Movie Review: Speed (1994)

Synopsis: After winning a medal for stopping a bomber and saving 13 people, Los Angeles Police officer Jack Traven learns the bomber, who police had believed to be dead, is still alive and has planted another bomb. This time, it is on a city bus and will detonate if it detects a speed below 50 mph or the passengers try to escape. When the bus driver is seriously injured, Jack needs to rely on the driving skills of passenger Annie Porter while he tries to figure out a way to save everyone.

Who's in it? The movie stars Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Daniels and Alan Ruck.

Review: My wife and I had some time to kill while waiting for our daughter's last rehearsal before her final round of community theater shows this weekend and I decided to stick to our unintended Sandra Bullock theme by picking out a film we hadn't seen in a while, Speed. Overall, after re-watching it, I have to say it was a good choice.

There are a couple things that stood out for me when watching Speed. One of the main ones was how it was exactly what I would expect from a film that refers to itself as an "action movie." The movie starts out with Jack (Reeves) and his partner, Harry (Daniels) facing down and stopping the bomber, Howard Payne (Hopper). then, minutes later, Jack is commandeering a car and speeding through Los Angeles to chase down a bus. Any gaps in the action from that point forward are just short enough to add some depth to the story before having Jack and Annie (Bullock) face another obstacle.

The various characters also add to this movie. Unlike many other films, Jack and Annie aren't robotic, they both have emotional breakdowns that are almost as crippling as the other challenges they face. Payne, in comparison, is a calm, calculating and emotionless killer who always seems to be one step ahead of everyone. 

The movie also does a great job with the supporting characters. The passengers on the bus behave exactly as I would expect passengers to behave in a situation like that, sometimes acting just irrationally enough to make them an added threat. Meanwhile, Harry was given just enough of a likable personality for me to care about his safety as he did his investigative work outside the bus.

My only real negative about the movie is it does, at times, make the Los Angeles Police Department seem a bit incompetent. I still don't know why they would assume Howard was dead, considering there would have been some evidence of a body even after an explosion and the careless way they entered Payne's house clearly was going to end up with someone dead. Even the movie's ending only happened the way it did because nobody thought it was a bad idea to bring a civilian (who should have been on her way to a hospital) to a dangerous police operation. That should get someone fired.

Final Opinion: The movie is 31 years old but is arguably better than most of the action movies made after it. It's worth taking the time to watch or re-watch if you get the opportunity.

My Grade: A

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