Speed

Synopsis:

Los Angeles police officer Jack (Keanu Reeves) angers retired bomb squad member Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) by foiling his attempt at taking hostages. In revenge, Payne arms a bus with a bomb that will explode if it drops below 50 miles per hour. With the help of spunky passenger Annie (Sandra Bullock), Jack and his partner Harry (Jeff Daniels) try to save the people on the bus before the bomb goes off, while also trying to figure out how Payne is monitoring them.

Movie Review:

"Speed" is an action thriller starring Keanu Reeves and is one of my favorite action movies. Although the story at times borders on the ridiculous, it is full of intrigue, suspense and pure entertainment. Keanu Reeves gives one of his best performances as Jack. He delivers non-stop one liners and great action moments, and he has great chemistry with co-star Sandra Bullock. Sandra Bullock plays Annie who was refreshing to see a female a real life courageous female role model instead of a damsel in distress. An action movie is not great without a great villain and "Speed" delivers with Howard Payne played by Dennis Hopper; he is amusing, frightening, engaging and crazy, all at the same time. Clearly, Howard Payne is one of the best character villains next to Hans Gruber in Die Hard that I have seen in an action thriller. Jeff Daniels plays Harry's partner and friend at the LAPD and is always talented in his supporting role. The action sequences in this movie are well scripted and are so exciting to watch that they will make your jaw drop. It is extremely hard to make a film that takes place only in one location like a building in "Die Hard", but "Speed" pulled it off by using the Die Hard Formula –interesting from beginning until the movie ends. The only problem I had with Speed was sometimes the passengers on the bus get annoying at times with outlandish stories, but it is so much fun to watch I kind of forget the problems with this movie. 'Speed' is one of the best action movies of the late 90s with superior actor performance from Keanu Reeves , an outstanding supporting cast, a great villain and exciting pulse pounding action scenes. I am giving "Speed" a 5 out of 5 stars .

Director: Jane DeBont

Cast: Keanu Reaves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock, Joe Morton and Jeff Daniels

Runtime: 116 minutes