Speed is a suspenseful thriller about a bomb which has been planted on a bus which will explode if the bus travels below 50 miles per hour. Keanu Reeves plays an L.A. cop who must find a way to defuse the bomb whilst keeping a bus full of passengers calm.

Speed is extremely suspenseful. All throughout 1 hour and 56 minutes, the audience will be sitting on the edge of their seats. After one very exciting scene, the audience will breathe a sigh of relief, only to be caught off guard with the next breathtaking sequence. These sequences add up to the perfect amount of time. The audience will not want the movie to end but if Speed had carried on for much longer it would have started to feel repetitive.

One highlight for me from this movie was the intense soundtrack. The music was able to add to the suspenseful nature. I thought that if I moved anymore forward on my chair, I would fall off, but somehow the music pushed me further!

Something I love about movies is when they have a clear hero and a clear villain. I enjoy it when these characters are simple and plain. Of course, the characters can have internal conflict but I don't enjoy it when there is a sudden change of roles and it is discovered that our 'hero' has been fighting on the wrong side of the equation. A good example of this is the original Star Wars movie. There is a clear hero and a clear villain. In the later movies, books and comics the characters are tempted to switch sides and internal conflict is explored but the general 'sides' idea is kept in place. A bad example of this Captain Marvel. Our hero's world is flipped as she realises that good is bad and bad is good. Click here to read my review of Captain Marvel.

Speed has an obvious hero and an obvious villain. It is set up from the beginning who the good guys and who the bad guys are. The hero played by Keanu Reeves is a clear Prince Charming and rescues the princess (in this case a bus full of innocent people) from the dragon played by Dennis Hopper. We don't hear much of the villains backstory so have no way to sympathise with the character. Of course, there are great movies which don't follow this 'fairytale' style of storytelling and terrible movies which are too basic, but generally I will enjoy a movie more if I can immediately cheer on the Prince Charming.

Speed is not for those wanting a calming movie. If you are planning to watch Speed, be ready for a wild ride. It is a suspenseful movie with incredible music and an easy to follow storyline. Speed is a movie which is going to join my list of classic movies. 

Director: Jan de Bont

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock

Year released: 1994

My rating: 7.5/10

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 18/04/21