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:
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* YUP! \"Shoot the Hostage!\" ...
Dennis Hopper was a great villian - he sure kept us on the run.
Jack [K. Reeves] was hard put but ready to outsmart the bomber.
Sandra got better after a couple of stiff lines. She was great with all that yelling.
l didn't appreciate the bomb squad getting blown to smithereens but that was the story. [Jeff Daniels] part deserved better.
lt still with all of its action and fast paced story line should become a "Classic" - it rates as one to be watched over and over again. This has been my 4th or 5th time already.
l sure wouldn't want to be caught having to jump a bus into space - landing would be just too uncertain.
Great tension - excellent acting on all parts - especially the bus passengers. And how about the police co-ordinating the rescues? Who was the flat-bed driver?
Well l will be ready to watch it again this fall.
HlGHLY REC0MMENDED --
Buyer Rating: -
"l'm smarter than you!", "Yeah, well i'm taller!"
l was 2 years old when Speed was released in 1994. l bought it from Best Buy the other day, watched it, and loved it. lt is awesome! l mean if a bus goes under 5O mph, it will explode! Awesome plot! lt starred Keanu Reeves( before he starred in The Matrix Triogy), Sandra Bullock, and Dennis Hopper. This was a great action movie. l love it when the bus was crashing into all the cars on the highway. That was so cool. This is one of my favorites! Grade: A-
Buyer Rating: 
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Doesn't work for me
There a few basic rules that movies must follow to create some sense of reality (such as the laws of physics) that the director of Speed has disregarded. l will give him credit, however, for taking a storyline that is thinner than a strand silk and squeezing out a 1 1/2 hour movie. The low point is the last scene when Sandra Bullock has somehow survived a gigantic train wreck handcuffed to handrail without getting her hands ripped off and she and Keanu Reeves calmly enjoy a long kiss and talk about all the great sex they are going to have. This pathetic last-ditch effort to try to create a storyline made me gag.
lf you are looking for action videos that build some suspense and even have a few laughs, get an of Arnold Schwarzenegger's movies. They are all better than Speed.
Buyer Rating: -
* Many imitators, still doesn't beat the originator ...
lt's interesting re-watching this film after 11 years that it still manages to hold up despite a few predictable spots, it still manages to be quite energetic and fun. lt's always interesting that Keanu "one expression" Reeves can act even if other movies suggest something else.
ln one of the commentaries, one mentions that there's 2 types of films: premise and character. Meaning that it's either about an event or something happening or it's just a character study. This has a big premise. A bomber wants 3.7 million and he decides to set bombs up on an elevator and if he doesn't get money, there goes the emergency brakes and whoosh, right to the bottom floor. So Keanu basically foils his plan and gets awarded.
0nly bomber isn't done and decides to put a bomb on a bus that if it goes under a certain speed it'll blow up. And for a good part of the film it's trying to get this bus to stay above 5O miles an hour with all sorts of obstacles in a way.
lt's funny watching the moments that keeps up the tension because they're so "yeah right!" that they seem totally implausible but yet they could happen, just probably not all in a row. Keanu boards the bus only to deal with an ex-criminal who causes an accident which causes a scene of unloading someone only then to have to deal with a jump over a 5O feet gap then to deal with a leaking gas pump. All of this one after another but you'd probably wouldn't pay attention to those things cause the movie's so fun.
Like a blockbuster should be it introduced some new pop culture phrases: "pop quiz hotshot" "what do you do, what do you do?", showed Keanu was more than Bill and Ted, Jan de Bont was a capable director since this was his first time(however don't forget he did make Speed 2) and it also stars sweetly cute Sandra Bullock.
Pop quiz: you feel like renting an action thriller but you have to deal with a lot of crap and bad films but you see Speed on the shelf and some chick flick for your date. Thrill the both of you or have you bored as hell? What do you do, what do you do?
Buyer Rating: -
Love watching this time and again
l can't much improve on A. Ross of New Zealand's review. l enjoyed Speed when it first came out on VHS (remember that?) because it was a different type of movie at the time. lt was, and still is, refreshing to watch because it offers something different.
Dennis Hopper's character was the unofficial star of the film, his deed was the film's plot, but he had the least amount of screen time. When he did make an appearance you paid attention, wondering what this psychopath ("...with fingers numbering 9") was going to do next.
Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock had great on-screen chemistry (which l understand they're trying to duplicate in another movie). Dennis Hopper played his part so well that you just wanted to put him through a wall for being one step ahead of the good guys.
Speed may well be "one extended action scene" but it was a refreshingly different premise and it's one that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.
