26 Years Later, Keep Being Ready For Rush Hour

Rating: 10/10 (24 May 2020)

Since the 1980s it has been rare for action films to offer up something more than just testosterone-laden violence. But this was indeed what the 1994 blockbuster SPEED was: a sleeper hit and a breath of fresh air for the genre. While it may have much of the same violence and profanity of most action films, it also has a fair amount of suspense, tension, and black comedy as well. Above all else, it has characters one can identify with, plus an absolutely requirement for any really good action film: a credible and despicable villain. Coming from what had already become a disreputable genre among critics for the most part, SPEED actually got a huge amount of critical acclaim, not to mention a $350 million box office take on a budget of a mere $30 million-and this at a time when the cost of a typical Hollywood studio action film had already crossed the $75 million threshold.
Keanu Reeves stars as an elite L.A.P.D. officer who, along with the help of his erstwhile partner (Jeff Daniels), defuses the bomb of a madman (Dennis Hopper) inside an elevator in a high rise in Downtown Los Angeles. Daniels is wounded in a brief standoff with Hopper; and Hopper escapes, having not collected the $3 million he demanded for those being held hostage in the elevator.
Days later, Hopper plans his revenge against Reeves. This time, Hopper has placed a bomb underneath a commuter bus heading from Santa Monica to Downtown L.A. via the Santa Monica Freeway. The catch is that this bomb is armed the moment the bus hits 50 miles per hour, and that the bomb will detonate if the bus slows below 50. Hopper demands $3.7 million and warns Reeves that, if he tries to take any passengers off the bus, he will detonate the bomb regardless. Reeves is forced into quick action, hopping on the bus in the middle of the freeway and scaring the hell out of all the passengers. One of them, a scared Latino with a gun, accidentally shoots the bus driver, briefly causing the bus to go out of control. A female passenger (Sandra Bullock) is forced to take control of the bus, and is told by Reeves to do whatever it takes to keep going over 50. The bus's path takes it off the Santa Monica Freeway at Western Avenue, then south to the unopened Century Freeway (I-105), then to the runways at LAX. There, Reeves manages to outwit Hopper and evacuate the passengers, with a, how shall we say, a rather explosive result. But Hopper isn't quite vanquished even after all that.
While there are admittedly a few of the plot problems normally associated with action movies, SPEED nevertheless delivers much in the way of suspense and camera work, with the influences of films like DUEL, ROLLERCOASTER, THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE, and DIE HARD flowing right through it. Reeves and Bullock make for such an appealing and believable pair that one can't help but be involved in their situation. Hopper makes for a credible enough villain, even as it's a role he could have conceivably done in his sleep. The most amazing thing about the film is the sureness of the direction of Jan DeBont, previously a cinematographer on CUJO, DIE HARD, and THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER. DeBont clearly studied not only the films of Hitchcock, but also of Steven Spielberg, and even Sam Peckinpah, in the way action, suspense, and a certain amount of violence (none of the latter especially gratuitous) are combined to make a thoroughly memorable brew. There is also a winking nod to Stanley Kubrick as well, at the end.
An Oscar winner for Sound and Sound Effects Editing, SPEED displayed a tremendous amount of energy in its execution and performance. But it also became a prime masterpiece of a genre that had very few masterpieces like it since the 1980s, and would have fewer still from 1994 forward.
To this day, SPEED still warrants a '10' spot.