Speed

Plot synopsis:
In a downtown office building, an express elevator's cables are blown, and 13 people are trapped inside. Los Angeles Police dispatch their men, including Officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) and Detective Harry Temple (Jeff Daniels). Capt. McMahon (Joe Morton) briefs the men on the situation: bombs have already knocked out the main cables. The only thing keeping the elevator from dropping to the basement is the emergency brake. The bomber has wired this with explosives, and has given a one hour ultimatum: pay him $3.7 million, or he blows the emergency brake.Both Jack and Harry use building access panels to examine the bomb, before Jack comes up with the idea to use a window cleaner's crane on the roof as a way to hopefully help get the passengers off. However, once they have hooked the crane, the bomber blows the emergency brakes, and the elevator begins to plummet.The crane cable stops the elevator for a short time between two floors, where Harry and Jack manage to get the passengers unloaded before the crane pulls free of it's base and the elevator plummets to the bottom. Harry notes that the explosion happened earlier than the time limit given, with Jack thinking the bomber must still be in the building. With the main elevators having been shut off, Jack assumes the bomber must be aboard a freight elevator in the building.Harry and Jack find the freight elevator, where they encounter Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper), their bomber, although his name is not yet known at this point. Payne takes Harry hostage, and shows that he has wired himself with explosives. Payne attempts to take Harry with him to the building's parking garage, but Jack shoots Harry in the leg, preventing Payne from taking Harry any further and causing Payne to drop him. Payne makes a dash out the door, but before Jack can get to him, the explosives go off, knocking him back.Some time afterward, a commendation ceremony is held in which Jack and Harry are congratulated for their services. They go to a bar where they and their colleagues celebrate their victory. An inebriated Harry tells Jack to be more cautious in his work because his recklessness could get him killed.The next day, Jack stops into a small coffee shop for a drink. As he goes out to his car, a bus that had pulled away explodes and bursts into flames. A payphone nearby rings, and Jack is surprised to hear Payne's voice on the line. Payne explains that he had spent 2 years planning the 'elevator job,' and chastises Jack for ruining his 'life's work.' The bomber then goes on to explain that he has planted another bomb on a bus, which will be armed the moment the bus passes 50 mph, and then will detonate if the bus drops below that speed. Payne also explains that if any passengers are removed from the bus, he will detonate it himself, and asks for a ransom of $3.7 million (the same amount he'd demanded during the elevator kidnapping) by 11am. Payne gives the bus number as 2525, and Jack takes off to catch up to it.Jack manages to catch up to the bus en route, but when he frantically tries to get the bus driver to open the doors, the driver ignores him, thinking it's a prank. Jack then commandeers a Jaguar, and again catches up to the bus. After a mad struggle, Jack manages to relay to the driver that there is a bomb on the bus, and manages to board, jumping from the moving car into the bus' door. Harry is also alerted by Jack through the Jaguar owner's cellular phone.Jack attempts to calm the bus passengers, but an altercation with one man wielding a gun causes an incident to break out, and the bus driver is wounded. A young woman named Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock) takes the wheel, planning to hit the brakes, and it is then that Jack explains about the bomb on the bus to the passengers. Jack opens an access panel in the bus floor, and finds the bomb. Relaying this to Harry, Harry is perplexed that the timer for the bomb is attached to a cheap gold watch. Harry's suspicions turn to the prospect that their mad bomber may be a former officer, and he has his staff start looking over information about officers who have worked with bombs or on bomb squads.Back on the bus, a traffic jam on the freeways forces Annie to divert the bus onto city streets instead. Eventually, a police escort and a LAPD helicopter with Capt. McMahon aboard guide the bus to the unfinished 105 freeway. Once on the freeway, McMahon and a number of officers board a flatbed truck that pulls up next to the bus. McMahon wants to get the people off, but Jack explains that the news helicopters in the air are televising the event, and that Payne will detonate the bus if anyone gets off.Jack soon receives a call from Payne in regards to what is being seen on television. Jack manages to get Payne to consider letting