Recommended

Rating: 7/10 (28 October 2017)

â€‹'SPEED' 1994
Directed by Jan De Bont{Directorial Debut}
Starring Keanu Reeves{Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure; Point Break}, Sandra Bullock{Demolition Man; Love Potion No 9} and Dennis Hopper{Apocalypse Now; Rebel Without a Cause}
Plot Overview: As revenge for foiling his master plan scheme, a demolitions expert/terrorist plants a bomb on a commercial bus which will detonate, if the bus goes below 50 miles per hour!
'Speed' is a movie that is held very dear to many action fan's hearts for many years. I've been dodging watching it for a while but I've finally cracked and gave into my curiosity. And my opinion of the movie? I liked it. It was a fun action movie with an EXCELLENT premise and cool ideas. As a full package, I can definitely recommend it.
So what can I say are the film's main strengths? The overall tone and atmosphere is probably its' greatest strength. Considering the situation, the tone is pretty light-hearted but all the characters take it seriously. I guess that's what I loved about it. The juxtaposition of the tone of dialogue compared to the tone of the characters. It makes the movie undeniably fun to see Keanu Reeves perform with such sincerity and seriousness when in reality, it's just a dumb action flick. That leads onto another praise I can give: the passengers aboard the bus. I loved pretty much every main side character who was on this bus, with the exception of our two leads.
Another major praise I can give the movie Dennis Hopper's villain. Howard Payne is a good movie villain. He's smart, he's pretty funny, he's conniving and he is remorseless. Alone these qualities may seem random, but when combined they make a truly interesting villain. Top that with Dennis Hopper's excellent performance and you have a pretty darn good antagonist.
I also absolutely love the score for this movie. This falls into the category of minor praise but it really deserves to get a full paragraph for it. Mark Mancina's EXCELLENT score for this movie is ridiculously fun and inventive and entertaining. It is arguably one of the better action movie themes of the 90s. It's just such an adernaline fuelled score that fits perfectly with the overall tone of the movie.
But what issues do I have? Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock are two on the most dull actors on this planet. Don't get me wrong: Reeves is an EXCELLENT action star and I truly admire his commitment to the role. But I've seen school plays with more realistic and emotional performances. He's awful in pretty much every movie he is in. And then there is Sandra Bullock. To be fair, Bullock isn't an awful actress. But her performance in this movie is so unconvincing and so dry that I thought that Reeves had infected her with his disease. Combine the mediocre acting with a forced and botched love story and very underdeveloped characters, and you have a pair of leads that are an actual chore to sit through.
My other main issue is the final act. It's just so over the top. And I usually wouldn't mind that but I don't think this drastic change in pace suited the overall movie. It was an action movie but it was a more of a slow burn action movie. This final act was just really dumb and didn't fit in tone with the movie. I was thoroughly disappointed with this movie's conclusion; it was such a mess.
Overall, I did like 'Speed' though. It's certainly a fun and entertaining action movie, but the last act and two lead characters make it a chore to sit through, towards the end. Despite this grievances, I do recommend you watch 'Speed'. The action is mostly alright and the tone is pretty much perfect; it's a very enjoyable movie. I'll rate 'Speed' 7 'CANS' out of 10!