Dennis Hopper
Keanu Reeves looks anxiously ahead as Sandra Bullock drives the bus in 'Speed'
Image via 20th Century Fox
De Bont's directorial debut is also his best movie, with Speed easily becoming his biggest critical success. When LAPD officer Jack (Reeves) gets on the wrong side of a retired bomb squad member (Dennis Hopper), the extortionist plants a bomb on a bus, with it set to explode if the speed drops below 50 miles per hour. With the help of one of the passengers (Bullock) and Jack's partner (Jeff Daniels), the three try to figure out how to defuse the bomb and learn how the extortionist is tracking their movements.
No other De Bont movie could be at number one on this list except for Speed. This movie did so much for everyone involved, cementing Bullock's legacy as one of the greatest actresses, launching Reeves into stardom, where Speed remains one of his best movies, and bringing De Bont into the limelight as a director. While the director's future projects would get progressively worse, it is no easy feat to create a movie as good as Speed. The high-octane action and incredibly thrilling plot create a non-stop, captivating film that keeps fans on the edge of their seats. With phenomenal chemistry between all the actors and a perfect blend of absurdity, comedy, and gritty tension, Speed is by far De Bont's best movie and one of the greatest action movies ever.
Speed
Release Date
June 10, 1994
Cast
Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock, Joe Morton, Jeff Daniels, Alan Ruck, Glenn Plummer, Richard Lineback, Beth Grant, Hawthorne James, Carlos Carrasco, David Kriegel, Natsuko Ohama, Daniel Villarreal, Simone Gad, Loretta Jean, Sherri Villanueva, Margaret Medina, Jordan Lund, Robert Mailhouse, Patrick Fischler, Patrick John Hurley, Susan Barnes, Rick Dano, Michael Sottile
Runtime
116 minutes
Director
Jan de Bont
Main Genre