Pulse pounding (spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (8 July 2000)

This is one hell of an exciting movie. It starts off with a scene that sets up the suspense level of the movie, with the elevator accident. It is an incredible sequence, staged so magnificently (my kudos to the editing team. They did an brilliant job throughout the entire film). It was a hard act to follow, but director Jan de Bont does it admirably.
The basic plot: a really bad guy (it's Dennis Hopper, everyone's favourite in a performance that's of no stretch) has a score to settle after his simple demands of 3 million dollars aren't met (in the elevator fiasco). So he puts a bomb on the bus, and wires it to go off if the bus goes below 50 miles. Some people thought that 50 miles wasn't that fast, but there's absolutely no point in getting hung up on that. The bus sequence is an intense piece of filmmaking by all involved. The tautness of the situation is continually raised, and Jan De Bont and writer Graham Yost manage to crank up the suspense factor. Yes, the bus jumping the fifty foot overpass is ludicrous, but it is gloriously so.
Keanu Reeves actually gives a good performance. He is attacked for trying to expand is repetoire (Much Ado About Nothing, Dracula), so Speed is a refreshingly simple film for him. He is a great action hero (which was again proven with The Matrix). Sandra Bullock has great charisma, and she and Reeves have palatable chemistry.
An action film that cranks up the suspense factor like no other. Sure, its incongruous sometimes, but why carp?