Speed (DVD)

===THE STORYLINE=== "The bus that couldn't slow down," is just the bulk of what this movie is about and the bus scenes in the movie are what many may only remember about 1994's Speed. Being close to nearly two hours in length, there is a beginning and an end surrounding the bus commotion. Jack Travern (Keanu Reeves) stars as a police officer who has an ongoing battle against terrorist Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper), determined to earn an extra retirement fund with the use of his bomb expertise. You are propelled immediately into the midst of things, defining the movie as apart of the 'action and adventure' genre, as lives hang in the balance quite ...  Read the complete review

The storyline -------------------- Jack Traven and his partner Harry Temple are SWAT team explosives experts in Los Angeles. They're called in to free a group of office workers from an elevator that's trapped between floors in a downtown high-rise. Howard Payne, an explosives expert who used to be with the Atlanta, Georgia bomb squad, has promised that they'll all be blown to bits unless he's paid off. Traven and Temple rescue the hostages, but Payne escapes. Later, while Traven is out getting coffee in his neighbourhood one morning, Traven witnesses a city bus explode, killing several people. Traven picks up a nearby ringing pay phone, only to hear Payne ...  Read the complete review

Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper and Sandra Bullock star in this action adventure. When I first heard about the premise for this film I thought it sounded far fetched and a bit rubbish but the end product is a well constructed thriller wich has you on the edge of your seat. Reeves plays a bomb disposal expert with the police who foils an extortion attempt and comes face to face with the criminal behind it, played by Hopper, however he manages to escape. In order to get the money he feels he is owed Hopper devises another plan which involved wiring up a bus so that if its speed drops below fifty miles per hour it will explode. He conspires to ensure that Reeves ...  Read the complete review

If Speed was to be released now, it would be considered a bit behind the times an the special effects would be considered a bit run of the mill. The plot would be average and predictable, and the excitement factor would be softened by the general presentation. However, when it came out in 1994, it was hailed as a huge blockbuster, with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock heading the billing in the middle of a good run on both their careers. And with Dennis Hopper playing a great villain, the scene was set. Reeves plays a cop who must keep a bus travelling at over 50mph. If it drops below, then terrorist Hopper has threatened to blow the bus and its passengers up. ...  Read the complete review

note: also appears in part on Flixster and The Student Room Speed belongs to a class of action films that are both clever and extremely action packed - alongside Die Hard, Terminator 2, and Aliens, it is one of the best films of the genre - an exhilarating rollercoaster ride of suspense and magnificent set pieces. The film opens as Police Officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) and his partner Harry Temple (Jeff Daniels) are in LA defusing a bomb. Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper), a former LAPD man who was let go after his hand got disfigured in the line of duty, is holding people hostage in an elevator shaft with a bomb. However, even once this is over, ...  Read the complete review