Review of Speed

Introduction

Speed was the essential nineties action movie, a non-stop thrill ride that didn`t require putting your brain in gear. At the time, the idea of Keanu Reeves as an action star seemed far-fetched. When I went into the cinema, I was expecting a badass Ted. I, and many others were pleasantly surprised.

Jack Traven is an LAPD SWAT team specialist who is sent to rescue a lift full of stranded passengers, who are threatened by a mad bomber. Yes, there`s a mad bomber loose in LA, who wants loads of money, of course. Jack and his partner thwart the bomber and rescue the lift passengers, becoming heroes and killing the bomber, or so it seems. You see, the bomber faked his own death and one sunny morning, after an empty bus explodes, Jack gets a phone call. There`s a bomb on a bus and once the bus reaches 50 mph, the bomb is armed. If the bus drops below 50, Kablooie! It`s time for a heroic chase through the morning rush hour for Jack to catch the bus and an even more heroic leap to board it. Once on board, Jack announces himself to the passengers but tries to keep them calm. Unfortunately, one of the passengers thinks that he`s about to be arrested and pulls a gun. In the ensuing melee, the bus driver is shot. What this amounts to is that the less attractive bus driver is out of commission and up steps passenger Annie, to take the wheel, who is a whole lot cuter. This gives heroic Jack and plucky Annie a chance for some heavy duty flirting in between the life and death situations. Can Jack outwit the mad bomber and save the passengers? It would be a pretty naff Hollywood action movie if he didn`t.

Video

The disc is given a widescreen anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer. The picture, by and large is clear is well defined and there were no flaws to these eyes. Jan de Bont directs and has an eye for the pace of the movie. The action never lets up and the thrills are relentless.

Audio

Speed comes with a DD 5.1 soundtrack. The sound is good and conveys the action well. You can feel all the explosions and crashes. The music by Mark Mancina is generic action movie stuff. You can hear it`s like in any action movie of the nineties, especially the Bruckheimer back catalogue, it`s instantly forgettable stuff, but complements the pace of the film well.

Features

The extras are insulting when you consider the original widescreen VHS release. On the tape I had the movie, a short making of documentary and a Billy Idol music video. O.K, I could have done without the Billy Idol promo, but even still, the DVD only boasts the trailer. Understandably there is a "Special Edition" that addresses that oversight.

Conclusion

Keanu Reeves is Jack Traven, and he`s pretty good in the role. He also makes a change from the usual Sly, Arnie or Bruce characters. He doesn`t take every opportunity to make a quip, and concentrates more on the action. Jeff Daniels as his partner Harry and Joe Morton as his boss, Capt McMahon, ably support him. Sandra Bullock, before she started to irritate is the love interest Annie and she does well driving the bus. As this is an action movie, the cast have to react rather than act, and that makes it harder to comment on the performances, but by and large, no one puts a foot wrong. Normally with a bad guy, it helps to have some idea of the motivation, some kind of justification of his rage to flesh the character out a bit. Speed doesn`t need all that, it has something better, Dennis Hopper. `Nuff said. There is also a bright spot in the form of Alan Ruck, who is one of the passengers on the ill-fated bus. He plays an annoying tourist and is pretty much the only personality on the bus.

This is a no-brain action movie, which makes for great mental chewing gum. Keanu Reeves has probably the worst entrance in movie history. A flying car announces that the hero has arrived. Just pathetic. The film makes use of every cliché in the book, and probably coins a couple as well. You see the miracle of a mobile phone that never has its battery run out. The passengers on the bus are the standard victims that you get in these kinds of movies. What really makes this movie is the concept and the tight pacing. The idea of a bomb that explodes if a bus drops below a certain speed is a natural set up for chase sequences, crashes and insane stunts, all in the name of the story. An action filmmaker can run riot with a story like that and to his credit, Jan de Bont keeps the pacing tight and the thrills relentless. Also for this kind of movie, the body count is remarkably low, with the tension coming more from the threat and personality of the mad bomber than his actions. The production values and quality of the film are really very high, which only serve to emphasise the one downer even more. There is a gratuitous model shot of a tube train that looks totally out of place. Aside from that, leave your brain in a jar and just hang on for the ride in this ridiculous, implausible but rip-snorting fun movie.