20 Action Films From The 1990s You Must Watch

If you are not going to have gunfights in your action film, then you better have something else that’s going to give the audience the thrills they are looking for. In Speed’s case, the gunfights are replaced with a bus rigged with a bomb that will explode if it goes under fifty mph.

LAPD SWAT bomb defusal officer Jack Traven, played by Keanu Reeves, is rewarded for freeing hostages trapped in a rigged elevator, but ends up finding himself at the centre of the bombers next scheme. He is told by the bomber about the rigged bus and the conditions on which it will detonate unless he is paid $3.7 million. Traven finds and boards the rigged bus, but it is already too late to stop it, and so he must do everything he can to keep it from exploding.

While his partner tries to figure out who the bomber is, Traven must navigate the bus through the unforgiving LA traffic and rely on passenger Annie Porter, played by Sandra Bullock, to keep the other passengers calm. Speed is a literal non-stop joy ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat until its climactic conclusion.