Speed

Rating:
Summary: A Thrilling Ride
Review: It seems that some of the best and sometimes worst Directors come from being Cinematographers.
With Jan De Bont I think I'm sitting on the fence here. He's a great Cinematographer see Die Hard, Hunt For Red October, Basic instinct, Lethal Weapon 3 or even this movie for instance. His Directing though leaves a lot to be desired. This movie as well as Twister are acceptable but then he made the travesty that is Speed 2 or more recently, The Hunting.

Speed is the story of Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) he is a disgruntled cop who has already been thwarted when he tried to get 2 million bucks from the city with an elevator bombing. Now he puts a bomb on a bus that will explode if it drops below 50MPH. Jack Travern (Keanu Reeves) is a cop with way too much testosterone who is the man who is trying to stop the bus form exploding.

The movie is filled with some great scenes BUT (and it's a big but) YOU MUST suspend you disbelief for 2 hours to really enjoy it.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent Action Movie
Review: If you enjoy plenty of action then this is your film. The storyline is farfetched which is the reason that I gave the movie 4 stars. If the storyline had been more believeable then the film would have earned 5 stars. The bottom line is that you watch the movie for the action sequences. As in any action film the bigger screen is better.

Rating:
Summary: A heck of a ride!
Review: Hotshot cops Keanu Reaves and Jeff Daniels race the clock to rescue helpless hostages from a mad bomber. The title is well earned as this edge-of-your-seat thriller keeps the energy level at a constant high pace. From an elevator rigged to blow to the runaway bus, the bomber stays one step ahead in a fiendish game of cat and mouse. Highly recommend!

Rating:
Summary: you put Neo on a speeding bus and you got the movie Speed
Review: Keanu Reeves (The Matrix Trilogy, the upcoming Constantine due in February of 2005) plays Jack Traven...a cop who with his partner Harry, Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber, The Goodbye Girl 04'), thought they got rid of badguy Dennis Hopper (Knockaround Guys, Rebel Without A Cause) but they havent for Hopper has planted a bomb underneath a public bus in which it has to keep the bus above 50 miles per hour and if it goes under 50 miles an hour the bomb explodes the bus...so Keanu-man has to jump aboard the bus so he can keep the people alive. In the process of these events, the bus jumps a gap, Keanu's partner gets a surprise and a little bit of romance between Keanu and Sandra Bullock (Murder 8y Numbers, 28 Days) happens...2 kisses really..nothing touchy-feely. Nicely played out and executed with memorable action scenes. Keanu Reeves is one of his best roles, alongside Neo in The Matrix movies, of course...Sandra Bullock = sexy, sexy and Dennis Hopper = evil a-hole but he is perfrect in the role. Also starring Alan Ruck (Tv's Spin City, Ferris Buellers Day Off), Richard Lineback (Hush, Varsity Blues), Joe Morton (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Executive Decision), Beth Grant (Tv's Angel (season one guest star)) and Glenn Plummer (The Salton Sea, The Substitute). If you want some advice about the sequel Speed 2; Cruise Control...here it is...dont watch it....just be glad this was the better one of the two.

Rating:
Summary: Loving it, loving it, loving it!
Review: I absolutely love this movie! Alongside Titanic & Pearl Harbour (see, I have no taste in films, according to some) this is one of my favourite movies. I remember the first time I watched this, it was on TV, and I was still in my early teens. I found the start credits extremely boring, and then Dennis Hopper stabbing the guy in the head (well, I'm guessing that hurt), got me interested. And then Keanu Reeves (Jack Traven) came on screen, and the whole world just stopped. You know what that's like when you see a really cute guy (or girl, whatever your preference)? This film got me obsessed with Keanu, and even though he's done some rather daft movies in his time, this isn't one of them. Although it took me another couple of years to see the whole of it, as I got told to stop watching it due to the swearing. Give me a break, I was only young - my mum seems to think I picked my language from somewhere else, when really, it was from her!

I'm notorious for defending Speed, and probably will do until my death. No one can forget it was the same Keanu who was in Bill & Ted, or they'll do silly impressions "This bus will exploooooooooodddddddddddeeeeeeeeeee". Good grief, if you don't like the film don't watch it. People definitely have something against Keanu being in this movie, but lets face it, he got this role over loads of others: Stephen Baldwin, William Baldwin, Johnny Depp, Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks. Would any of them have filled the role the way Keanu did? The answer is no.

What amazes me about this movie, is the chemistry between Jack & Annie (Sandra Bullock). They are (now) two of my favourite actors, and it's just the way they look at each other in the movie - makes you go all gooey inside. Awwwww! This was the movie that shot Sandra to stardom, although she's great in a previous movie, Demolition Man.

For the third time in a row, I'm reviewing a movie that involves a lot of driving. The stunt drivers, or someone pulling the bus is shown loads in the extras of this - really disappointing when you're a young innocent, who thought that Sandra could really drive like that! Twelve buses were used, including two which exploded; one for the freeway jump; one for high-speed scenes; and one used solely for 'under bus' shots. The bus jump scene was done twice, as the bus landed too smoothly the first time. The bridge was actually there, but erased digitally.