the wounded bus driver off, though Payne tells Jack that 'the wildcat behind the wheel' is not to slow down. However, a passenger named Helen (Beth Grant) gets edgy, and attempts to get off the bus. As she stands over the entrance-way stairs, a smaller charge is set off that destroys the platform. Helen falls under the bus and is run over by the wheels.McMahon is then informed that the 105 freeway is unfinished, and a stretch of roadway ahead contains a 50ft span that is missing. Jack is informed of this, but still refuses to take any passengers off. Jack then instructs Annie to increase the bus speed, figuring their may be an incline that will allow them to jump the bus over the gap. Miraculously, his plan works, and the bus makes it to the other side.Once over, Jack finds an off-ramp that leads to Los Angeles International Airport. Annie takes it, and enters through an airport exit, running over a pair of spike strips that destroy the tires. Jack's plan is to keep the news copter cameras from following them. Because the airport is restricted airspace, they can't fly over it. The long runways that are not in use will also allow the bus to circle and keep it out of civilian traffic.Capt McMahon soon shows up at the airport with some more cops, and Jack gets off the bus onto a vehicle with the Captain. McMahon feels they should be able to unload the passengers safely, but Jack is still convinced that Payne will know.Jack is then put onto a small-wheeled dolly attached by a cable to a small truck and sent under the still-moving bus, hoping to dismantle the bomb. However, the mechanism is too complex, and Jack is unable to stop it. Harry has been giving Jack the information to try and dismantle the bomb, when his associates come back with Payne's identity. Payne turns out to be a former member of the Atlanta Police Department's bomb squad. Harry and his associates rush off to apprehend Howard.Jack soon comes close to death when the cable towing the dolly he's on gives way, and he is almost run over by the bus. Jack clings to the undercarriage of the bus, but accidentally ruptures the fuel tank with a screwdriver. The passengers on the bus help Jack up through an access panel in the bus' floor, and he survives. With leaking fuel a new problem, Jack calls for a fuel car to pace the bus and refuel them.Meanwhile, Harry and some other members of the LAPD have staked out and entered Payne's home. They soon find he is not there, but realize this too late, triggering a bomb planted in the house that kills those inside, including Harry.After the bomb goes off, Payne calls Jack, and gloats over Harry's death. Payne then gives Jack instructions to deliver the $3.7 million ransom to a garbage can at Pershing Square downtown. Jack is unsure what to do next, when he notices the sweatshirt Annie had been wearing, which contains the logo for the Arizona Wildcats. Payne had called Annie a "wildcat" before on the phone, and now Jack realizes that Payne has been monitoring the bus through the security camera above the bus driver's seat. Though the camera can record video, it cannot record audio.Jack radios over to McMahon regarding his plan. McMahon gets all the news vans nearby to stop taping, and commandeers one to find the signal going into the bus camera. With everyone sitting still on the bus, the news team records them, gathering enough footage to run a video loop to fool Payne. However, Annie notes that the fuel is almost on empty, and McMahon is forced to have the tape loop with only a minute of footage having been recorded.An airport bus is brought alongside bus 2525, and the passengers are unloaded. However, the tires that had been punctured once the bus went through the airport's exits continue to lose their treads, and Annie and Jack are unable to get off. Jack affixes the steering wheel with some rope, and the two escape from under the bus using the access panel. The bus drives a ways off, before heading towards a cargo plane. As the speed drops below 50, the bus explodes, also destroying the cargo plane.After the passengers are treated by paramedics, the police receive a call from Payne wanting to know about the money. McMahon is about to tell off Payne, but Jack realizes that Payne does not know the bus exploded, giving them the advantage to capture the madman.A plan is made with the money placed in sacks, with paint bombs inside. A number of officers patrol Pershing Square, with Payne watching from an overhead building's window. Payne thinks he's won, until he notices the bus camera, and realizes that the tape is on a loop. Payne quickly puts on his uniform, and blending in with the other officers, walks over to Annie, and escorts her away from the scene.Jack and a number of officers are watching the garbage can, but no one has appeared. Jack suddenly demands they turn on the homing beacon with the money...and