On the whole, a terrific actioner, but slightly let down by the final fifteen minutes.

Rating: Null/10 (5 January 2004)

Speed is one of the only action movies I can think of in which the phrase "all-action" is completely accurate. There is only one scene in this entire film which isn't an action scene, and that comes near the start when Keanu Reeves and Jeff Daniels are seen at a party celebrating the receipt of a bravery award. Other than that, every moment is taken up by some kind of outrageous stunt, electrifying exchange, or hair-raising chase.
The story is very simple, but very exciting. Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves), an L.A. bomb disposal maverick, thwarts an attempt by a mad bomber to get his hands on a multi-million dollar ransom by threatening to kill an elevator full of people. The bomber (Dennis Hopper) is quite annoyed to have his scheme quashed, so he sets up a new threat, He plants a bomb on an L.A. bus. When the bus reaches 50 m.p.h the bomb becomes active, but the moment its speed falls below 50 m.p.h from then on the bomb will detonate. Jack boards the bus and tries to keep it going at the necessary speed, aided by gutsy lady passenger Annie (Sandra bullock), but it's some challenge amid the chaotic morning traffic of downtown L.A.
The film uses its simple premise to wonderful effect. There's nothing complicated or confusing about this.... if the bus slows down too much, the ride is over. The very concept of keeping the vehicle going so fast for so long in such a clogged traffic environment gives plenty of moments of excitement. Reeves actually gives one of the first really good performances of his career, and is ably backed up by the wacky Hopper, the appealing Bullock and the likable Daniels. The film isn't perfect. The final fifteen or twenty minutes takes place off the bus and seems a rather superfluous sequence. I feel the film would have been far better if it had ended on the bus, but there's a somewhat absurd episode aboard an underground train which feels like it was originally conceived for another movie but somehow made it into this one. Still, I'm willing to forgive the film this one minor mis-step, because until that point it was right up there with the greatest films in its genre of all-time.