Apart from Keanu & Sandra, there are some great actors in this: Glenn Plummer, Jeff Bridges, Joe Morton, Dennis Hopper etc. Glenn Plummer is fantastic, and also appears in the sequel. He also got his licence taken away two days before he was due to start filming!

The extras on this DVD are fantastic, and will keep you occupied for a wee while. They include: commentary by Jan DeBont; commentary by writer Graham Yost and producer Mark Gordon; extended scenes ("Jack Shoots Payne in the Neck," "Payne Lives/Cops' Party," "Annie's Job," "After Helen's Death," "Ray's Crime"); easter eggs (DVD Credits, Airline Version of Bus Crash - which are where?!); Inside Speed Featurettes on the location, stunts and visual effects; production design (60 stills); original screenplay (240 stills); action sequence featurettes on the "Bus Jump" and "Metro Rail Crash"; multi-angle shots with audio ("Bus Jump" - 9 angles, "Cargo Jet Explosion" - 9 angles, "Jack vs. Payne" - 4 angles, "Metro Rail Crash" - 9 angles); multi-stream storyboards ("Bomb on the Bus," "Baker Sequence," "Bus Jump," "Metro Rail Fight & Crash"); interview archive (with Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Daniels, and Jan De Bont); HBO Special; Trailer & 11 TV Spots; Billy Idol Music Video; press kit; production notes (40 stills) and image gallery (various stills).

This is a great movie, ignore all the so-called critics, who don't like it. I love it. Although Keanu doesn't appear in the sequel, this is one of his roles that far stands out, and beats the Matrix trilogy hands down.

Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE GREATEST ACTION MOVIES OF OUR TIME
Review: THIS SLAM-BANG ACTIONFEST IS ABOUT A MAD BOMBER [DENNIS HOPPER] WHO'S PLACED A BOMB ON A CITY BUS AND THE BOMB WILL EXPLODE IF THE BUS GOES ANY SLOWER THAN 50 MPH AND IT'S UP TO A COP [KEANU REEVES] TO STOP IT. VERY INSPIRING ACTION FILM HAS PLENTY OF GOOD ACTION, GOOD ACTING, GOOD STUNTS, AND A GREAT FINALE. THIS IS ULTIMATELY THE BEST ACTION MOVIE FROM THE 90S AND IT WAS THE MOVIE THAT SKYROCKETED SANDRA BULLOCK'S CAREER. ALL ACTION FANS WILL MOST DEFINITELY ENJOY THIS ONE! FOLLOWED BY AN ULTIMATELY DISSAPOINTING SEQUEL.

Rating:
Summary: Modern pure-action masterpiece
Review: On occasion, I crave for good action entertainment...but Jan De Bont's SPEED isn't just good, it's well-nigh spectacular. I watched this movie many years ago on video, and the sheer suspense and excitement its simple premise generated gripped me from start to finish. As far as I know, this is arguably the most perfect pure-action action movie I've seen yet.

Of course you know the premise: mad terrorist Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) plants a bomb on an LA bus that will explode if the bus moves at over 50 mph at any point, and it is us to supercop Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) to foil Payne's plans. From that simple idea, though, director De Bont and screenwriter Graham Yost craft a crackling action thriller that moves from setpiece to setpiece, sustaining momentum all the way through. In lesser hands, SPEED might have seemed merely jagged, but De Bont skillfully hold it all together through sheer high energy. (This was De Bont's directorial debut, but perhaps his experience shooting action films like the classic DIE HARD helped him here in some way.)

The result is one of the best, most exhilarating of modern action films. Yost carries through his sipmle but creative premise without resorting to worn-out action cliches (there is no silly digital readout accompanying the bomb, for instance), and in his pursuit of action excitement he doesn't forget to bring his characters closer to the audience via colorful, distinctive dialogue. We always relate to the hero, and for this kind of action film, that's a good thing. The performances more or less get the job done, although Sandra Bullock shows a lot of appealing spunk in her heroine role---it's easy to see why she became a star after this movie. Reeves does well with the action heroics, and he is always convincing in his role. As for Hopper, as the creatively-named (hehe) villain, he shows once again (like he did in David Lynch's BLUE VELVET) that he is one of the best in the business at playing bad guys. He sure is bad, but Hopper brings a distinctive, almost charismatic, style to what could have been a generic villain performance in less experienced hands. And, of course, the action scenes are beyond reproach. Who could forget the bus' miraculous leap into the air as it attempts to jump across a gap in the highway? And the finale is simply spectacular, with a train derailment that John McTiernan tried to ape in the subsequent year in DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE.

In short, if you're looking for high action entertainment that may not necessarily revolutize the genre but gets the job done smashingly, SPEED fits the bill marvelously. I mean, with a title like that, which action-film fan could resist? Highly recommended.