Speed Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Get ready for rush hour.
Bomber Terrorist's (Dennis Hopper) elevator plan backfires, so he rigs a bomb to a LA city bus. The stipulation is: once armed, the bus must stay above 50 mph to keep from exploding. Also if LAPD Officer (Keanu Reeves) tries to unload any passengers off, Payne (Hopper) will detonate it. Joe Morton co-stars as Jack's (Keanu's) superior, and Jeff Daniels supports Jack helping him try to defuse the bomb.
| Keanu Reeves | Officer Jack Traven |
| Dennis Hopper | Howard Payne |
| Sandra Bullock | Annie Porter |
| Joe Morton | Capt. McMahon |
| Jeff Daniels | Det. Harold 'Harry' Temple |
| Alan Ruck | Stephens |
| Glenn Plummer | Jaguar Owner |
| Richard Lineback | Norwood |
| Beth Grant | Helen |
| Hawthorne James | Sam |
| Carlos Carrasco | Ortiz |
| David Kriegel | Terry |
| Natsuko Ohama | Mrs. Kamino |
| Daniel Villarreal | Ray |
| Simone Gad | Bus Passenger #1 |
| Jan de Bont |
7.20 out of 10 (63349 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Who needs complex plots?
posted on 30 Aug 2009As an action film, Speed is practically faultless. Down to the precarious "Oh, @$£!" style cliffhangers to the suspenseful climax, Speed keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way through. The very nature (and at the time, quite original too) of the plot means that there is never a dull moment. That bus is always moving at 50MPH and you're constantly left guessing as to what is going to happen next.Reeves, as usual, plays his role with something of a lack of distinction, but unlike some of his roles (e.g. Dracula) he plays it with the gung-ho style that suits him. Hopper in the role of Payne makes a superb baddie, both with his edgy laugh and playful but sinister moods, both portrayed beautifully.Overall, Speed is a film which will keep you going again and again, and, like Reeves' other hit, the Matrix, will keep you coming back again and again for the stunts alone.
Heavy traffic ahead...
posted on 30 Aug 2009The 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.
Best Movie Ever !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted on 30 Aug 2009I dont know where to start, this movie was awesome, i just loved it. Good actors Keany Reeves is sooo HOOOOTTT. He and Sandra Bullock make nice couple on TV screen. This movie has everything, action, comedy, romance, fast buses, bombs. I would recomend this movie to anyone. I love it!!!!!!
Breakdown Lane
posted on 30 Aug 2009Spoilers herein.Seeing this film in 2002 is a lesson in the moving baseline for thriller films. When this was new, it thrilled. Now it is tame.It is a matter of escalating notions of pacing and threat. A busload of people is small potatoes in a post 9-11 world. Hopper himself has increased the drama of his villains. But the biggest change is our expectations of how the camera moves. I think de Palma's `Mission Impossible,' was the biggest raising of the bar in this regard.Terrorist bombmakers always use the same color coding in their wires?
Keanu is up to speed in this film
posted on 30 Aug 2009After just watching this movie again for the first time in awhile, I can tell you what separates this movie from many others of the same type. The growing relationship between Keanu and Sandra in this movie is top notch. They balance each others' personalities perfectly. Also, Dennis H. reminded me of Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. Keanu Reeves makes Jack Logan fight to stay focused and think quickly to keep up with the challenge. I would like to see Keanu do more movies in which he acts in the law enforcement capacity.
