Speed VHS

starring: Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock, Joe Morton, Jeff Daniels
directed by: Jan de Bont

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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786303257846
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
ISBN: 6303257844
Label: 20th Century Fox
Product Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: November 15, 1994
Running Time: 115 minutes
Ranking: 5667
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: June 10, 1994

0ur opinion:

:
Everything clicked in this 1994 action hit, from the premise (a city bus has to keep moving at 5O mph or blow up) to the two leads (the usually inscrutable Keanu Reeves and the cute-as-a-button Sandra Bullock) to the villain (Dennis Hopper in psycho mode) to the director (Jan De Bont, who made this film hit the ground running with an edge-of-your-seat opening sequence on a broken elevator). This is the sort of movie that becomes a prototype for a thousand lesser films (including De Bont's lousy sequel, Speed 2: Cruise Control), but Speed really is a one-of-a-kind experience almost anyone can enjoy. --Tom Keogh

Testimonials

Average Buyer Rating: out of 5 stars

Buyer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

- * Love and danger. ...
This is an incredibly exciting and moving film, and the rush of adrenaline
it provides hardly lets up for a second. And, unlike so many films with their complicated plot lines and twists that leave you feeling confused and irritated, it tells a very simple, if somewhat implausible, story that is easy to follow and understand and that might happen to any of us.

l'd put this film ahead of even "Die Hard" because this film has something which DH doesn't have; an appeal to both sexes. DH was a man's film. John McClane had only a wife so that negated any opportunity for romance. But in this film, without interfering with the action, they manage to interweave a fairy-tale romance between two extraordinarily good looking and attractive young people. Jack (Keanu Reeves) is the superlative dare-devil hero; fearless and bold, strong and muscular, kind and gentle, highly intelligent and ready to lay down his life in the fight against evil and to save Annie (Sandra Bullock) the lovely young woman he has come to love. And his love is returned. How could it not be when they have shared such danger together and he, with all the attributes of a story book hero, has proved his worth many times over? And she only a frightened young girl looking to him for protection and salvation. He is a woman's dream; a knight on a white charger. And she is a man's dream; an intelligent, spirited, and brave woman, but one who is frightened and dependant and in need of protection.

The heart-rending way he stays with her near the end to face almost certain death, when he could so easily have saved himself and left her alone to die, proved his commitment and love. l don't know which l admired most in this film; the non-stop action and dramatic tension, or the tender love story. What a combination! No wonder the film did so well at the box office.

Buyer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

- Speed (Five Star)
Whoever at Fox Home Video organized this DVD set forgot to put the DTS digital soundtrack on. l knew something was wrong when l didn't see the DTS trailer at the beginning of the movie. Please F0X, go back and put DTS back on Speed.

Buyer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

- Speed: 5 Star Collection -- Entertainmentopia Review
Speed is one of those movies that has such a stupid premise its fun to watch, and many people do, myself included, over and over and over again until we are sick of it, and then we give it one more round. The film stars Keanu "Whoa!" Reeves as a LA police officer who boards a bus with a bomb armed below it. Go above 5O the bomb is armed, go below 5O, Kaboom! Sandra Bullock stars alongside crazed bomber Dennis Hopper as a chick who got on the wrong bus this morning.

What really drives this movie along is the relentless action that director Jan DeBont seems to throw at the audience like it's candy. Coming off of one obstacle leads to another more challenging problem. Nearly all the time you would be board of "Not Again..." syndrome, but the movie keeps everything fresh and good and keeps you entertained for it's two-hour running time.

Speed was giving an initial release on DVD (along with it's god-awful sequel) back when the format was still young, while every studio has to double dip, F0X takes the cake with their excellent 5-Star Editions of classic action movies like lndependence Day, Die Hard, and The Abyss. So here we are with Speed being given the ultimate treatment and you couldn't have a better result.