all of them are surprised to see that the money is in motion! Jack rushes out to the garbage can, and finds that there is a hole in the bottom of it, leading down to a level below the street.Jack finds an entrance to the area below street level, and is confronted with Annie strapped with explosives, and Payne standing nearby, holding a detonator. Payne chastises Jack a bit before making his way to the LA subway system, with Jack jumping aboard as it pulls away, crawling across the top.Payne handcuffs Annie to a pole, and kills the train driver. Payne the explains his plan to Annie: he intends to get off the train with the money, but leave her to explode, causing the police to think they both died on the subway.Payne's overzealous nature gets the better of him, as he hears Jack climbing on top of the train car. Playfully claiming he may be able to bribe Jack into letting him go, Payne reaches into the sack of money, only to set off the paint bomb, ruining the money.Payne then climbs up the side of the train car on the outside, and goes hand-to-hand with Jack. As they fight, Jack notices a low-overhanging light approaching, and holds Payne's head up while seizing the detonator to Annie's bomb from Payne. The light decapitates Payne, and his body falls over the side of the car.Jack then enters the car, and manages to get the explosives off Annie. However, he does not have the key to her handcuffs, and Payne's killing of the train driver has rendered the brakes inoperable. A railmap shows Jack that there's a sharp curve ahead. He speeds up the train with the intention of derailing it. The plan works and Annie is freed from the bar. The train barrels out of an incomplete stretch of track right in front of the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. It lands on its side and comes to a halt. Annie and Jack are both alive and as they kiss, a number of tourists and others whom the train has stopped traffic for, come over to look at the strange spectacle.

Tags: comedy, boring, mystery, murder, cult, revenge, violence, good versus evil, humor, action, claustrophobic, romantic, suspenseful

Review:
I just love this movie, alongside with The Matrix, Johnny Mnemonic and Point Break is one of my favorite action film of Keanu Reeves.
Speed is simply similar to other sequel movie like are Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995) that come out one year later, when Sandra was handcuffed on the train and Keanu was saving her, the same cuffing scene was later used in Die Hard With A Vengeance.
I still love both of these movies, they are both great action films of the 90's and one of my all time favorite Keanu Reeves movies.
And since it revolves around the bus ride the entire time they do a good job with adding little problems they must overcome to ensure the bus does not explode, such as sharp turns and getting on an unfinished bridge so they can stay over 50 mph.Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves), an LAPD cop on SWAT detail, has a fearless nature and a keen understanding of the criminal mind.
Poor Annie (Sandra Bullock) gets shoved into the driver's seat, while Jack does his best to save the day.That is the basic plot, it is a slick film about a young cop who must prevent a bomb exploding aboard on a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph.
Speed is one of my favorite action movies of all time, just a notch below contemporaries like Terminator 2 and Die Hard.
If ever there was a film I wished I had seen at the theater,this would be the one.It's a great combination of a well written story, great direction,and a great cast.It's one of those films that you want to like so much,and it does not disappoint.The only thing that bothered me about the film is perhaps is the insertion of ill timed corny remarks ("He lost his head"),and the ending could have been done better,but overall a great action film worth owning..
Not only do Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock do top work, but Dennis Hopper makes the most compelling villain of the '90s.It all starts with a revenge-driven extortionist letting authorities know he has planted a bomb on a bus.
What do you do?Beat the rush hour, run the red lights, stay above 50mph and make your way to your nearest video supplier to buy or rent Speed.This film is a definite MUST for those people who enjoy a good Action Thriller type film (and maybe even for those who don't).I have a lot of love for Speed and no matter how many times I see it; it STILL continues to deliver non-stop action and incredible stunts & special effects.
Jan de Bont did a fantastic job directing this and I can't believe that the same guy who made this also made such a dire sequel like Cruise Control (but that's another story).Keanu Reeves once more proves what a great actor he is and that he is well suited for these types of movies.
