Cheap Speed (Five Star Collection) (DVD) (Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock) (Jan de Bont) Price

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Customer Reviews of Speed (Five Star Collection)

The story is very interesting and some incredibly believable performances. Keanu Reeves ( Chain Reaction, The Matrix 1 & 2) and Jeff Daniels (My Favorite Martian, Terms Of Endearment, 101 Dalmations ) play two SWAT officers assigned to rescue several people trapped in a high-rise elevator by a disgruntled ex-police office brilliantly played by Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider, Rumblefish, Hoosiers ). His plan fails and as a result Dennis gets really made and seeks revenge. Enter innocent Sandra Bullock as a regular gal thrown into a situation that makes her character stronger and extremely likeable. Enter the bus, a regular MTA bus that becomes the 'real' star of the movie.

Keanu and Sandra have some great chemistry going and the action that this bus goes through is non-stop. Everything that is thrown at them is figured out rationally and then something totally believable is thrown at them again. AlanRuck (Star Trek: Generations, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Young Guns II ) gives a great performance as an out-of-towner who happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The DVD extras are great. Several interview sequences with the cast and the director as well as several technical featurettes that explain the 12 busses needed to make this film. There is a music video, trailers, promos, scripts and artwork and storyboards. This film is very technically clear and educational for the novice who really doesn't know much about stunts and filmmaking.

This is a great DVD collection and series and with the commentary Jan De Bont is very enlightening as well. As far as action films this is a good film to have in your collection. 'Speed' this one home. (9-9-02)

What A Rush (Hour)
SPEED is one of my favorite films from the 90s. The movie took the action genre and sort of reinvigorated it, much the same way that DIE HARD did, in 1988. LAPD Swat Team Specialist Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) called into action after a vengeful extortionist, known as Payne (Dennis Hopper), plants a bomb on a bus. The explosive is set to detonate, if the passenger-filled moving bus, drops below 50 miles per hour. Finding his way on the bus, Jack, relies on his partner (Jeff Daniels) and his boss (Joe Morton) for help. He also must use several riders to aid in keeping the vehicle moving. One such person is Annie (Sandra Bullock), who goes behind the wheel of the bus, after the driver is injured.

Directed by Jan De Bont, the film maintains its kenetic pace throughout and almost never lets up. Sure, some of is unbelievable, but its all held together by a good script and nice performances from the cast. In order for action films to work, the audience has to care about the characters, the spectacular stunts can't carry a film, only enhance it. Luckily, SPEED, benefits from both great stunts and characters we like (and dislike). Some of it is over the top, but because you are so caught up in all, you can easily forget any flaws the film has.

The 2-disc DVD set is loaded with extras. There are 2 audio commentary tracks, one with De Bont, the other with producer Mark Gordon and writer Graham Yost. The film digitally mastered using THX, and has never looked or sounded better, even on a regular television. Disc 2 has five extended scenes, 5 featurettes about different aspects of production, a very cool muti-angle stunt feature, a few storyboard to film comparisons, an interview gallery with the stars and director, an HBO first look special, theatrical trailers and television spots, 2 still photo galleries, and finally the full screenplay. Like the DIE HARD DVDs before it, this is a very comprehensive package. 5 stars indeed that is highly recommended.

I keep coming back
SPEED has been one of the handful of movies made in the last ten years that I keep coming back to again and again when I need an action fix. I think it's partly because its premise is so impossibly simple: there's a bomb on a bus that will go boom if the bus goes below 50 miles per hour. That's it. I also think it's also because for all the noise and action, it really doesn't take itself too seriously. Everyone, even the usually sulking Jeff Daniels, appears to be having a good time. And, of course, it doesn't hurt to have the maniacal Dennis Hopper performing opposite Keanu Reeves who is properly underplaying his role as HERO.

SPEED, I admit, is a no-brainer. But if I wanted to watch something cerebral and intellectual, there are plenty of others to choose from. I mean, from which to choose.