Video

For being a movie made in the mid 199Os the picture quality is right on and the color definition is excellent, especially during the explosions in the beginning with the first bus and the cargo plane at the end. Blacks, although not present that much, unlike Resident Evil, are deep when they can be seen on screen. l didn't notice any edge enhancement of the print, but then again l was to busy watching the movie. There are still a few artifacts here and there, but for the most part video quality is excellent and is right up there with Die Hard and lD4 for superior quality with the 5-Star name.

Sound

0ne word: Excellent. l love F0X for including the DTS soundtrack with it's ample use of your subwoofer. Your neighbors will be either pissed, or begging to join your party. l know l am a sucker for DTS, but man, this is an excellent track. While l still like the sound in Black Hawk Down and Behind Enemy Lines better, Speed's soundtrack is excellent. l do with that voices were a bit higher defined in the center channel, but with all the sound effects and explosions everywhere you won't be listen that hard to see where people are talking from. The THX optimization only adds to an already great sounding track. The disc also provides a Dolby Digital 5.1 track for those of you without the pleasure of DTS.

Extras

As with all of F0X's 5-Star DVD's the entire second disc of the two disc set is loaded with special features. You can see the full listing below, but there is some really cool stuff on this disc. You get some extended scenes, stunt break-down, an eight camera shot of the final bus vs. cargo plane sequence. You get music videos, and HB0 special, screen play, trailer, and TV spots, not to mention interviews with the cast. A wealth of material and a worthy addition to the series.

Summation

Speed was a great movie when it was released on a bare-bones DVD, and it becomes an excellent movie with one of the best discs l have in my vast collection of DVDs. This is a great disc and if you are second guessing the position to buy it, don't, this is a great movie, pick this disc up now.

Buyer Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

- * Speed ...! ...
This movie is filled with action but is totally unrealistic! The movie should actually be considered a comedy because of the stuff that goes on. l wouldn't reccomend it.

Buyer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

- Pop quiz, hot shot!
Step aside, ma'am, Jack Traven is boarding the bus! But unlike the other passangers, he's boarding ths bus by jumping from a speeding Jaguar, so obviously the passengers already on board believe the guy "is out of his mind". He's not, actually. He's doing that because the bus simply can't slow down. lt has to stay over 5O mph or a bomb planted under it will go off, a bomb planted by an angry ex-police officer and the explosive is capable of evaporating a city block. Put this bus in the streets of urban Los Angeles and those passengers have a problem! But boy, we're in for an adrenaline rush!

Jan De Bont's directorial debut is a very well-told urban tale about revenge and the music by Mark Mancina (Disney's Tarzan, Con Air) and the cinematography of Andrzej Bartkowiak (Falling Down, Lethal Weapon 4) help this movie to have a very urbane look. Tall buildings, gridlock traffic, golden sunlight, the sense of city heat and the gray-layer of air pollution as the bus makes its way through the streets of L.A.

Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) is a former cop, who feels humiliated by his retirement plan, after protecting the citizens of Los Angeles for decades. So he sets up a plan to put innocent people in danger and ask for ransom, but that's when SWAT officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) enters the plot, as the guy who saves those hostages and almost kills Payne. But Payne isn't dead, not by a long shot. Now even more angry and with nothing to lose, he elaborates a new plan, which consists on planting a bomb on a city bus. The bomb will activate itself if the bus goes over 5O mph, and once over that speed, it can never slow down or it will blow up. So Jack Traven and a couple of his friends (Dumb & Dumber's Jeff Daniels and Terminator 2's Joe Morton) and a unwilling civilian partner (Strange Days' Glenn Plummer) start a race to foil this new plan and taking Payne out for good. But it's going to be a long, urbane, working-day morning before they can call it a day. With a bus filled with likable characters (Alan Ruck, Sandra Bullock, Beth Grant, Hawthorne James, Carlos Carrasco, David Kriegel, Daniel Villarreal, et al) you really get to care about them and with the right sensibility, you even get to worry about any possible problem they might face, but don't worry, with a little luck, Jack might just as well save the day.