He makes a great villain.The main three stars of Reeves, Bullock, & Hopper is strongly supported by Joe Morton (Terminator 2) and Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber) and it's also nice to see supporting actors actually doing something.I am proud to say that Speed has a place on my DVD rack.
If you like the cast mentioned above and want to see Dennis Hopper in a great performance then I strongly recommend that you watch or even buy Speed today!.
Los Angeles SWAT daredevil cops( Keaunu Reeves, Jeff Daniels ) commanded by their chief (Joe Morton ) taking on extreme terrorist ( a bomber well performed by Dennis Hooper)who wires first an elevator and after that a public bus where a handful of characters (Alan Ruck, Carlos Carrasco, among others) face certain death .
Yeah, I know this was a huge hit, and I enjoyed it when I first saw it, too, but on the second viewing, Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves - two of the dumbest-sounding actors in recent memory - made this too annoying for future viewings.Bullock, an airhead who has made very few, if any, good movies, must have majored in using God's name solely in exclamation, because that's about all she can say.
Dennis Hopper's villainous character also gives us the Hollywood cliché of talking- instead-killing to the maximum here - another insult to any viewer of any intelligence.Having said all of that, the film gets points for having a simple-but very involving and interesting premise and a few spectacular action scenes that got everyone excited about seeing the film back in the mid '90s.
They use their own plot up and cannot think of anything new during the film..I personaly think it should have been called...Busting Tires,Blowing up cars,And running out of road.The first time they said..."Jack,beware the road isn't finished".was slightly okay,but they had to use it again and when they should've just ended.I must admit though,this movie is good for a laugh,that is exactly how stupid it is.
I have to say that normally a Keanu Reeves movie is only sometimes enjoyable to watch, but this was a very exciting action movie, in fact one of the best I've seen.
They must go on a driving spree to make sure that everyone can stay alive with trying to figure out a way off the bus.Speed is a very great action movie that everyone needs to see, it's just one of those movies that really gets you excited and never lets you go.
*** 1/2 out of ****Keanu Reeves is a rarity: he's a second-rate actor (at least compared to other big movie stars like Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford) who has kept his career afloat courtesy of a critically and commercially successful film every now and then.
Bringing together a highly unlikely cast (Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Daniels, and a then unknown Sandra Bullock) and first-time director Jan De Bont, it must have spelled a recipe for disaster.But by miracle or just pure filmmaking bravado (more the latter than the former, though if the film had been made yeseterday, I might be more inclined to agree with the former), they pulled off a great action film, one of the best in big-screen history.After beginning with what must be one of the most intense opening credits sequences, the plot quickly gets underway.
But his plan to extort $3.7 million is foiled by quick-thinking LAPD cop Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) and his partner (Jeff Daniels, in pretty much the thankless role that really doesn't go anywhere).Out for revenge, Payne raises the stakes further in his ransom demands by rigging a bomb under a city bus.
Every strand related to story and script is merely a means to keep the action and suspense going; I've rarely seen films maintain such a high level of intensity and pure thrilling, crowdpleasing fun for such a lengthy period of time.Director Jan De Bont's work here is probably among the best feature film debuts out there (only Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead comes to mind, but was that even released in theaters in the U.S.?); he keeps the editing super-tight and the pacing frantic, but still putting the action together with crystal-clear comprehensibility.
Cast directors must also be applauded for all the extras and character actors they used to play the bus passengers; there's a genuine sense of teamwork and solid chemistry at hand.At no point does Speed ever crumble; its perfectly lean storytelling ensures that it never strays from the thrills on hand and it's so exciting only the biggest hard-hearted churl would try to nitpick the implausibilities.
And when the bus is circling the airport runway (with tires taken out by the entrance's spike strip), they can hardly keep the little cart Keanu Reeves is riding under the bus stable, yet, the bus turns round and round, with his cart following flawlessly, plus this somehow has to lead to him poking a hole in the bus gas tank.I also love the last action scene in Speed.
However despite these things in working order like with all machines there is that looming possibility that something can go wrong and usually does.This is one of my favorite action films of all time, it's just so thrilling and so much fun.
