Stars:
Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock, Joe Morton, Jeff Daniels, Joe
Morton, and Glenn Plummer
Writer:
Graham Yost
Director:
Jan De Bont
Feature
length: 115 minutes
Extras:
Two Feature Length Commentaries, Five Extended Scenes, Featurettes, Multi-Angle
Comparisons, Interviews, Storyboard-To-Film Comparisons, Music Video, Galleries,
Full Length Screenplay, Theatrical Trailer, and TV Spots
Languages:
English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound, English Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround Sound, and French Language Dolby Surround Sound 2.0
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Double Alpha Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 32
Sound:
DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and
Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1994/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Home
Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Following
on the success of last summer’s “Die Hard: Five Star Collection,”
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has released “Speed: Five Star
Collection” this summer, which is available separately or within a gift set
with “Speed 2: Cruise Control.” In fact both films are available separately,
but having watched both I’d say if you liked them both, buy the gift set and
save a few dollars.
Described
as “Die Hard” on a bus by some critics, “Speed” is actually quite
different from the “Die Hard” films. While the villains in the “Die
Hard” series were usually terrorists of one type or another, the villains in
both “Speed” films are lone men who feel cheated by the system they devoted
their time and trust in. In the case of “Speed” we have Dennis Hopper as a
former bomb squad cop, who lost his thumb and his livelihood on the job. He
feels betrayed by the system he swore to protect and so he uses his skills
against the police force to extort money by placing a bomb on a bus that becomes
active once the bus reaches 50mph. Once armed, the bus cannot slow below 50mph
or the bomb goes off. Keanu Reeves is the dedicated, but reckless cop out to
save the passengers on the bus and Sandra Bullock is the plucky love interest
that takes the wheel over when the driver gets shot.
“Speed”
is pretty ridiculous in many ways, but undeniably entertaining so as far as
summer popcorn high concept flicks are concerned, “Speed” has earned it’s
placement in Fox’s elite “Five Star Collection.” Nearly two months before
a “Special Edition” of “Speed” was released on DVD in Region 2 Europe. I
am not sure if the contents are the same, but I do think it is important to
mention in case readers are curious. Disc one presents “Speed” in a THX
Certified anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio complete with the THX
Optimizer program for sound and picture calibration. I do not think the film has
ever looked better on home video in America. The transfer is excellent. Also
excellent is the aggressive English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround
Soundtrack that kicks butt in a big way. An English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Soundtrack is also included and also has a very high fidelity and excellent
three-dimensional theatrical quality sound to it. A French Language Dolby
Surround Soundtrack and English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing
impaired coupled with Spanish Subtitles are encoded on to the DVD as options as
well.
The
gems of this “Five Star Collection” release are the feature length audio
commentary tracks included on the first disc. Director Jan De Bont gives a very
articulate and screen specific audio commentary track where he explains among
other things what attracted him to “Speed” as a project for his directorial
debut and why he felt it stood out from other action films that he himself had
worked on. The second audio commentary track features screenwriter Graham Yost
and Producer Mark Gordon and is in many ways it is much livelier because they
both appear to be friends as well as colleagues and go into great detail about
the casting of the film, the screenplay changes between the first and final
draft, and how actors add to the overall experience of filmmaking by bringing
their creative input as well.
Disc
two is comprised largely of featurettes and galleries of one type or another.
The featurettes can run as long as 24-minutes or be as short as 6-minutes
approximately. Included among them are filmed behind-the-scenes examinations of
the location, stunts complete with four multi-angle comparisons, visual effects,
the bus jump, Metrorail crash, and the HBO making of with Dennis Hopper hosting.
Filmed interviews that can be viewed in snippets according to subject or as a
whole are included with Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper, Jeff
Daniels, and Jan De Bont.
Five
extended scenes that run collectively for a little over 11-minutes are presented
in a widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio with English Dolby Surround Sound and can
also be watched individually too. Production design galleries, storyboard-to
film comparisons, behind-the-scenes stills divided into something like eighteen
categories, and the entire screenplay can be examined on one’s TV screen
without the need of a DVD-ROM player. A Billy Idol music video, the theatrical
trailer and eleven (1.33:1) TV spots wrap up the extra features included in this
two-disc set. The interactive menus are fully animated and well designed with
full motion scene selections and are easy to navigate.
“Speed:
Five Star Collection” is available now on DVD-Video alone or as a part of the
“Speed DVD Gift Pack” from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.