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Plot - A crazed and dangerous man by the name of Howard Payne (Hopper) attempts to extort money with threats of killing people trapped inside an elevator by setting off a series of explosions. Much to his chagrin his plans are foiled by young SWAT officer Jack Traven (Reeves) and his partner Harry Temple (Daniels). It was believed that he had been killed in the confrontation but he was actually able to escape, and now he's out for revenge. He still wants his money, but now he also wants to play with Jack like a puppet. He blows up one bus and places a bomb on another. Payne contacts Traven personally to taunt him and inform him that if the bus' speed drops below 50 mph it will explode. In his attempts to save the commuters on board, Traven himself actually boards the bus. When the bus driver is accidentally shot; a young female commuter, Annie Porter (Bullock) takes over at the wheel. Together she and Jack work in tandem to try and keep the bus going at all costs until a solution can be found.
What a premise that is! How could you possibly go wrong with such a tantalising concept to work from? I've got no idea, and thankfully it appears that neither did Jan de Bont. A few weeks back I had the misfortune to finally watch the awful Speed 2: Cruise Control. I was so insulted and hurt by it that I knew I just had to go back to the original in an attempt to wipe it from my memory. And thankfully I found this film to still be brilliant. Speed is one of the absolutely definitive entries into the action genre in my eyes, and one of my absolute favourites.
Speed actually has a rather sedate opening. The first two or three minutes is nothing but the camera panning down an elevator shaft, with the credits rolling onto the screen against the grey and repetitive background. After that though the film really does come flying right out of the gate, and is basically just three extended set-pieces smashed together for the next two hours of its running time. It really is just an unending adrenaline rush that barely gives you a single pause for breath. There's a Jason Statham film from a few years back now called Crank. Now I've not actually seen it myself but I am aware of its plot - Statham's character is injected with a poison that will result in his death if his heart dropped below a certain level. To avoid this he must do all he can to maintain a high adrenaline level. So his character takes drugs, gets in fight, commits crimes and has sex in public all in an effort to keep the adrenaline flowing. All he really had to do was sit down, pop a DVD of Speed in and he'd be set!
Jan de Bont's creative, and at times inventive, direction helps to deliver an absolutely frenzied pace and is responsible for so much of the film's relentless energy. The achievement that he was able to pull of really is highly impressive. Creating a sequence that entails numerous vehicles and activities for just one scene can be a tricky thing to pull off. To manage it for a whole film is pretty damn incredible. A while back I watched the rather great To Live and Die in LA; that featured a fantastic chase sequence helmed by William Friedkin. Here de Bont pretty much takes that and just stretches it out to a whole film. His ability to choreograph so many cars and trucks and create thrilling scenes with them, all while keeping things coherent and not overwhelming the viewer, is quite a feat and he does it with great aplomb. The film also features some immense practical stunt work, with Keanu Reeves performing about 90% of the stunts himself. Doing so just adds such a level of authenticity and danger to proceedings. And the fact that de Bont was able to deliver such endless thrills on a relatively paltry budget of between $25 and $30 million I find to be just staggering.
The film was written by Graham Yost, and going by his script I feel safe in saying that he is one sadistic b**tard!! He just doesn't give these characters a break, piling on one complication after another. I just picture him writing this script and cackling away maniacally to himself as he comes up with each new predicament. I'll stick people on a bus with a bomb., Oh and then I'll have the driver get shot, leaving no-one qualified to drive the bus., Oh and then there will be heavy LA traffic to deal with of course.; Hell let's also put a big chasm in the road they'll have to job over! Given it's pretty lurid and over-the-top concept you'd be forgiven for not expecting much from the script outself outside of that ludicrous starting point. However it actually proves to be a surprisingly smart and witty script, really mining the premise for every amount of tension and thrills possible. Thought some credit should apparently go to the god of the geeks that is Joss Whedon. He rewrote the script uncredited and according to Graham Yost provided much of the film's dialogue. And Whedon's touch was vital in bringing Reeves on board. He had initially turned down the role as he found the script to be too much of a Die Hard clone. After Whedon re-tooled the script Reeves agreed.to sign on.
The plot and action are king here, leaving the characters to be little more than one dimensional fodder for Yost and de Bont to mess with. Very importantly however they are all very well played by the cast. No-one is ever going to accuse Keanu Reeves of possessing great acting talent but when he's placed in the right role he can be very effective, as seen in the likes of Bill & Ted, The Matrix and here in Speed. He brings a nice sense of authority and swagger to the role, resulting in a certain charisma and charm. And while he may not have much more than standard villain tropes to work with, Dennis Hopper gives a deliciously nasty performance as the maniacal psycho with a grudge. He sneers and barks his way through the film, given the chance to spew out some terrifically colourful dialogue with glee.
