It begins with a long crane shot down a darkened lift shaft. This sounds tame in itself, yet combined with the disconcerting noises of mechanical squeaking and strange muffled ‘white noise’ music cunningly blended in- plus the eerie cold bluish, shadowed lighting, the effect is rather menacing and ominous. The music especially builds up the expectancy and uneasiness that something unpleasant is about to happen and the sporadic heart like beats within the music which quicken and crescendo then slow down and diminuendo, heighten our suspicions- the shot however stays mostly the same, a steady glide down the shaft.
The camera reaches the bottom of the lift shaft and pans in on a door marked ‘caution’. It opens and a security guard walks cautiously out carrying a torch. The back ground music has since died out and the only sounds to be heard are that of small tapings and fumblings coming from beyond the marked door. The security guard hesitantly walks forward towards the source of the noise- which is through a passage way of tubing. He rounds a corner and a man with grey hair (Denis Hopper) whose face we cannot see, dressed in overalls, comes into view. A brief and brutal encounter follows in which the security guard asks for identity and papers to show that the stranger has permission to be working there. The man slowly bends down to pick up a piece of paper and while doing so picks up a knife behind it. Dramatic irony comes into play for we the audience know what is going on but the guard does not and is serenely oblivious. The stranger suddenly moves and with extraordinary speed whips out the knife and plunges it in to the guard’s head- killing him instantly. As the man falls backwards, the camera zooms in on a close up of the killer’s face. “Nothing personal.”
In a minuet amount of time, we have met the ‘baddie’ of this film and from only this short encounter, discerned that he is in a building which he is not supposed to be in, is ruthless, has been tampering with some electrical or mechanical machinery (which one doubts has anything to do with repairing a fault) and is fully capable of cold blooded murder. Steel grey hair- distorted face- gravelly voice- Houston, we have a villain. This character whatever his role later on in the play, has fulfilled our expectations already of a perfect rogue for an action film. All we need now is the fluffy white cat…
Seconds later the scene switches to that of a cheery, office scenario. The lighting is warm and bright and the atmosphere friendly and full of life- totally opposite to the eerie spookiness of the lift shaft. At first the camera simply pans over the office then slowly centers in onto a group of men and women, about to enter one of the lifts. They step in, lift door closes and the atmosphere of the office suddenly darkens with the lighting- which turns into a menacing reddish hue. One of the men press a button and the lift begins its descent downwards when suddenly an explosion on the top of the lift, breaks a connecting cable and causes the lift to plummet meters down the shaft plunging the occupants into ciaos.
We now have a villain, a murder, a life threatening dilemma for the occupants of the lift and surprise surprise, it is at this point that we meet Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) the cocky cop who’s destined to be our hero and his trusty partner Harry (Jeff Daniels)-two SWAT LAPD team members who are called to the lift situation in the high rise office building. In true action film style, they explode onto the scene in a battered old car traveling at about 100m/per hour.
In most cases, action films host a protagonist who generally is a jaw droppingly handsome male (usually a civil servant/secret agent), with a huge ego, hard core personality, speech impediment (this being him only able to make knowledgeable grunts or sadly pathetic attempts at humor) and is seemingly a ‘babe magnet’. Apart from being jaw droppingly handsome, Keanu Reeves fits this description snugly. Dressed in black combat clothing, with a macho crew cut hairstyle, chewing away on a piece of gum- he is unmistakably our hero.
The shrewd duo of Jack and Jeff manage to save the hostages from the death trap of the lift in a riveting action sequence in which they race against the bomber and secure the lift by a cable and mange to secure themselves enough time to free the captives. and in a freight elevator track down Payne. However even though the villain is outnumbered, he manages to take Harry hostage. To prevent him from getting away, Jack is forced to shoot friend in the leg, taking him 'out of the equation'. Harold Payne the bomber escapes through the lift shaft, followed seconds later by a huge explosion, which it is assumed that Payne dies in.
This dynamic introduction to the film is only a tiny taster leading up to the explosively fiery sequences to follow, yet still manages to hold all the ingredients of a modern action classic with brilliant choreography and directing to set it off. The film as a whole can roughly be divided into three sections- lift, bus and train. Each have their own individual plot and dilemma which Jack our hero is forced to rectify and solve to save the lives of innocent civilians as well as himself. After the lift, the subsequent two sections focus on Payne’s revenge on Jack for thwarting his lift plan- which to the observer seems like a game of cat and mouse, for whatever Jack does, Payne seems to be already there and anticipates his actions. He's crafted a film that is just relentless. From the opening sequence in which Hopper rigs the lift to explode, to the careening bus mid-section, to the finale featuring a runaway train, the movie just never stops. The director Jan de Bont keeps the action barreling along at a speed which is breathtaking. You simply do not get a chance to become bored.
However there is one character the opening of the film does not introduce us to yet. The reason being so that interest in characters does not die out and if so, there is a new one to compensate it.
The ‘Crumpet’ (as she can be termed) is indispensable - an action film simply is not an action film without its damsel in distress. The criteria for this figure are a long legged Barbie look-alike, with a seductive smile and weakness for the good guy. Women in action-films usually play the roles of accomplices or romantic interests of the hero, although modern action films have featured strong female characters to broaden demographic appeal. Annie (Sandra Bullock) - a normal New Yorker, is unfortunate enough to be caught up in extraordinary circumstances when it comes to light that the bus she is traveling on is host to a bomb which is set to explode when the bus drops below 50miles/per hour.
Her spunk and enthusiasm throughout the movie no matter the odds stacked against her and the situations she faces, contribute majorly to the overall energy level of the film and her character plays a huge part in the outcome. Jack, despite trying to remain emotionally detached from his work, is drawn to her and predictably the couple end up falling in love adding a streak of romance to what would be otherwise perhaps at times, an overwhelmingly action packed movie.
Though the movie does contain huge amounts of action, stunts and situations, the plot never looses sight of the end goal and stays simple and easy to follow. Summed up in a sentence it basically is: Villain sets out to get money, is thwarted by hero, fight against each other, girl is used as hostage, hero beats villain, girl and hero live happily ever after.
Jack Traven is the perfect blend of vulnerability, machismo, and smart-assedness to appeal almost completely to an audience. One sympathizes with the situations he is forced to face (e.g. having to make a decision to let Annie be taken hostage by the bomber and possibly killed or risk other peoples lives), is in awe of his bravery, and laughs (at times) at his one-liners. All these qualities combine surprisingly together to make his character rather endearing to us. And the little dialogue that there is throughout the film is realistic and funny at the same time (witness the hostility between passengers aboard the Bus throughout for an example).
Speed, is an example of how to do everything right in an action movie. It doesn't rely purely on thrills and explosions; rather, it creates characters that are worth caring about and situations people can relate to. Speed is about as close to a perfect action movie as you can get. Charismatic hero, an engaging love interest, a suitably evil and diabolical villain, and (of course) many, many explosive and awesome action sequences. It is certainly one of the best action films of all time and without a doubt is a classic example of the action movie genre.
