Speed kills.

Rating: 9/10 (17 June 2009)

Mad bomber Howard Payne is furious when one of his ransom plans is thwarted by officers Traven and Temple. So much so they become heavily involved in his next devilish plan. There is a bomb on a bus, the bomb becomes active once it reaches 50mph, the kicker being that should that bus go under 50mph, it detonates. Also a problem is that Payne is watching, so should any passengers attempt to leave the bus, he will detonate the bomb himself.
Speed is implausible, daft, mindless and borderline cretinous. It's also gripping, inflammable and delightful in premise, which in the process turned it into one of the finest action movies in the modern era. Taking up directing duties for the first time is Jan de Bont, better known at the time as cinematographer for luminaries like McTiernan, Schumacher, Verhoeeven and R Scott, de Bont literally throws everything at it in case nobody lets him direct again. Cars, helicopters, buses, bikes and lifts, all are either hurtling around or exploding with visual and aural excitement. It's nonsense alright, but it's thrilling high octane nonsense, action/adventure escapism in its purest form.
Depending on what sources you trust or believe, Speed was apparently born out of an unproduced idea from one Akira Kurosawa {eventually made as Runaway Train in 1985}. Screenwriter Graham Yost, who having just watched Runaway Train, felt that a "bomb" was badly missing from the premise, thus Speed as we now know it was born. 20th Century Fox green-lit the project {with major reservations about premise and cast} and the rest as they say, is history. The public lapped it up, stars Keanu Reeves {Traven} and Sandra Bullock {wonderful chemistry} became household names, and the 90s finally had an action movie to rival the 80s genre high that was Die Hard. Reeves, due in part to not being asked to do much outside of flex muscle and deliver cocky exuberance, firmly established a marker as an action hero. He of course would go on to deliver the magnificent Matrix and it's less than popular sequels. Bullock comes out with much credit, women in action films back then rarely did much more than scream and go doe eyed at the male lead. Here her Annie Porter holds her own under duress and the interplay with Reeves positively crackles {they may just be the prettiest on screen couple of the decade}.
Ultimately it's the pace of the movie that keeps it thrilling, de Bont {sadly unable to move on to better from here} after a tight and tense lift dangle, mad Dennis Hopper {Payne} opening reel, keeps it as one seamless action set piece-and that's exactly what is required. We don't need to think or worry about any extraneous filler, we don't have time, for we are too busy having fun and checking our respective pulse rates in the process. Made for $30,000,000, the film went on to make $283,200,000 worldwide, those are the sort of figures to make cinema snobs cry in their art laden handkerchiefs.
Go Speed ! 9/10