Do you have a video playback issues?
Please disable AdBlocker in your browser for our website.
Due to a high volume of active users and service overload, we had to decrease the quality of video streaming. Premium users remains with the highest video quality available. Sorry for the inconvinience it may cause. Donate to keep project running.
The film focuses on a young LAPD cop who tries to rescue civilians on a city bus rigged with a bomb programmed to explode if the bus slows down below 50 mph or if civilians try to escape.
Speed kills -- it kills wit, character, charm and empathy. But it does go fast. Since that is its sole reason for existence, one must say it achieves its narrow goal brilliantly.
Keanu Reeves and Dennis Hopper are fun to watch as the dueling protagonists, and Sandra Bullock is fetching as an astonished commuter who finds herself behind the steering wheel.
Action directing is a put-up-or-shut-up game, a skill that can't be faked or finessed; even a 10-year-old can tell if you've got it or not. And on the evidence of the invigorating Speed, Jan De Bont has definitely got it.
The deft arabesques of cinematographer Andrzej Bartkowiak juice up the suspense, and if you're not too put off by the sheer ridiculousness of the story you won't be bored.
It's more than a mere knockoff. It's a clever, carefully constructed action machine that generates lots of high-octane thrills and spills. What it lacks in originality, it more than makes up for in full-throttle pacing.
De Bont has assembled it with masterly precision. And Speed looks terrific. There are breathtaking aerial shots, mind-boggling stunts, and camera positioning that you just don't expect. It's a rocketing eyeful.