If there is some kind of formula for the perfect action movie, Speed is chemistry of the highest level.
It gives us a short but frantic opening scene, not unlike your typical James-Bond movie. We also get to know the hero and the villain.
Then we are quickly put into an impossible situation (a bus that will explode if it runs slower than 50). Now Speed milks this situation and puts new obstacles in our hero's (and the bus') way. I know that this is classic Die Hard-Stuff. But rarely does a Die Hard-clone work so perfectly well. Everything here from a camera-, editing- and pacing point of view works extremely well.
As usual, you have to accept that we are in movieland and not in real life. But hey, at least Speed is more realistic than all 'Fast and Furious'-Parts which have done everything possible and impossible with cars except flying in space.
The acting is appropriate for this kind of movies. Keanu Reeves is such a good guy. Dennis Hopper is such a bad guy.
One thing bothers me though: I really can't stand Sandra Bullock in this phase of her career. In Speed, she is playing the role of the natural every-day girl. Okay. But Bullock portrays her as an extremely annoying, squeaking woman who repeats almost everything she says multiple times. Drink a shot every time Bullock repeats the same thing in the same or slightly different fashion. You'll be drunk long before the credits.
If you want to see what an archetypical 90's action movie looks like, see Speed.
It gives us a short but frantic opening scene, not unlike your typical James-Bond movie. We also get to know the hero and the villain.
Then we are quickly put into an impossible situation (a bus that will explode if it runs slower than 50). Now Speed milks this situation and puts new obstacles in our hero's (and the bus') way. I know that this is classic Die Hard-Stuff. But rarely does a Die Hard-clone work so perfectly well. Everything here from a camera-, editing- and pacing point of view works extremely well.
As usual, you have to accept that we are in movieland and not in real life. But hey, at least Speed is more realistic than all 'Fast and Furious'-Parts which have done everything possible and impossible with cars except flying in space.
The acting is appropriate for this kind of movies. Keanu Reeves is such a good guy. Dennis Hopper is such a bad guy.
One thing bothers me though: I really can't stand Sandra Bullock in this phase of her career. In Speed, she is playing the role of the natural every-day girl. Okay. But Bullock portrays her as an extremely annoying, squeaking woman who repeats almost everything she says multiple times. Drink a shot every time Bullock repeats the same thing in the same or slightly different fashion. You'll be drunk long before the credits.
If you want to see what an archetypical 90's action movie looks like, see Speed.