4. Jan De Bont
AKA - "The Man Who Brought You Speed"
Now, I know what you're thinking,"He hardly counts, he hasn't made a new film in over a decade!" True, but what you are looking at is an inspiration. Not to filmmakers, but to myself as the reason for writing this article. When going through a few older films, I happened across an old DVD copy of The Italian Job remake, which due to it featuring the always watchable Jason Statham, I decided to give a second chance. I had just pressed play when the trailer for Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life came on. This is when I was hit with the reminder that the man who made Twister and Speed also made one of the two, awful Tomb Raider films. If you look at his back catalogue, he has one film to his name that will always be thought of as a classic; Speed. You might cry Twister, but I always thought that was always a bit hokey. (Why were they driving a van into a hurricane?) From the success of that one film, he made The Haunting (dire), Tomb Raider(boring) and not forgetting the low water mark to which all sequels will be forever held; Speed 2: Cruise Control. Thankfully he's retired for the time being, but I always worry that he'll pick up the camera for one more shot.