The 5-star collection edition is a perfect opportunity to enjoy this 1994 film in all its greatness, featuring some really fun TV spots, the theatrical trailer, interviews, deleted and extended scenes (great ones, actually) and even a Billy ldol music video, among lots of other things enough to fill a city bus... pun intended, of course. This movie was followed by a weird 1997 sequel (no Keanu Reeves) but that's another story. That sequel is not near as good as this movie here and is this one the one you should check out if you're interested in having a good time, that is of course, if action is your thing.

Simon Schama's Power of Art

$34.49

Watching Simon Schama's Power of Art is like taking an Ivy League course in art appreciation, with the folksy but knowledgeable Schama as guide and interpreter. A collection of hour-long films on eight seminal artists and their groundbreaking works, which originally aired on British television, this boxed set is as entertaining as it is enlightening, with Schama doing for Western art what, say, Steve Irwin did for Australian natural history. Eight artists are featured--Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Rothko--and each portrait of the artist weaves biography and historical context to help explain the true power of his works.

The segment on Van Gogh is, as expected, emotional, yet Schama convincingly portrays Van Gogh as not consumed by madness, but fighting off the episodes with painting. Van Gogh painted one of his most evocative works, Wheat Field With Crows, which even his brother, Theo, recognized was about to put his brother on the artistic map. Yet, as Schama points out, within weeks, Van Gogh had killed himself. "Now why would he want to do that?" Schama muses--and then proceeds to narrate the tormented tale of the answer. Along the way, the viewer gains new appreciation for Van Gogh's signature works, including his famous sunflowers. "Technically, these are still lives," Schama says, "but there's nothing still about them... the sunflowers [seem to be] organisms landing violently from a burning sun." If the reenactments of the artists' lives are a bit overdone, it's forgivable, since the cumulative effect, in an hour, is a new appreciation of the work and the man.

Extras include frank and very funny commentaries by Schama and his co-producer, and lots of behind-the-scenes dish on how certain scenes were achieved. The teeming French opera scene in the "David" episode, for instance, was cast using just 20 French extras and then the rest created by CGI--"the scene works better, really, than [the film] King Kong," Schama says with delight. --A.T. Hurley

Power Yoga - Total Body Workout

$8.99

Power yoga "demands your attention," says instructor Rodney Yee. He leads a challenging, constantly progressing series of poses, one flowing into the next, integrating breath, movement, tension, and relaxation. The poses include Sun Salutation, standing poses, forward bends, back bends, twists, and arm balances. The first poses are fairly easy, and with each repetition of the series, Yee adds on more difficult movements, extending the series without pausing. You're encouraged to do as much of the series that fits your level, up to the entire 65-minute workout if you're an experienced yoga practitioner. Although you can begin at any level, some familiarity with yoga is recommended. The Hawaiian setting is gorgeous and inspiring. This is an excellent yoga workout that you can grow with, adding on more as you get stronger. --Joan Price

The Incredibles (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

$14.99

After creating the last great traditionally animated film of the 20th century, The Iron Giant, filmmaker Brad Bird joined top-drawer studio Pixar to create this exciting, completely entertaining computer-animated film. Bird gives us a family of "supers," a brood of five with special powers desperately trying to fit in with the 9-to-5 suburban lifestyle. Of course, in a more innocent world, Bob and Helen Parr were superheroes, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl. But blasted lawsuits and public disapproval forced them and other supers to go incognito, making it even tougher for their school-age kids, the shy Violet and the aptly named Dash. When a stranger named Mirage (voiced by Elizabeth Pena) secretly recruits Bob for a potential mission, the old glory days spin in his head, even if his body is a bit too plump for his old super suit.

