Alfred De Musset

Speed (Five Star Collection) Veteran cinematographer Jan de Bont, whose credits included Die Hard (1988), Jewel of the Nile (1986), and Basic Instinct (1992), makes his directorial debut in Speed (1994), one of those pure action films, where if you just enjoy the ride, and don’t bother to question its many logical fallacies, you should have a fun and entertaining time. De Bont, delivers a slick looking film, with some well executed and edgy action sequences. Star Keanu Reeves’, bold determination, and physical skills, serve him very well here.

Greed and revenge, drive ex-cop and demolition expert, Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper), after his scheme to extort money is foiled by LA police officers Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves), and Harry Temple (Jeff Daniels). Believed dead, Payne shocks Traven with the news that he has wired a bus with explosives that will detonate, if its speed dips below 50 mph. Jack jumps aboard Bus 2525, looking to save lives, but when the driver is accidentally shot, passenger Annie Potter (Sandra Bullock), takes his place behind the wheel. The action moves at a brisk pace, as the bus races through the streets of LA, leaving wreckage in its wake. Replacing Annie, is apparently never a consideration, and the bus amazingly winds up alone, on an unused section of freeway. After completing an impossible jump, the bus heads for LAX, where it can safely cruise and maintain the required speed.

The excitement continues, as Jack gets on a dolly, and slides below the bus to try and disarm the bomb, nearly losing the skin off his back. Meanwhile, Temple is hot on Payne’s trail, but unfortunately gets too close. With fuel running low, the police mount a rescue mission that succeeds in freeing the hostages. They spring a trap to try and catch Payne, but he strikes first, grabbing Annie as a hostage, dragging her aboard a subway train, for yet another dangerous ride.

Speed delivers thrills, but is too squeaky clean to be taken seriously, with lighted elevator shafts constructed like nothing on this planet, buses with pristine undersides, spotless subway cars, and immaculate subway tunnels. Blood, dirt, darkness, grease, garbage, and graffiti, almost seem not to belong in this reality.

Playing a crazed criminal is familiar territory for Dennis Hopper, and he does a fine job of pushing Jack’s buttons, without quite losing control until the very end. Sandra Bullock was relatively new, but well suited to the role of a sharp tongued smart mouth, with a heart of gold. The ‘opposites attract’ formula seems to apply to Jack and Annie, but her observation that ‘relationships that start under intense circumstances . . . never last’, foreshadows future events. Speed gave Bullock’s career a major boost, and she would team again with Jan de Bont, for the sequel Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997), however Reeves would not participate.

It is not too hard to look past its faults, and accept Speed for the fun ride it is intended to be. The film does not deviate from a course of straight ahead action, and Reeves and Bullock make a fairly good pair. Dennis Hopper, adds a nice bit of madness to the mix, making for some solidly entertaining fun. Billy Idol’s end credit number ‘Speed’, like Ratt’s ‘Nobody Rides For Free’ in Point Break (1991), finishes another Keanu Reeves cop outing with some balls. : Everything clicked in this 1994 action hit, from the premise (a city bus has to keep moving at 50 mph or blow up) to the two leads (the usually inscrutable Keanu Reeves and the cute-as-a-button Sandra Bullock) to the villain (Dennis Hopper in psycho mode) to the director (Jan De Bont, who made this film hit the ground running with an edge-of-your-seat opening sequence on a broken elevator). This is the sort of movie that becomes a prototype for a thousand lesser films (including De Bont’s lousy sequel, Speed 2: Cruise Control), but Speed really is a one-of-a-kind experience almost anyone can enjoy. –Tom Keogh Speed (Five Star Collection)

• Speed 2 – Cruise Control
• Broken Arrow
• Independence Day (Five Star Collection)
• The Net
• Point Break