There are some movies that could only have been made in the ’90s, simply because the premise is just too insane to work now. A movie where you have to keep driving a bus or else it will explode is just insane enough to work in 1994, because in 2024 that bus might have been a Tesla and could have already exploded before it left a lot.
Speed is a perfect storm of weirdness tied together by Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock’s infectious charm. The film follows SWAT officer Jack (Reeves) as he tries to save a bus full of civilians (including Bullock) after a bomb is triggered to detonate if the bus goes below 50 mph.
At the end of the movie, the two leads share a kiss, despite barely looking at each other the entire time. Bullock and Reeves joined the podcast 50 MPH to celebrate the movie’s 30th anniversary, and Bullock admits the ending was a little unexpected.
“We didn’t really look at each other in this movie except for maybe three times, three or four times where there was just — because we were constantly battling the elements,” she said. “And I think that’s what made it so electric, too, is that, watching it, I guess you want them to connect. So, that was really clever, a really clever setup to sort of, you know, keep people apart. Foreplay, I guess.”
Even more unexpected than the ending was the films’ success. Speed went on to become a cult classic, win two Oscars and helped launch Bullock and Reeves’ friendship.
Reeves added that the two were able to be so convincing because the stakes felt a little real. Reeves added, “I think, you know, working with Sandy and being in that moment, you know, making — being able to pretend at such a believable way at heightened circumstances. You know, going into that bandwidth of, like, ‘Oh, my God! Oh, my God! What are we doing?’” Now, Reeves is really used to fast cars, so he knows what he’s doing.
