"Die Hard" on a bus, "Basic Instinct" on an elevator

Rating: Null/10 (19 April 2003)

"Speed" represents Hollywood at its most commercially desperate and cheap: take a "Die Hard"-like set up of a story taking place in primarily one location; put some heartthrob (though I'll be damned if Keanu ever acts like a man) as the star cop; throw in some over-the-top supporting characters; bring in some cartoonish action scenes; and end it with a kiss. And even a story this lame and simple is not done without a ridiculous amount of goofs--for example, about ten times that bus would've blown. By the "Basic Instinct" part of the summary, I am referring to the obviously deliberate, brief shot of the second woman to be pulled out of the elevator, in which her skirt is lifted up, revealing her bare buttocks clad in thong underwear. It is flagrantly obvious that in this shot Keanu and Jeff were told to lift this rather pretty woman's skirt up, which the upward camera angle (used only in this shot) proves. This was done either to appeal to male viewers or for Jan de Bont, who was fresh off of directing "Basic Instinct", to fulfill some of his own fantasies. Either way, it's immature, and I'm surprised no one else seems to have noticed this.