Before CGI spectacles took over in the 2000s, action movies in the 1990s were still chasing the success of 1988’s Die Hard. Steven Seagal’s Under Siege was basically Die Hard on a battleship. Wesley Snipes’ Passenger 57 was Die Hard on a plane. And Harrison Ford’s Air Force One was Die Hard on a very specific plane. The very best Die Hard rip-off though was the one that, on paper, sounds the least exciting: Die Hard on a bus.
Directed by Jan de Bont, Speed is a 1994 action movie starring Point Break-era Keanu Reeves as LAPD cop Jack Traven. Jack and his partner Harry Temple (Jeff Daniels) recently thwarted a plot by a mad bomber (Dennis Hopper), and to get revenge, he blows up a bus right in front of Jack. The bomber then calls Jack on a payphone (again, it’s the 1990s) and tells him another bus also has an explosive on it. The bomber explains that the device will be armed once it hits 50 miles per hour, then it will explode once the bus falls below 50 miles per hour. The bomber is demanding $3.7 million (a lot of money in the 1990s) in less than three hours and Jack, who is allowed to board the bus, may not let anyone off until the money is delivered.
The bomber gives Jack the bus number and its location. Once Jack’s on the bus, he must explain the situation to the passengers and try to calm then down. When the bus driver gets injured, Jack gets help from a passenger, Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock), who takes over as the driver. From there, the two of them must keep the bus above 50 miles per hour while also trying to defuse the bomb.
Speed works because there are just so many basic things going for it. Of course, Keanu Reeves is a charming, likable guy. He manages to give off the same “everyman” energy that John McClane (Bruce Willis) had in Die Hard, but the LA vibes Reeves is giving off in the movie feel nothing like Willis’ New York tough guy. So, even though Speed is considered a Die Hard rip-off, it doesn’t feel that way when you’re watching it.
Bullock is also excellent and smartly cast as a capable person in the situation, as opposed to a more typical (especially for the 1990s) damsel in distress. Reeves and Bullock also had excellent chemistry together, perhaps because, as they’ve both admitted later, they had real-life crushes on each other. Regardless, the movie never gets sidetracked by the obvious attraction between these characters. By the nature of the premise, the movie never “slows down” enough to distract itself from the imminent threat of the bomb.
Hopper also makes a fantastic villain. The menacing, plotting mad bomber who mostly interacts over the phone is completely captivating. At the time, Hopper was far more established than the leads of the film were and he is perfectly, sparingly, used in the movie.
The real secret weapon of Speed is director Jan de Bont. While Speed was the Dutch filmmaker’s directorial debut, he had previously been an accomplished cinematographer, and in addition to having shot movies like Basic Instinct, Lethal Weapon 3, and The Hunt for Red October, de Bont was the cinematographer for Die Hard. He seemingly learned all the right lessons from Die Hard and applied them to the screenplay written by Graham Yost (Broken Arrow, Justified). De Bont would then duplicate this success with his next film, Twister, in 1996. After that, his career faltered and he never again reached the same level, but that doesn’t change the fact that he created two of the best action films of the 1990s.
For Speed, de Bont was also aided by editor John Wright, who had previously edited The Hunt for Red October and The Running Man and, after Speed, edited the best Die Hard sequel, Die Hard with a Vengeance.
With an easy-to-grasp idea, Speed has the perfect premise for an action movie. Since the bus literally can’t slow down, neither can the movie, and it stays exciting every step of the way. A bus is also the perfect setting, as it allows for a lot of people in danger and from all walks of life. With tight, clear direction, sharp editing, and huge explosions done practically, Speed lets you feel the heat and the tension without ever letting up.
That’s why you should check out Speed while it’s available on Netflix. Because, in an era dominated by CGI, and when nearly every big action movie puts the whole world in danger, Speed is a meat-and-potatoes thriller in the best way possible featuring leads you care about, a villain you fear, and a perfectly-paced story that never lets its foot off the gas.
