Speed (1994)
It’s Die Hard…
on a bus.
Is the main character an average Joe?
Well, the main character consists of a couple; Passenger-becoming-Bus-driver Sandra Bullock and Officer Keanu Reeves. So 50% is your average Joe, or Jane in this case.
Sidekick?
I guess Sandra is Keanu’s sidekick as he is the most dominant one of the two.
Any personal problems?
Keanu can’t act, but other than that nothing much really.
Is the lead character there by coincidence?
Keanu got himself on the bus, but Sandra Bullock was just a passenger.
Are there any friends or family in danger?
No, just the bus and the people in it.
What’s at stake and why aren’t the authorities doing anything?
The lives of everybody in the bus. The police do what they can which isn’t a lot because if they interfere the mad bomber will blow the bus. The only thing they are able to do is to clear the road so the bus won’t drop below 50 mph and explode.
Any charismatic villains?
Dennis Hopper is his usual self. He would go on to be a bomber again in the bad action flick “Ticker”
Is it any good?
Hell yeah. This was one of the must-see movies of 1994. It launched Sandra and Keanu’s career into A-list stardom, made Jan de Bont a respected director and was followed up with a sequel.
They are planning a remake, I would go for Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Joe Manganiello, Milo Ventimiglia, Tom Welling, Chris Evans, Chris Pine, Chadwick Boseman, Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Runner, Derek Theler, or D.J. Cotrona as Gabe Walker; and Billy Zane, Kevin Spacey, Dominic Pace, Alec Baldwin, Gil Banks, Hugo Weaving, Robert Knepper, Brian Van Holt, Travis Fine, Skeet Ulrich, or Dash Mihok as Qualen.
I think there is a way to improve The Taking of Beverly Hills, like instead an undercover Fed helped crippled a militia group and imprisoned many members including their leader. But the leader’s brother and a few members of the group plant bombs all over Beverly Hills, and threaten to set them off if the leader is not released, and the undercover fed seeks out the bombs while his partners buy him time.
Blast is good, but it would be worthwhile to note that, Agent Lisa Reed (Vivica A. Fox) finds out that Michael Kittridge (Vinnie Jones) is actually a mercenary named Skyler Talbot and had killed the real Kittridge and stole his identity to throw off authorities.
I would like to see Christmas Rush. Anyone know where to find it?
There are some sites that list it as streamable, but I don’t know how legit they are. If you own an XBMC player I would advise you to look on that network.
What is an XBMC Player? I have never heard of one.
In most cases they are mediaplayers running Android. Because they run Android they can download an app named XBMC from Google’s Play Store. XBMC allows you to search and stream movies
Don’t forget the other scenarios like Terminal Rush, Interceptor, Crash Dive, Counter Measures, 12 Rounds: Reloaded, 12 Rounds: Lockdown, Project: Shadow Chaser, Command Performance, Demolition University, Cyberjack/Virtual Assassin, Final Voyage, and Air Rage.
For Speed 2: Cruise Control, it should have been Direct to Video, and not a sequel to Speed. The lead villain should have been a pirate instead of soft ware designer turned mad bomber trying to blow up a ship.
Every time I see “Air Force One” I remember that in the Tom Clancy novels, the character of Jack Ryan becomes president. This film could have been part of the saga starring Harrison Ford, if he had continued it.