His character is a smart greedy psychopath who is menacing, a short fuse when things don't go his way, and he's got some charisma so he's got some really good lines.Protagonists are also good from the main one Jack Traven played well by Keanu Reeves, he's tough, knows how to keep his cool and be in control of an out of control situation, smart, and also has charisma he has some good lines as well as humorous moments like unintentionally giving a guy I call the Tuneman some grief.Annie Porter played by one of my favorite actresses Sandra Bullock whom I think is hot and has the persona to boot.
I love the way it's structured it's sort of like a video game you just can't afford to take a breath, where in this film you have three different situations which are the Elevator, Bus, and Train, much like how each level of a game is always a different challenge; and all require for everyone to constantly move if they stay still for even a mere moment then it's game over forever.Also as the action is going along there are constant obstacles whether it's something in the way or even time itself, I like how the protagonists have to think throughly fast on how to get though this or survive that.
Reeves plays L.A.P.D. SWAT specialist Jack Traven as a sweet, dedicated young guy who likely spends the weekend smoking bongs with his surfer buddies in between saving the lives of every hostage before an elevator is sent plummeting to certain destruction and using commandeered sports cars on Los Angeles freeways as his springboard to jump onto a bus full of people that may explode at any moment.
Same with Bullock, who plays essentially the same brassy, inadvertently heroic everyday gal with a warm soul, so putting her Annie, with the convenient revoked license for speeding, in the driver's seat where she is responsible for making the fifty-foot leaps in unfinished road and avoiding pedestrians and other oncoming traffic, we have a character who is put to the test of her own mental and physical endurance as well, in a shorthand fashion by a script that cannot afford to slow down.Now, the script does, nevertheless, interrupt itself when it leaves the speeding bus for five minutes or so at a time so that Harry, Jack's mentor/partner/best friend played by Jeff Daniels---yet another familiar actor installing behavioral abbreviation for a character---can compile clues to identify a culprit of whom we're already aware, as well as to elaborate superfluously on a far-fetched potential motive, or when Jack and Annie fall in love amidst a frantic life-or-death endurance trial that lasts under a day.
Keanu Reeves is Jack Traven, an LAPD bomb squad officer who, during the first hour, must try to save a couple of people trapped inside an elevator, while a mad (no, eccentric) maniac (played with real villainy by Dennis Hopper) awaits his demand of cash.When that's all said and done, he must now drive a bus above 50 mph to avoid the bomb in the bus from blowing up.
This is a fast paced, high action thriller.We have the usual lunatic mad bomber, this time played marvelously by Dennis Hopper, disgruntled and off his rocker, who plants bombs in elevators, buses and finally creates havoc on a train.Keanu Reeves is terrific as the cop who foils his plans at every turn along with Jeff Daniels.
This is the latter's best film since he played the ill-fated son-in-law of Shirley MacLaine in the 1983 Oscar winner "Terms of Endearment."Sandra Bullock turned in a fantastic performance as the woman on the bus who winds up having to drive it under such tense circumstances.If all action films were like this.
It turns up to be a cat and mouse game for Travers as he gets on the bus and tries to figure out how to dismantle the bomb and figure out how Payne knows everything in advance.What makes "Speed" such a fantastic movie besides the action scenes include it's top cast.
No longer do we need action heroes like Stallone or Arnold to show their huge muscles where we have young talented actors like Keanu Reeves proving that he can flex his acting abilities besides being in Bill and Ted. Dennis Hopper is one mad S.O.B., in which his character has more smarts and surprises than any villain I had seen in 1994.
Sandra Bullock plays Annie, one of the bus passengers, who would later be a successful actress in the big screens.Truly, one of the best action pictures of the 1990's..
Hyper-kinetic actioner which De Bont,after the tense bomb-in-a-lift scenario,builds swiftly to a breakneck pace and somehow sustains,while Keanu and Sandy generate real chemistry on a speeding,booby-trapped bus.Headlong multiplex entertainment,with Bullock never sexier,Reeves never cooler(WELL MAYBE IN THE MATRIX)and Hopper cackling maniacally in the background.I got a good idea lets make the sequel on a boat NOT!!!..
