Speed (Widescreen Edition)

The storyline is simple and great. There is never a dull moment is this movie. The director did a great job in casting Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock as screen couple. This movie still manage to glue me down to my seat even after ten years of production. It is a "must-have" for any good moives collector.

I'm really excited that FOX is finally releasing some of it's catalog titles on Blu-Ray. But these titles are exactly that catalog titles, that are priced higher than most studios day and date releases. The picture and sound quality are on par with Sony / Warner Bros. / Paramount / Disney, not any better or worse. The "extras" are sorely missing. I'm really getting tired of certain studios setting up for the "double dip" by not including the basic extras from their dvd couterparts. Yes, I did purchase this movie, but I feel cheated having to pay this much to enjoy Speed in Hi-def, when M:I:3 looks a lot better, is packed with features, and costs less. Come on Sony, Fox, & Disney step up your Hi-def game.

This is one of the first movies from Fox and they have done a very good job transferring it to the Blu-Ray format.

But for a better view of Hopper, try
german film 'Straight Shooter.' In Speed,
Hooper plays villan missing one thumb,
which he blames on city, to blow up if
it goes below 55 (Take that Sammy Hagar!)
...Reeves and Bullock find way to stop bus
and great parody of this in Leslie Nielsen's
Spy Hard! Talent does not go to waste in this
Bullock / Reeves film (for a change, unless
you like The Net better)! I still like Reeves
better in Point Break, but I like bumpy rides
on surf boards better!

Plot: After Officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) defuses a dramatic situation (excuse the pun) involving a madman bomber (Dennis Hopper) and a rigged elevator filled with innocent people, it looks like these events were merely a rough day on the job. Unfortunately, this badguy has only just begun. Jack ends up entangled within a dangerous web spun by a mind bent on revenge and mayhem -- and it soon becomes personal. He ends up among the passengers of a public transportation bus that has been wired with a bomb. Once the bus goes above 50 MPH, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, there's gonna be a hell of a mess to clean up. The crazed villain demands money as well as full cooperation from Jack and the local police force. But Jack knows that if anybody's going to make it out of this alive, the rules must be bent and the bomber must be outsmarted. Yet with so little time and many hazards, is that even possible?

Speed (1994) is one of those instant action/thriller classics that popped out of the 80s and 90s. It may not have any Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it does have some major suspense, superb acting, a solid script, and tons of booms and bangs to satisfy any fan of the genre. My favorite aspect of Speed (and I doubt I'm alone in this) is Dennis Hopper as Howard Payne -- the out-of-his-mind kook who's causing all the trouble. Hopper has always had that edgy, slightly crazy feel about him, and it goes very well with the violent antics and intriguing dialogue of his charatcer. Overall, it's definitely white-knuckled entertainment with the first viewing, but still maintains its appeal time and time again. In the end, it's all just another thrill-ride that steps out of the bounds of reality to give folks a good old-fashioned action flick, but come on, isn't that we wanted?