Keanu Reeves' 1994 action movie Speed has gotten an Honest Trailer, ahead of the actor's appearance in this week's John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. At this stage in his career, Reeves has anchored hit films across four decades, starting in the 1980s (with Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure) and carrying on through to the 2010s, with the John Wick movies. Perhaps just as impressive, though, is the fact that Reeves' most popular vehicles have varied from touchstone time-travel comedies to equally landmark sci-fi action titles like The Matrix. Even the actor's more widely-derided undertakings (see Bram Stoker's Dracula) are pretty dang memorable.
Indeed, Speed itself is now regarded as a perfect embodiment of '90s action cinema, between its wonderfully ridiculous premise (a bus is armed with a bomb that will explode if it drops below 50 mph) and entertaining mix of quippy humor and over the top set pieces. It also hit theaters at a time when its main leads (Reeves and Sandra Bullock) were only just coming into their own as A-listers, and its combined critical and commercial success helped catapult them onto bigger adventures. And seeing as the film's 25th anniversary is just a few weeks away, that's makes it all the more perfect a time to pause and take a look back at Speed itself.
Screen Junkies has now unveiled its Speed Honest Trailer online, as part of its Blockbuster Summer Honest Trailer lineup. You can check it out in the space below.
As one would expect, the Speed Honest Trailer has fun pointing out the film's silliest elements, ranging from its ham-fisted exposition to its reliance on '90s action movie tropes (most pointedly, the way Dennis Hopper's Howard Payne delivers his evil monologues over the phone, a la every other villain in a '90s action-thriller). It also takes a moment to riff on director Jan de Bont, who went from being a DP on 1980s films like Die Hard to helming equally goofy action fare in the decade that followed (see: Speed, Twister). At the same time, the trailer acknowledges the movie "just plain works" thanks to its terse action sequences, charismatic casting, and clever dialogue crafted by an uncredited Joss Whedon. Suffice it to say, there's a reason Speed's considered a '90s classic these days.
For the same reason, though, there's a decent chance a Speed reboot or remake will be announced in the next few years. The movie will be old enough to achieve peak nostalgia by then, and Hollywood's already begun developing fresh takes on a number of popular '90s IPs (The Craft, Candyman) ahead of then. Speed doesn't exactly have a great history as a franchise (1997's Speed 2: Cruise Control was an infamous flop that Reeves didn't return for), but that probably won't prevent studios from trying. In the meantime, there's always the original version to revisit instead, '90s gizmos and all.
Source: Screen Junkies