Speed (1994)

Director: Jan de Bont
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock

Synopsis:
A LAPD officer boards a bus with a bomb set to go off if the speed drops below 50mph.

Impressions:
At its most basic, Speed is described as "Die Hard on a bus" and while that seems fairly reductive, it isn't unfair. In fact, just as Die Hard is one of the premiere action films of the 80s, Speed is the same for the 90s. A lot of people give Keanu Reeves a lot of crap for his acting ability, but if you ask me, the thing is that his range is somewhat limited, but if you give him a role that's in his range, he's a good fit. As somewhat of an everyman cop with a good action quotient, the role of Jack Traven works well for Reeves. Jeff Daniels also works well as his veteran partner. This movie was my introduction to Sandra Bullock and she leaves a good impression as Annie, which honestly is perhaps my favorite role of her career. Then there's Dennis Hopper as the bomber, one of the great action movie villains. Besides the main cast, the more incidental characters work well, such a Joe Morton as Lieutenant McMahon, Carlos Carrasco as Gigantor ("Ortiz!") and Alan Ruck as Stephens. There's plenty of good action and the tension is kept going as one challenge after another arises. Apparently Joss Whedon worked as a script doctor and is to thank for the dialog being as good as it is. I could probably geek out about the movie more, but we'll wrap things up here. Bottom line: Really good movie. Any action movie fan should have it in their collection.

Rating:
Own It