Movie Culture
posted on 30 Aug 2009It's always interesting to look at movies through history as if they were all part of the same overall culture, drawing on similar behavioral conventions and technologies. Like living cultures, movies have a historical context, undergo innovations, evolve over time to reflect changing folkways, and so forth. Speed gives us an ultimate example of innovation and originality, leading through convention, to utter decadence. There have been speed movies ever since there were movies and they were new and exciting at the beginning. The Keystone Kops were pretty good. Then they became conventional, with Model As careering around urban corners, tommy guns blazing out the windows; Bogart wheeling his speeding coupe up the slopes towards Mount Whitney in accelerated time. The big ones were saved until the movie's end usually. Then the car chase underwent what anthropologists call a revitalization movement. I'm talking about Bullitt. Nothing like this chase had (or has) been put on film. Then we enter a period of decadence, which we may define as increasingly perfunctory repetition and variation of a once-original idea. (The ancient Egyptians drew very careful open hands in their hieroglyphic script. Over the millenia, with less attention being paid and with a good deal of sloppy borrowing going on, the open palm managed to turn into a simple delta shape, from which we get our letter D. That's decadence. It's a real thing.) Well, if it's good once, let's do it again and make another nickel. Other outrageous chases followed in The French Connection, the Seven Ups, and so on; nicely choreographed but no longer original. Now the public has seen enough car chases. Let's introduce other vehicles into the chase. We can use a runaway cruise ship. Let's put the chase at the beginning -- why make the audience wait until the end? Beverly Hills Cop STARTS with a chase involving a car and some kind of garbage truck. Finally we reach a sort of climax with Speed. With the exception of some shenanigans on and in an elevator, the entire movie is one big chase involving diverse vehicles, most prominently a bus. Sandra Bullock is cute as the wisecracking girl drawn into the plot. Keanu Reeves is clean-cut and handsome, no more than that. But none of that matters. The only important thing is that lumbering behemoth banging cars off the freeway, leaping through 50 feet of open space, and smashing everything in sight. It's thrilling. Of course it's thrilling. We could dispense with the characters entirely and it would still be thrilling -- a thrilling hour and a half of a bus zipping along the streets of Los Angeles like a juggernaut and demolishing everything it can.I'm wondering. Surely they have a video game for children out by now, called "Speed." One point for each traffic sign or highway cone. You get five points for squashing a pedestrian. Ten points for a wrecking a car. Fifteen points for a truck. Glancing blows earn you half credits. If you turn too quickly and flop over, or if you hit a locomotive, you lose.
Enough action for three movies
posted on 30 Aug 2009Enough action sequences for three movies. Sandra Bullock has the cuteness controls set on HIGH, and Keanu Reeves plays it straight, a lot like his part in "Point Break". Dennis Hopper is, of course, one of the most believably creepy movie villains in the business today. (See him in "Blue Velvet") OK, there were some physical impossibilities in the film, but c'mon, most action films have them. (I've driven buses before, and they will not do many of the things in this movie.) This movie kept my eyes glued to the screen throughout. Grade: B+
a pure adrenaline rush
posted on 30 Aug 2009Take Keanu Reeves as a cop willing to shoot hostages, Dennis Hopper as a crazed bomber, and the beautiful Sandra Bullock as a reckless, "substitute" bus driver, combine them, and what do you get? You get one of the smartest, most high-energy action films ever made. Be prepared to hold on for dear life after you watch this one. It will blow you away with plenty of violence, breathtaking explosions, and cliffhanger action sequences. A thrill ride! 4/4
My fave movie of all time
posted on 30 Aug 2009Personally i thought it was a great movie and i dont mind waching it over and over again.Keanu Reeves did an exelent job.if you havent seen it you must be crazy.the harsh launage didnt bother me much but.... most of the time i just muted it to wach the HOT Keanu :) defenatly a MUST SEE!!!!
They need to go back to high school.
posted on 30 Aug 2009The movie failed to entertain. The acting failed to convey the sense of urgency and fear that one would expect. The movie threw away the laws of physics a couple of times. Sometimes movies will change natural laws, those movies are called science fiction or fantasy, as speed was neither, it should have stayed with realism.
A good movie with some great suspense
posted on 30 Aug 2009D;JAN DE BONT. KEANU REEVES,SANDRA BULLOCK,DENNIS HOPPER,JEFF DANIELS,JOE MORTON,ALAN RUCKCOST(INFLATED)$48m GROSS(INFLATED)$187.8mVery suspense filled movie with some great one liners from Dennis Hopper(way to go jack,way to go)and with pretty good special effects(considering the budget)go a long way to make these one of the best action flicks of the 90's.****(5)
A joy-ride
posted on 30 Aug 2009This movie has everything what a great action-movie needs. "Speed" is comparable with a rollercoaster ride - it's exciting, fast, no boring moments. And you can't leave for one second 'cause it has you glued to the screen. One good thing about this movie is that you don't have to think. All you have to do is to hold on to your seat and watch.
One of the best action films ever!
posted on 30 Aug 2009If 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.
Just when you though the tosh couldn't get any worse
posted on 30 Aug 2009Many words come to mind when describing this film. Implausible, contrived, dire, pointless.... but I digress. This is the film industry at it's worst. Trying to put two eminently attractive people in leading roles into a film whose plot has more holes than all Arizona's golf courses. I mean, what was the point? I ought to sue - "I maintain that the producers and distribution company did willingly deprive me of two hours of my life which I could have more usefully spent inspecting my navel.Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock may indeed be cute but they hardly rank highly in the acting stakes. Want better, try your local village Christmas pantomime. The characters are so wooden, I was picking out the splinters for days afterwards. The plot, well what can we say about that? A terrorist who hijacks lifts (elevators to you). Planes - yes, ships - perhaps, maybe, taxis - no, lifts - er.... we are joking aren't we. Then a bus? c'mon guys, hasn't credulity been stretched a little past breaking point here. Then we get a sequel imaginatively entitled, Speed 2 - Cruise Control. Oh dearie me, my sides are splitting at that one. Puulleez.
