Speed

Some things in life constantly amaze me. Stuff like why people will insist on drinking that vile Ginger Beer stuff or the continued popularity of Lady GaGa. Chiefly among those things that perplex me is how it is that Keanu Reeves manages to be basically the same character in pretty much every movie he is in. He isn't the only 'actor' to fall into this trap, with Vinnie Jones and Danny Dyer jumping to mind.

In Speed, he plays Jack Traven, an LAPD officer who gets drawn into a game of cat and mouse with Dennis Hoppers mad bomber character. After an entertaining scene with a bomb on a lift and Hopper escaping we meet Sandra Bullock, playing Annie, a ditzy bird on a bus in LA. Once Reeves boards the bus we are treated to action set-piece after action set-piece. In essence we are battered about the head with them until we just give in.

The movie ends with Hopper get beheaded in a most amusing way and Traven and Annie end the film by making out in a wrecked tube train.

Hopper by the way spends much of his time chewing the scenery with gay abandon and is almost laughable in his attempts to come off as evil. Also, i think i noticed that his injured hand changes from left to right randomly through the film. Continuity errors much? Bullock is perfectly good in this movie and Reeves? Well, I'm still flabbergasted he is an actor! The action in this comes over quite well, especially when one considers much of it takes place on a bus. There is one scene though that actually had me swearing out loud at the ridiculousness of it. The bus is careering along the freeway and our protagonists notice that part of the freeway hasn't been finished and the bus.... jumps the gap!

This sort of thing is typical of this sort of action film. See, there are 2 types of action film, those take themselves seriously like the Die Hard films and then there are those that almost send themselves up with the over the top action and ridiculous characters. If you can switch your brain off, then both types are perfectly enjoyable and in the case of Speed, although it has dated horribly and Reeves has the range of a myopic hamster, is still a good if undemanding action film.