GET READY FOR RUSH HOUR.
Here’s a now classic action movie that does its darnedest to make you stay away from public transportation. It starts with a bomb on a bus and then moves on to a subway train. However, it would be a mistake to stay away – from this film. Once it gets going it’s like The Terminator (1984); it cannot be stopped.
Beginning with a mad bomber
Cinematographer Jan de Bont had worked on several previous action movies, but it is safe to say that few people expected him to do such an outstanding job in his directing debut (and I guess few expected him to fall from grace as quickly as he did after this film and Twister). It begins with a mad bomber, later revealed to be ex-cop Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper), who’s going to blow up a trapped elevator full of people unless he’s paid money. A SWAT team is called to the scene and officers Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) and Harry Temple (Jeff Daniels) manage to rescue the bomber’s victims and foil his plan. However, Payne gets away and decides to both have his revenge and get that money.
A few days later, Jack sees a bus exploding and subsequently takes a phone call where Payne tells him that another bus is loaded with a similar bomb that will go off if the speed drops to below 50 miles per hour. Jack learns which bus it is and goes after it, successfully making his way onboard the moving vehicle.
Almost no blood whatsoever
We’ve all seen cars fly through the air, crash into things and jump over hurdles in action movies… but a city bus? Can it do that? Yes, it can, but not easily, and those sequences are exhilarating, especially the one where the bus has to get by a huge gap in the highway. The reason why I made a comparison with The Terminator is that de Bont’s film has the same kind of merciless pace, the same kind of pulse; it just keeps going because the bad guy makes sure of it.
At the same time, Speed bucks the trend set by previous violent action pictures; this one has a few deaths, but not many, features almost no blood whatsoever and very little actual violence. It shows that films of this type can be created without reveling in gore. There is also a positive (albeit somewhat make-believe) feeling in the portrayal of the characters; people on that unfortunate bus know each other as they go through the same routine every morning and the most charming passenger, Annie, becomes the center of events as she grabs the steering wheel. Sandra Bullock got her big breakthrough in that part, using her sweet girl-next-door persona to great effect. Reeves is also very likable as the crafty cop, humorously supported by Daniels as his colleague; Hopper, however, basically comes off as your average nutcase and is hardly inspiring.
Mark Mancina’s score is simple but highly charged.
The production values are high; editor John Wright’s work is one reason why the action is so tight, and Mark Mancina’s score is simple but highly charged.
The film obviously borrows from Die Hard (1988), one of the predecessors de Bont worked on as a DP. This is pure high concept and the whole idea with the bus that must never stop is actually more memorable than the highrise-under-siege theme. The prologue and epilogue to the bomb-on-the-bus story also serve as a perfect framework, creating variation in a movie that otherwise might have become somewhat repetitive.
Speed 1994-U.S. 116 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Jan de Bont. Screenplay: Graham Yost. Music: Mark Mancina. Editing: John Wright. Cast: Keanu Reeves (Jack Traven), Dennis Hopper (Howard Payne), Sandra Bullock (Annie Porter), Jeff Daniels, Joe Morton, Alan Ruck.
Trivia: Halle Berry and Ellen DeGeneres were considered for the role of Annie; Richard Grieco and Tom Cruise as Jack. John McTiernan was offered to direct, but declined. Yost was inspired by Runaway Train (1985), but the story is actually closer to a Japanese film, The Bullet Train (1975). Followed by Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997).
Oscars: Best Sound, Sound Effects Editing. BAFTA: Best Editing, Sound.
Last word: “I remember first watching it in the Little Theater on the Fox lot. I thought the elevator sequence was good. It wasn’t exactly as I imagined it, but it was pretty good. And then the moment Keanu jumped on the bus and the bus sequence started, I just realized, I just had this thought – Oh my God, my life is changing right now as I sit here.” (Yost, The Wrap)