The star for me however would probably have to be the delightful Sandra Bullock. She is an actress I've always really liked and unless I'm getting mixed up I believe this was the first film where I fell in love with her. I just find her to be immensely likeable in general, and particularly here as the strong and feisty Annie. A real part of the appeal is that she doesn't really inhabit the classic female lead role and love interest. The character comes across as a very natural and realistic character, acting and reacting the way you would really expect someone to. And cursing all the way! Handling both the serious and comedic moments wonderfully, she just brings the heart to the film. Together she and Reeves have a really nice, easy-going chemistry that provides the film with many of its lighter moments and helps to keep the characters from being dwarfed by the larger than life premise.
Speed is just so superior to its sequel in every single way. One such element is in its ability to flesh out the characters that are in peril to a point where we actually like and care about them. In Cruise Control I honestly couldn't care about a single one of them. Here it's achieved thanks to a combination of the writing and the performances of some very capable character actors. You've got the great Alan Ruck as a hapless tourist who provides a lot of laughs and generates a good deal of empathy. Joe Morton is tough and ballsy as Reeves' lieutenant. There are a couple of people who have a really distinct look and lots of character such as Beth Grant (who I feel I've seen in just about every TV show ever) and Hawthorne Jones as Sam the bus driver. And then of course you have the wonderful Jeff Daniels who never fails to entertain in my opinion. Playing Reeves' injured partner he runs Ruck close in terms of laughs generated.
So an excellent film then. All of that said though; when you consider the amount of damage that the bus does to numerous cars, buildings, planes etc wouldn't it just have been cheaper to pay the guy his ransom!
Conclusion - Absolutely fantastic!!! I had actually forgotten just how much I loved this film. It's everything that Speed 2 isn't; it's chock-full of thrills, it's got a lot of humour, it has a degree of intelligence, it features a series of great performances and all in all is just one of the most purely entertaining films I've ever come across. More than that, I actually think this is just an absolutely brilliant film in general!
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Year of release
1994
1994
Directed by
Jan de Bont
Jan de Bont
Written by
Graham Yost
Graham Yost
Starring
Keanu Reeves
Sandra Bullock
Dennis Hopper
Jeff Daniels
Alan Ruck
Joe Morton
Keanu Reeves
Sandra Bullock
Dennis Hopper
Jeff Daniels
Alan Ruck
Joe Morton
Speed
Plot - A crazed and dangerous man by the name of Howard Payne (Hopper) attempts to extort money with threats of killing people trapped inside an elevator by setting off a series of explosions. Much to his chagrin his plans are foiled by young SWAT officer Jack Traven (Reeves) and his partner Harry Temple (Daniels). It was believed that he had been killed in the confrontation but he was actually able to escape, and now he's out for revenge. He still wants his money, but now he also wants to play with Jack like a puppet. He blows up one bus and places a bomb on another. Payne contacts Traven personally to taunt him and inform him that if the bus' speed drops below 50 mph it will explode. In his attempts to save the commuters on board, Traven himself actually boards the bus. When the bus driver is accidentally shot; a young female commuter, Annie Porter (Bullock) takes over at the wheel. Together she and Jack work in tandem to try and keep the bus going at all costs until a solution can be found.
There's a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up.
What a premise that is! How could you possibly go wrong with such a tantalising concept to work from? I've got no idea, and thankfully it appears that neither did Jan de Bont. A few weeks back I had the misfortune to finally watch the awful Speed 2: Cruise Control. I was so insulted and hurt by it that I knew I just had to go back to the original in an attempt to wipe it from my memory. And thankfully I found this film to still be brilliant. Speed is one of the absolutely definitive entries into the action genre in my eyes, and one of my absolute favourites.
Speed actually has a rather sedate opening. The first two or three minutes is nothing but the camera panning down an elevator shaft, with the credits rolling onto the screen against the grey and repetitive background. After that though the film really does come flying right out of the gate, and is basically just three extended set-pieces smashed together for the next two hours of its running time. It really is just an unending adrenaline rush that barely gives you a single pause for breath. There's a Jason Statham film from a few years back now called Crank. Now I've not actually seen it myself but I am aware of its plot - Statham's character is injected with a poison that will result in his death if his heart dropped below a certain level. To avoid this he must do all he can to maintain a high adrenaline level. So his character takes drugs, gets in fight, commits crimes and has sex in public all in an effort to keep the adrenaline flowing. All he really had to do was sit down, pop a DVD of Speed in and he'd be set!
