Sit down and enjoy the cinematic bus ride, or take the taxi!

Rating: 9/10 (24 January 1999)

There are three ways to describe this virtually nonstop action experience: it's a "brake"-through, a break-"through", and yes, a "BREAKTHROUGH". Never before my bleeding eyes has there been a movie so exciting, and yet, so suspenseful and pulse-pounding that it blows all the other "me-too" action movies out of the water as fast as you can say "Roadkill!"! The opening is incredible enough to feel that you can't take any more high intensity, and that's only warming up. Among the breakthroughs is Sandra Bullock, for whom this movie confirms her now-classic signature role as "Annie", taking over the driver's seat and SPEEDing along. If it sounds like just another runaway bus, then you're missing everything else! The high-powered plot is hands down, the most well-conceived idea that it can be derived from past "disaster" films of the 70s. A simple bomb threat creates a widespread panic for all of us sitting around eating popcorn and drinking Coke. Only one thing could be wrong: the action usually stays in the same place while plenty of it is moving in all sorts of frenzy directions. Action lovers need not to look any further, because SPEED is one of the best films in the genre, and approved by my highest possible recommendation.