Winning action film from the 90s!

Rating: 9/10 (17 October 2015)

While I still think the 80s is the seminal decade for action movies, the 90s weren't too shabby, either! For whatever reason, 80s movies stand out more to me over time (not just action movies, but movies in general). As accusatory as people are about the 80s being "dated", I have a hard time not laughing at some of the absurd, odd apparel and grooming choices of society in the 90s. Thankfully, a good film can overcome these obstacles and not appear dated. This one, SPEED (1994) fits the bill!
Starring Keanu Reeves, who in my opinion delivers his greatest film performance, "Speed" is an "adrenaline rush" of a movie. The movie starts with an intense, suspenseful sequence of a group of people trapped in an elevator rigged with a bomb set to detonated by it's creator psychopath Howard Payne (played solidly by Dennis Hopper). Enter our film's hero Officer Jack Traven (played by Reeves), a member of the LAPD S.W.A.T. team, along with his partner Harry (winningly played by Jeff Daniel). Harry is the typical snarky sidekick of the film's action hero, but Daniels' reliably goofy personality makes it work. This film actually makes me understand why he was good in "Dumb and Dumber"! LOL Reeves and Daniels buddy chemistry is believable.
After Jack and Harry save the day, Payne is presumed dead in an explosion. A few months pass, and two city buses are rigged to explode. Turns out Payne is very much alive and out to play cat-and- mouse with Jack. Payne detonates the first bus, then tells Jack where the second one is. Jack finds the bus, but the catch is that once it goes over 50mph, it has to stay above that speed or the bomb will detonate, thus the plot of "Speed"!
In a surprising development, one of the bus passengers Annie (wonderfully played by then relative unknown, but now famous Sandra Bullock), who was on her way to work, must take over the wheel and keep the bus above 50mph. Along for the ride are a group of reliable supporting players: Joe Morton as the S.W.A.T team leader and Alan Ruck, Beth Grant, and Carlos Carrasco as part of the group of frustrated and frenetic bus passengers.
Interestingly, the film starts off with hostages trapped in an LA high-rise office building, a la "Die Hard", of which "Speed" has been called a ripoff in some circles. But "Speed" still works as it's own entity mainly due to Jack Traven feeling like an original character due to Reeves' strong acting and convincing performance as a cop and action hero, the Jack-Annie dynamic, and even the overall vibe of "Speed" is more fast-paced than "Die Hard". "Die Hard" is still the seminal action film, but "Speed" is a great addition to the genre. In particular the stunts are very well-staged, convincingly delivered, and don't feel implausible for the most part.
Now, the film definitely has a few minuses. Other than the action, of which there is a lot, much of the non-action scenes are the standard of most action films. While Hopper is very good as the villain of the piece, he's not nearly as memorable as other action movie bad guys, like the ones from the original Lethal Weapon and Die Hard movies. I've also read people say that Bullock steals the film, and I think that's incredibly overstated. Her role isn't as large in this as I initially remembered. While her chemistry with Keanu is palpable, this film is Reeves' movie all the way. While he may be the weaker actor overall of the main cast, in this film, REEVES steals the show!
Although Jan De Bont would go onto to direct the extremely cheesy "Twister" and the awful sequel to this film "Speed 2", both dubious projects to say the least, he can always hang his hat on "Speed" as being one of the most intense, engrossing action movie experiences of the 90s, if not of all time.