Speed

DIRECTED BY-:
Jan De Bont
STARRING-:
Keanu Reeves
Sandra Bullock
Dennis Hopper
YEAR OF RELEASE-:
1994
PREMISE-:
A young police officer must prevent a bomb exploding aboard a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph.  

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. 

THE PROBLEMS-:

• How did the LAPD conclude that the terrorist is dead without finding his body?

• Why didn’t the LAPD ask a sketch artist to consult with Jack and Harry so that at least the LOOK of the terrorist can be known? Wouldn’t that have helped in finding his identity sooner?

• Why didn’t Jack flash his LAPD badge to the bus driver while running adjacent to it? 

• The spikes at the entrance of the airport conveniently don’t instantaneously deflate the tires of the bus.

• By saying ‘Wildcat’ TWICE, Howard stupidly risks giving away his advantage (the fact that he could see everything inside the bus) to the cops. 

• Jack luckily discovers the presence of a camera on the bus SIDEWAYS and not by directly looking INTO the camera, which Howard would’ve seen. 

• Howard is coincidentally in the washroom when the looping of the bus footage is started. 

• When Jack is struggling under the bus and calls out to Mac for help, Mac is somehow not able to hear Jack even though they are connected through comms. 

• Mac also somehow doesn’t notice that the harness connected to Jack is rapidly unwinding.   

• Mac conveniently doesn’t notice that the piece of tyre which coincidentally hits Jack is causing him to lose his stability on the board.

• It’s very convenient that even after the bus has been in motion for a long time, AND even after Jack has accidentally made a considerably large hole in the tank, the fuel of the bus doesn’t run out before all the passengers are rescued.

• Howard conveniently doesn’t figure out that the bus footage is looped before it’s too late. 

• The way Howard figures out that the footage is looped is by looking at a lady whose bag switches positions in an abrupt manner. It’s convenient that the lady decided to remove her bag AT THE SAME TIME the LAPD decided to start  looping the tape. If she had done that even a few seconds earlier, the abnormal shift of the bag would not have been included in the looped footage and Howard would probably never have known about the looping. 

• Why was there no police officer protecting Annie outside the ambulance? 

• The bullets fired by Howard inside the subway train conveniently mess up the emergency brake system but don’t damage the accelerator.

• In the climax, the subway train gets brutally ripped in half but LUCKILY our protagonists are present in such a position that they don’t procure a single scratch. 

THE POSITIVES-:

• The performances were all fine and helped in enhancing the script and dialogues. 
• The pacing was phenomenal. No scene felt wasted or unnecessary.  
• The action scenes were all well shot and executed. 
• The characters were all consistently written and were likable and pleasant to watch on screen. 
• Despite its issues, the film is highly re-watchable and guarantees an entertaining and exhilarating viewing experience. 

RATING -: 6/10