Fast paced action film with a lot of pulse pounding energy.*****POSSIBLE SPOILERS
posted on 30 Aug 2009"Speed" is an action film which is so full of pulse pounding energy that it's impossible not to be glued to the seat."Speed" is the kind of action film that doesn't come very often.I don't think there was never an action film that sent me blasting out of the theater."Speed" which was released during the summer of 1994 is one of those films that I really enjoyed because they were situations in the film that involved characters in extremely dangerous situations.The entire plot is given a lot of energy that involves a great cast that is directed by a director who knows a lot about action films.The entire film revolves around a cat and mouse game between an LAPD bomb squad officer and a bomber.The officer's name is Jack Travern who is played by Keanu Reeves.He and his partner Harry Temple(Jeff Daniels) are called in to rescue thirteen passengers from an elevator that has been sobatoged by the bomber.That bomber is Howard Payne who is played by Dennis Hopper.He is holding the thirteen passengers in the elevator hostage for a ransom of $3,000,000.00 just about.He threatens to blow the emergency brakes sending the elevator crashing to the bottom.he has already blown the cables holding the elevator so this whole scene is really suspenseful and pulse pounding.And this is only the first five minutes of the movie.Of course Jack and Harry rescue the hostages foiling the terrorist's plans of getting his ransom money.Believing that the bomber is dead Jack and Harry celebrate after they are both rewarded for their brave acts.Then the fun begins.The bomber has not been killed and has a little game for Jack.The terrorist has rigged a bus with a bomb.If the bus goes over 50mph the bomb is armed.If it drops below 50 it will blow up killing all the passengers.Sandra Bullock plays Annie who ends up driving the bus. "Speed" eventually is a fast ride that goes faster and faster.The situations become more dangerous and the finale involving the train is one of the most exciting.I enjoyed "Speed" a whole lot and Keanu Reeves makes a surprisingly great action hero."Speed" is one ride you will not want to get off of.
full of suspense!
posted on 30 Aug 2009My God!!! arrrghhh!! This movie is my fave! Its full of suspense. The sound is really great (that's why it won the best sound)... Here, Officer Jack Traven is really a gentleman. Hmmmm.. Is it a love story? and i remember a line from Jack from which he said that relationship lasts from extreme obstacles (as far as I can remember).. they're really sweet (Keanu and Sandra). Moreover, Sandra drives cool.. hehehe.. well, THIS MOVIE IS REALLY GREAT! 2 THUMBS UP!
The best movie ever made !!!!
posted on 30 Aug 2009This movie was so good I love it. Keanu Reeves in the movie was soooo dam HOT !!!He did a great job of playing this role . This movie is a very good action movie to the people who love action and the people who don't.Keanu Reeves is my favo actor I love him he's soo cute and i love to meet him love him.LOVE SUSIE
Great movie! I was sorry it ended!
posted on 30 Aug 2009Oh my gosh. This is my favorite movie. I'm obsessed with Sandra Bullock and I just saw this flick two days ago. It's so good. I loved it. I was so sorry it ended, it only seemed like it was on for a short while. Keanu Reeves is so charming, and Sandra was as gorgeous as ever! :D 10/10! :D
One of the greatest action/thriller flicks I've ever seen!
posted on 30 Aug 2009This is one of the greatest action/thriller flicks I've ever seen. Keanu (Reeves), Dennis (Hopper), and Sandra (Bullock) REALLY dazzled as Officer Jack Traven, Howard Payne, and Annie Porter. They can really give an action/thriller flick a nice touch. I was REALLY surprised at the way Annie (Sandra Bullock) maneuvered the bus with the help of Jack (Keanu Reeves) after Sam (Hawthorne James) got shot. The one thing that made me feel scared was Annie getting kidnapped by Howard (Dennis Hopper). SPEED really kept me on the edge of my seat. It was REALLY enjoyable. It was REALLY suspenseful, too. I've loved it since the first time I saw it. This was also the first Sandra Bullock flick I ever saw. You go, girl! Go, Keanu! Go, Dennis!
Great!! Just what you need in an action movie!
posted on 30 Aug 2009This is some serious 'edge of your seat' stuff. From start to finish it's all out action but not in the typical sense of the movie where you'd see shoot out after shoot out or explosion after explosion. Yet it still manages to keep your attention for the duration. Yet it was only made for about $30 million which isn't much compared to the standard action movie budget. It's all about tension and as well as that, the characters and performances are great too.