Film trivia While Speed may have been the film that really made Sandra Bullock's career, no-one else apparently saw the potential. It seems like the film-makers couldn't give the role of Annie away. Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver, Cameron Diaz, Julia Roberts, Jodie Foster, Kim Basinger, Halle Berry, Geena Davis, Carrie Fisher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Emma Thompson, Rosanna Arquette, Meg Ryan, Ally Sheedy, Maris Tomei and Sarah Jessica Parker are just some of the dozens of actresses who all turned down the role. And thank goodness they did!
The film was written by Graham Yost, and going by his script I feel safe in saying that he is one sadistic b**tard!!
He just doesn't give these characters a break, piling on one complication after another. I just picture him writing this script and cackling away maniacally to himself as he comes up with each new predicament. I'll stick people on a bus with a bomb., Oh and then I'll have the driver get shot, leaving no-one qualified to drive the bus., Oh and then there will be heavy LA traffic to deal with of course.; Hell let's also put a big chasm in the road they'll have to job over! Given it's pretty lurid and over-the-top concept you'd be forgiven for not expecting much from the script outself outside of that ludicrous starting point. However it actually proves to be a surprisingly smart and witty script, really mining the premise for every amount of tension and thrills possible. Thought some credit should apparently go to the god of the geeks that is Joss Whedon. He rewrote the script uncredited and according to Graham Yost provided much of the film's dialogue. And Whedon's touch was vital in bringing Reeves on board. He had initially turned down the role as he found the script to be too much of a Die Hard clone. After Whedon re-tooled the script Reeves agreed.to sign on.The plot and action are king here, leaving the characters to be little more than one dimensional fodder for Yost and de Bont to mess with. Very importantly however they are all very well played by the cast. No-one is ever going to accuse Keanu Reeves of possessing great acting talent but when he's placed in the right role he can be very effective, as seen in the likes of Bill & Ted, The Matrix and here in Speed. He brings a nice sense of authority and swagger to the role, resulting in a certain charisma and charm. And while he may not have much more than standard villain tropes to work with, Dennis Hopper gives a deliciously nasty performance as the maniacal psycho with a grudge. He sneers and barks his way through the film, given the chance to spew out some terrifically colourful dialogue with glee.
Film trivia - I mentioned earlier that the film had a rather paltry budget in terms of action-packed blockbusters and the film did actually run out of money before it was completed. As a result when the first preview screening was held for an audience, the closing subway scenes appeared only in the form of animated storyboards. The audience loved the sequences so much though that the studio immediately came up with the additional funds to shoot the scenes properly.
Handling both the serious and comedic moments wonderfully, she just brings the heart to the film. Together she and Reeves have a really nice, easy-going chemistry that provides the film with many of its lighter moments and helps to keep the characters from being dwarfed by the larger than life premise. Speed is just so superior to its sequel in every single way. One such element is in its ability to flesh out the characters that are in peril to a point where we actually like and care about them. In Cruise Control I honestly couldn't care about a single one of them. Here it's achieved thanks to a combination of the writing and the performances of some very capable character actors. You've got the great Alan Ruck as a hapless tourist who provides a lot of laughs and generates a good deal of empathy. Joe Morton is tough and ballsy as Reeves' lieutenant. There are a couple of people who have a really distinct look and lots of character such as Beth Grant (who I feel I've seen in just about every TV show ever) and Hawthorne Jones as Sam the bus driver. And then of course you have the wonderful Jeff Daniels who never fails to entertain in my opinion. Playing Reeves' injured partner he runs Ruck close in terms of laughs generated.
So an excellent film then. All of that said though; when you consider the amount of damage that the bus does to numerous cars, buildings, planes etc wouldn't it just have been cheaper to pay the guy his ransom!
Conclusion - Absolutely fantastic!!! I had actually forgotten just how much I loved this film. It's everything that Speed 2 isn't; it's chock-full of thrills, it's got a lot of humour, it has a degree of intelligence, it features a series of great performances and all in all is just one of the most purely entertaining films I've ever come across. More than that, I actually think this is just an absolutely brilliant film in general!