Speed (1994) Dir: Jan de Bont
Instagram post:
Jan de Bont's 1994 action thriller has been on my watchlist for a while now, thanks to its popularity and explosive action. I knew the basic premise, as I'm sure most who've heard of it do, but the rest of the details were fairly blank. Even so, I figured I was in for an exciting watch, so I was very much to finally get around to it.
The film is full of full-on 90's cheese, from its silly one-liners to the quite frankly absurd action sequences. I did actually enjoy a fair amount of the silliness, but the constantly corny dialogue and questionable acting did get a bit much by the end of it.
The action was always going to be a huge part of the film, and, for the most part, it delivered strongly. There were a lot of explosions and bonkers stunts, which were certainly impressive from a visual standpoint. The rest of the visuals weren't so enticing, but those moments of high action were done well.
The story was a little bit of a letdown to me, if I'm honest. I was wondering how they would stretch one simple idea into a two hour movie, and it turns out those concerns were well-founded. The film utilised repetitive scenes and a lot of plot convenience to get through its ironically meandering story.
Keanu Reeves' deadly serious delivery of some of the corniest lines I've ever heard has to be some of the best acting I've ever seen. In all seriousness though, I did actually enjoy his overly serious acting - he was easily the most entertaining person in the film.
I felt bad for Sandra Bullock, honestly. I feel like they just told her to shout a lot, which got annoying pretty quick. When she wasn't shouting though, she was a lot more enjoyable to watch. She had clear chemistry with Reeves, and her personality shone through in her first few scenes, when things were calmer.
Dennis Hooper felt like a bit of a parody villain, in many respects. I tried to take him seriously, but he kept coming out with bizarre lines and mannerisms that threw me off. He was ridiculous. Part of me enjoyed it, but, at the same time, he was so poorly written that I had to laugh.
The film had some noteworthy appearances from the likes of Jeff Daniels, Joe Morton, Alan Ruck, Glenn Plummer and Richard Lineback. It was a shame that Daniels didn't get more time on-screen, because he was a pretty compelling member of the cast.
Overall, the film was, in many respects, what I expected it to be; a bonkers action film with lots of explosions. However, while some of the cheesy parts of the film were entertaining, a lot of it was so goofy that I couldn't really take the film seriously. It was a fun film, but I wouldn't say it's one that I'll want to rewatch much.
Comments