One of the most memorable action movies of the 1990's.

Rating: 8/10 (4 December 2007)

Officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves), who's part of the SWAT Team along with his partner Det. Harold "Harry" Temple (Jeff Daniels) thought they will see the last of a mysterious mad bomber (Dennis Hopper). Who seemingly killed himself after being caught by Jack and Harry, when this mad bomber tried to kill full of people in a elevator shaft for ransom. Now Jack finds himself on the clock, when this terrorist calls him to tell him to try to catch the next transporting bus in the city of Los Angeles. Which he wants a big sum of money by only in a couple of hours. If this Bus goes down 50 MPH, the Bus will exploded. Now Jack finally caught on the bus by telling the passengers that their lives is also in danger. When one of the passengers accidentally shots the bus driver from panicking, one of the passengers named Annie (Sandra Bullock) takes over the bus. Which Jack has to do his best to keep the passengers claim until the SWAT Team tries to find out, who is this crazed terrorist before it's too late. Which this bad guy is actually quite clever. Now it is a race against time to find this bomber before they run out of gas on this bus before they get blown away.
Directed by Jan de Bont (Lara Croft's Tomb Raider:The Cradle of Life, The Haunting "1999", Twister) made an enjoyable action-thriller with plenty of thrills, laughs, suspense and genuinely good character developments. Reeves plays his action hero extremely well. Bullock is charming in her supporting role that made her an movie star. Of course, Hopper has a great time playing this terrific bad-guy. This film was one of the biggest surprises in the summer of 1994 and it also got great reviews by the critics as well. Like any other action-pictures it has its share of flaws (Especially if you could see some the obvious continuity errors or revealing mistakes on the technical side of the movie). But this film is so much entertaining and fast-paced, that you might not think of it as first. After the success of "Speed", then three years later "Speed 2:Cruise Control" was produced. The sequel was one of the biggest box office disappointments in the U.S. and Reeves was wise enough to not reprise his role in that silly sequel. Which some fans of the original pretend that the sequel never existed. But still, "Speed" is a very good action movie and it is still better than some of the recent action-films out there. Alan Ruck is a hoot as the dull-witted passenger and Glenn Plummer is amusing as the Juguar Owner. Look close for Richard Schiff (From "The West Wing" fame) as the Train Driver. Written by Graham Yost (Broken Arrow, Hard Rain, Mission to Mars). Joss Whedon (Alien Resurrection, Serenity, Toy Story), who re-wrote much of the script is uncredited. This picture won Two Oscars for Best Sound and Best Sound Editing. Panavision. (****/*****).