Archive: Keanu Reeves in Speed

Impact fans who castigated us for running a Keanu Reeves postermag a while ago know where to send their heartfelt apologies. Though it's true that the long-haired half of Bill and Ted has made only a few action films, any one of them is more memorable than the entire B movie output of action 'stars' like Lorenzo Lamas and Don Wilson. Where Point Break proved that you could watch a film about surfing and never be board, Speed shows that you can see a movie about a bus and never feel the need for correct change. As we've observed before, Reeves' deadpan delivery scupper his chance of becoming a 'serious' actor in mainstream fare like Dracula and Much Ado..., but his lethal looks and bodacious bod make him the best young action star on the scene. Speed delivers the kind of rush hour you'd expect from Die Hard-on-a-bus, and further establishes the neato keen Keanu as a bona fide box office quick draw.

As you probably know, Speed is the story of public transport from hell. Madman Dennis Hopper has placed a bomb on an L.A. bus, and it's rigged to go off if the vehicle slows below fiftyy Miles an hour. The TNT-happy bad guy has clashed with supercop Jack Traven (Reeves) before, and supplies him with an explosive tip-off to ensure that the L.A. lawman is aboard the rush hour death trap. However, buses are not the only forms of commuter mobilisation to get the Die Hard treatment in Speed...

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