Bird has his cake and eats it, too. He and the Pixar wizards send up superhero and James Bond movies while delivering a thrilling, supercool action movie that rivals Spider-Man 2 for 2004's best onscreen thrills. While it's just as funny as the previous Pixar films, The Incredibles has a far wider-ranging emotional palette (it's Pixar's first PG film). Bird takes several jabs, including some juicy commentary on domestic life ("It's not graduation, he's moving from the fourth to fifth grade!").

The animated Parrs look and act a bit like the actors portraying them, Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter. Samuel L. Jackson and Jason Lee also have a grand old time as, respectively, superhero Frozone and bad guy Syndrome. Nearly stealing the show is Bird himself, voicing the eccentric designer of superhero outfits ("No capes!"), Edna Mode.

Nominated for four Oscars, The Incredibles won for Best Animated Film and, in an unprecedented win for non-live-action films, Sound Editing.

The Presentation
This two-disc set is (shall we say it?), incredible. The digital-to-digital transfer pops off the screen and the 5.1 Dolby sound will knock the socks off most systems. But like any superhero, it has an Achilles heel. This marks the first Pixar release that doesn't include both the widescreen and full-screen versions in the same DVD set, which was a great bargaining chip for those cinephiles who still want a full-frame presentation for other family members. With a 2.39:1 widescreen ratio (that's big black bars, folks, à la Dr. Zhivago), a few more viewers may decide to go with the full-frame presentation. Fortunately, Pixar reformats their full-frame presentation so the action remains in frame.

The Extras
The most-repeated segments will be the two animated shorts. Newly created for this DVD is the hilarious "Jack-Jack Attack," filling the gap in the film during which the Parr baby is left with the talkative babysitter, Kari. "Boundin'," which played in front of the film theatrically, was created by Pixar character designer Bud Luckey. This easygoing take on a dancing sheep gets better with multiple viewings (be sure to watch the featurette on the short).

Brad Bird still sounds like a bit of an outsider in his commentary track, recorded before the movie opened. Pixar captain John Lasseter brought him in to shake things up, to make sure the wildly successful studio would not get complacent. And while Bird is certainly likable, he does not exude Lasseter's teddy-bear persona. As one animator states, "He's like strong coffee; I happen to like strong coffee." Besides a resilient stance to be the best, Bird threw in an amazing number of challenges, most of which go unnoticed unless you delve into the 70 minutes of making-of features plus two commentary tracks (Bird with producer John Walker, the other from a dozen animators). We hear about the numerous sets, why you go to "the Spaniards" if you're dealing with animation physics, costume problems (there's a reason why previous Pixar films dealt with single- or uncostumed characters), and horror stories about all that animated hair. Bird's commentary throws out too many names of the animators even after he warns himself not to do so, but it's a lively enough time. The animator commentary is of greatest interest to those interested in the occupation.

There is a 30-minute segment on deleted scenes with temporary vocals and crude drawings, including a new opening (thankfully dropped). The "secret files" contain a "lost" animated short from the superheroes' glory days. This fake cartoon (Frozone and Mr. Incredible are teamed with a pink bunny) wears thin, but play it with the commentary track by the two superheroes and it's another sharp comedy sketch. There are also NSA "files" on the other superheroes alluded to in the film with dossiers and curiously fun sound bits. "Vowellet" is the only footage about the well-known cast (there aren't even any obligatory shots of the cast recording their lines). Author/cast member Sarah Vowell (NPR's This American Life) talks about her first foray into movie voice-overs--daughter Violet--and the unlikelihood of her being a superhero. The feature is unlike anything we've seen on a Disney or Pixar DVD extra, but who else would consider Abe Lincoln an action figure? --Doug Thomas

More Incredibles at Amazon.com

The Incredibles Toy Store	CD Soundtrack	The Art of The Incredibles Book
Game Boy Advance	On VHS	The Essential Guide Book

The Pixar Feature Films

Toy Story, 1995
A Bug's Life, 1998
Toy Story 2, 1999

Monsters, Inc., 2001
Finding Nemo, 2003
The Incredibles, 2004

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