Heavy traffic ahead...

Rating: Null/10 (28 February 2002)

The things about "Speed" that are most interesting to me are its theme of urban motion and the extraordinary way that the film's mise-en-scene reinforces that theme. All of the conveyances that modern city dwellers use to propel themselves through their environment are presented here (elevators, buses, cars, subway trains) and all are constantly moving faster and faster. Indeed, the essence of city life is captured in the single word that makes up the film's title.
***POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD***
Actually, "Speed" is sort of a visual orgy of transportation in general: in one sequence alone, we see the procession of the doomed bus and its entourage of police motorcycles and cars hurtling down the interstate, while helicopters fly overhead. The bus runs loops around planes at the airport and careens crazily through crowded downtown intersections.
It is all too appropriate that the film takes place in Los Angeles, which, with its traffic-choked freeways and metropolitan sprawl, is an urban planner's ultimate nightmare (to be fair, the same problems exist in most American cities; but since Los Angeles is the most American of American cities, the situation there is exacerbated). "Speed" reminds me very much of the first "Terminator" movie, also set in L.A. and also using its urban setting to great advantage.