SPEED
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1994 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: What sounds like a silly idea for an
action film actually has some resonance on the screen. What
seems like a bad choice for a lead actor works out better
than expected. This is basically a DIE HARD film with a bus
and that isn't too bad. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4)
Every once in a while what seems like a foolish idea for a film turns around and surprises you with what a clever idea it really is. You hear an idea like "H. G. Wells chases Jack the Ripper in a time machine" and think "No, thank you." Then you see the film and come out thinking what a great idea it was for a film. I had that experience with SPEED. A Los Angeles bus is rigged to explode as it drops below 50 miles per hour. First of all, as much as vehicles can be, busses are natural buffoons. They seem clumsy and ungainly. National Lampoon once thought it funny to do an article on "WWII's Battling Busses." SPEED almost sounded like it could be a comedy sequel to the very funny THE BIG BUS. Then on top of it, the star was Keanu Reeves. What busses are to vehicles, Reeves is to actors. The combination of the two seemed more like something someone thought up in THE PLAYER than an actual plan for a film.
In fact, what sounded like an unpromising plot turns out to tap into an experience most of us have had. Who hasn't at some time been driving and late for an appointment and found there was traffic in the way or perhaps a piece of unpaved highway. In SPEED every road hazard that could slow down the bus becomes a deadly threat.
Dennis Hopper plays Howard Payne, a high-spirited psychotic who is determined to extort $3.7 million from the city of Los Angeles, one way or another. His first scheme is foiled by Jack Traven, a deadpan SWAT officer with unorthodox (and irresponsible) ideas about how to resolve hostage situations. Payne's second extortion attempt is the plan to rig a city bus and to at the same time give Jack (Keanu Reeves) a taste of defeat and perhaps eternity. Reeves makes his way onto the speeding bus, but not before the driver can hit 50 on the speedometer and inadvertently arm the bomb. An expected turn of events leaves the driver incapacitated and he is replaced by Annie (Sandra Bullock), a volunteer. Annie has the seemingly impossible task of keeping the speed of the bus up while Jack has to do the delicate task of disarming a bomb under a speeding bus and of negotiating with Payne through a cellular phone. Films have used a similar plot with bombs on planes or boats (e.g. JUGGERNAUT), but then when the bomb is not being defused the plane or boat can just cruise. Here the situation calls for constant attention and it makes for a very exciting two hours.
Keanu Reeves, who has now been directed by people like Kenneth Branagh, Francis Ford Coppola, Gus Van Sant, and Bernardo Bertolucci, may be getting to where he actually can act, but he just has no charisma. Perhaps this is even a virtue--not every body in life has to be a Gregory Peck. Perhaps not every screen hero has to be either. Dennis Hopper, however, can act weird in his sleep and totally steals the film from Reeves.
There may be one or two problems still in the script. On consideration it is clear that Traven mishandled the situation disastrously. Pop quiz: how should he have handled the situation? He should have arranged to pay off Payne and worry about catching him afterward. Payne does many times his $3.7 million in damage in the course of the film and Traven's bravado also has its cost in human life. Also there were clear errors in the filming of the bus jumping a gap in the highway. The bus jumps a gap between two level stretches of highway. It seems that a little model work showing a banked highway and a proper camera angle could have made the sequence a little more believable. But overall this is an action film that delivers the goods. I would rate it a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mark.leeper@att.com
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