Get ready for rush hour.

Rating: 8/10 (8 February 2015)

Speed is an excellent, fast moving action blockbuster from start to finish. Keanu Reeves is excellent as the heroic SWAT officer Jack Traven, Dennis Hopper is never better as the mad bomber Howard Payne, and Sandra Bullock establishes herself as a great actress here. Other cast members including Jeff Daniels (in an unusual casting) as Jack's partner Harry Temple and Joe Morton (Miles Dyson from Terminator 2) is SWAT Lieutenant "Mac" McMahon.
For those that have been living under a rock for the past 20 years, Speed is about a Los Angeles bus that is rigged to explode if it drops below 50 miles per hour (that's 80 km per hour). The movie starts with Howard Payne's attempt to trap an elevator full of people in an office building with the intention to hold them to ransom. Howard's efforts are successfully thwarted by LAPD SWAT officers Jack Traven and Harry Temple, in which Howard is seemingly blown up. A while later, one morning a bus explodes which is later revealed to be Howard Payne, who is still alive. He phones Jack Traven to tell him that a second bus has been rigged with a bomb. Once the bus hits 50 mph, the bus is armed. If it drops below 50 mph, the bus will explode along with all the passengers on board the bus. Howard also warns Jack that if any attempt to rescue the passengers is made, the bus will also be manually detonated. Jack manages to locate the bus and successfully boards it mid transit. While the bus continues to maintain its speed through the streets of Los Angeles, Jack must also race against time to successfully disarm the bomb, save the passengers on the bus, and outwit the psychotic Howard Payne, who is also revealed to be a ex-cop from the Atlanta Police Bomb Squad.
The entire movie is very neat. Jan DeBont, who was previously a cinematographer for Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October, and Lethal Weapon 3, makes his directorial debut with Speed. Though he goes onto direct the 1996 blockbuster Twister, he doesn't hit the same heights with his next movies all box office flops. Believe it or not, following the success of Speed, everybody thought it was a great idea to follow up with Speed 2. As it turns out, Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) which Keanu Reeves wisely passed on, turned out to be a bomb which sank at the box office and killed Jan DeBont's career as a director.
Though you might found yourself questioning as to whether a bus can fly in a famous scene, among other things, forget about it and settle back and enjoy the fun. Speed is a great thrill ride from start to finish.
8/10