Review of Speed (1994) by Hannah D — 05 Aug 2011

"Pop quiz, hotshot. 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 do you do? What do you do!?".

The action movie of the 80's is without a doubt 'Die Hard'. The movie that defines action in the first decade of the millenium change is in my opinion 'The Matrix' (I know it's made in '99 but you do understand I have to get 'Speed' here in my introduction and besides I first saw 'The Matrix' in 2000...). So what comes to mind when thinking of action films that defines and changes the genre for better in the 90's? 'Speed'. Fuck it, I just came to think about 'T2 - Judgment Day'...

So anyhow, 'Speed' didn't define action for the 90's. 'The Matrix' and 'T2' did a better job. But if 'Speed' would've been done wrong, the end result would've been terrible ('Speed 2, anyone?). Done well, action films can be a lot of fun (and thus forgiving some serious goofs and illogical happenings).

Jan de Bont directed 'Speed' as his first feature film. He had worked on several action films prior to 'Speed' as a cinematographer (Die Hard', 'Hunt for the Red October'...). What I've read from various film magazines and interweb sites, 'Speed' had some issues when going to production. First of all, I have to mention Joss Whedon's ('Firefly' and 'Serenity') name as he contributed on the script making it work better. He was left uncredited, though. But what worried me the most was that Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock weren't among the first choices for starring roles. Stephen Baldwin, William Baldwin, Arnold Schwarzenegger... "Get to da choppa!" just sounds better than "Stop da buzz!".

Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Anjelica Huston, Emma Thompson, Diane Lane? Great actresses without a doubt but was their first intention to make the film about a group of middle aged tourists on a 20 mph bus touring Beverly Hills? Ok, that sounded very stupid and I appologize for my lame effort to be "funny".

Films like 'Speed' are inteded to charm the younger audience. I can't think of a better on-screen couple than Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Both good looking and terrible actors (yeah, like she deserved the Oscar!). The acting is so terrible at times that you have to be set for the right mood for it to work. You can't see 'Speed' and wait for some groundbreaking method acting. This is supposed to be cheesy and fun. It's not like Jeff Daniels or Dennis Hopper would be doing a better job but I just can't think of any other for their roles. Hopper is perfect for his role as the villain (just like in 'Super Mario Bros') and in my opinion he is the scene stealer.

So what's the film really about then? Small pensions and cheap gold watches make retired cops go berserk and make bombs on elevators and busses while forgetting everything about police tactics and getting their faces turn purple of paint. That is pretty much the whole idea. So what do you do? What do you do!?

Just go see it for the fun and the hidden charm.