Speed is one of the best action films to have ever been made, and even if you see it or have seen it 10, 20, 50, or 100 times it still grabs you and takes you on the ride of your life.
Not everything is shiny in retroland.As for the few negatives: Reeves (whom I honestly love as an actor) is a bit wooden, Dennis Hopper is hamming it up like crazy and despite the great presentation the finale goes a bit too much over the top and thus loses a lot of the believability that made the rest of the movie so exciting.
Earlier in the film when we see Reeves just centimeters above the asphalt at breakneck speed we get a better sense of danger than can be achieved with the special effects shots of the ending.Still, a simple and entertaining movie that doesn't insult your intelligence, with relateable characters with enough nuance that they feel like people.
Of course this film, launched sexy Bullocks career, who unwittingly becomes, Reeve's right hand man on a bus set to explode, if the needle, falls under or goes over 50 miles a hour, and I mean hey, it's that a great intense premise for a movie.
Sure, the third act seems out of place and like an unnecessary repeat of what came before, the flick is occasionally a little too cheesy for its own good, Dennis Hopper sometimes gets a bit too hammy and Keanu Reaves, ever so often, shows just how far his acting talent has come since 1994, but this is an incredibly entertaining, wholly engaging and breathlessly exciting action-triller that takes its relatively simple, slightly 'Die Hard (1988)' like premise and does wonders with it.
Howard Payne (the late Dennis Hopper), the maniacal bomb expert trying to secure his retirement and Jack Travin (Keanu Reeves) the relentlessly will powered maverick cop who won't stop until he gets his man.Speed is one of my all time favourite action films.
"Speed", with bad actors Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, poor dialogue and a plot that is completely pointless and nonsense, on top of the fact the bus making a jump...
You're going to say one thing after watching "Speed," and that will be "Whoa." This is an action film as exhausting as "Die Hard" and as exhilarating as the "Terminator" movies.
All good action films have comedic relief, and "Speed" - apart from occasional witty remarks between Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves and/or Dennis Hopper - has Alan Ruck and Jeff Daniels.
There are few movies that can be considered 'timeless' and, although 'Speed' may be an unlikely name to be added to that list, I truly believe it deserves its place among the 'action greats.' Even though it was filmed in the nineties, it looks as good today as it ever did.
"Speed" is a very entertaining movie, about cop Officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) who must prevent a bomb from exploding on a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph.
Dennis Hopper gave a very ruthless performance as terrorist Howard Payne and Sandra Bullock gave a touching and stirring performance as Annie Porter.The action and urgency gets right to the point from beginning to end, giving this entire movie an edge-of-your-seat ride, which would surely keep the audience glued to the screen.Every scene inside the bus gives a heart-pounding experience, letting us wonder what would happen to the people inside and what plan Traven have up his sleeves to save them before the bus explodes or runs out of gas.
Dennis Hopper is a terrific villain, rivalling Alan Rickman in "Die Hard," though Hopper is more psychotic, or in his own words, "eccentric." Also noteworthy is the terrifically lovable Sandra Bullock who uses her comic aptitude to great effect, and she also allows herself to be vulnerable, which makes her more three-dimensional.Like in de Bont's later film, "Twister," composer Mark Macina creates a memorable theme that complements the film to perfection.Flaws aren't really a problem here (I dare anyone to name an action movie that hasn't given into temptation and gone over the top at least a little).
'Speed' is a symbol of 90's action movies and one of the best masterpiece that Keanu Reeves starred.
With exciting and fast paced action sequences from beginning to end, characters that are charismatic and fun to watch and a simple but grabbing plot that manages to make itself all the more interesting as it goes on by upping the ante with even crazier stunts and even bigger explosions, "Speed" delivers a two hour long thrill ride that will keep
He's the catalyst for what makes Speed memorable: the action sequences.The elevator is a well executed scene but the true meat is in the bus sequence, introducing Sandra Bullock's character of Annie.