Director
Jan DeBont

Cast
Keanu Reeves,
Sandra Bullock,
Dennis Hopper,
Jeff Daniels

Music
Mark Mancina

Nowadays, if asked the same question your pretty much guaranteed the response would be Speed.
I have to admit, when I first caught wind of a film set on a bus I thought..hmmm yes well that'll be a box office sensation, but wasn't I in for a surprise when .E.T showed a sneak preview of the Theatrical Trailer. 

At First glance another mad bomber movie may seem a little off putting as it's been done soooo many times over the years.  Speed thankfully avoids most of the pitfalls of the subsequent mad bomber movies and gives us something fresh and original (and in many instances somethinng that's totally unbelievable)

There's a bomb on a bus, if this bus should drop below 50 miles per hour the bomb will be automatically detonated. 
Had it not been for the unsuccessful attempt at blowing up an elevator full of people in the films opening sequence in which FBI chaps Jack (Keanu) and Harry (Jeff Daniels) save the day, the mad bomber (no secret that it's Dennis Hopper) would have been happy with his kill and not needed to carry out his backup plan (the bus bomb). 

The bus chosen for the bombing is your every day bus and was picked, just because and that's it.  No reason what so ever.  Of course it has nothing to do with the lovely Sandra Bullock or Ferris Beullers Alan Ruck being passengers.

Speed was fortunate to have first time director Jan DeBont behind the helm, Who prior to this was a Director of Photography, and it shows.  From Start to finish this film cruises along at only one speed, flat out.  Granted the ending was totally unnecessary, and had too many false endings for an action flick, but your brain will quite happily forgive you with this fun movie.

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up??

VIDEO
I am very pleased to see that FOX international (spell PAL) have NOT taken the same stupid route as the USA arm, as they have given us Speed in all its Anamorphic Widescreen Glory (the USA release is only 4x3 Letterboxed).  Though not really an old film, being about 6 years old, I found this transfer to be too soft with a lower and therefore less than perfect Level of Black (this may have been to hide some of the grain).  These two problems simply reduce image clarity and picture depth.  Pity.  Colour Saturation levels are quite good, though they did seemed a bit high from time to time.   At the end of the day though, this is  very watchable picture and undoubtedly leaves the region 1 NTSC version for dead.
This DVD has been spread over 2 layers of an RSDL DVD and I have to say that FOX certainly did a damn fine job of hiding the layer change.  It's a real blink and you miss it affair.  The Layer Change is from Chapter 17 to 18 (76:17) As Harry Arrives at the Bombers House (you'll notice that the car to the far right is for only a split second frozen).  

AUDIO
To the disappointment of many, the English audio track is missing an LFE channel, making this a Dolby Digital 5.0 mix.  This was the way it was presented in theatres, but for Home Theatres bass reproduction is really the job of our Sub woofers, so in many instances the sub bass is going to lacking if your system is not able to redirect bass to the subby, or if your main speakers can't handle low end bass.  If your system is able to do either,  then you are in for a treat as the bass attack is very strong and constantly present (most of the bass appears to come from the centre channel from what I could).  
With a very well spaced and placed front sound stage, Speed is a great example of a Discrete mix, even when you consider this is an "early" digital multichannel mix.  Dialogue is always clear and intelligible, even over the sound FX heard throughout.  Surrounds were also used to a high degree.  Even without an LFE track this is still a great sound mix

EXTRAS
Sadly the only extra on this DVD is Theatrical Trailer, encoded in Dolby Digital 2.0 but MONO.

Given the higher than normal ($39.95) price FOX believes we should pay for their DVDs (that to be honest are no better than anything else on the market so I find it totally unjustified), it may turn a few people off their collection of DVDs.  
Considering what's on offer with the USA equivalent of this DVD title and many other FOX titles, this region 4 PAL version is the best choice for what is a very cool film . 

Review Equipment
TV: Pioneer SD-T50W1 (16:9 RPTV)
DVD: Pioneer DV717  (using RGB outputs)
Receiver: Marantz SR870 & Sony SDP-EP9ES
Speakers:-
     Fronts: B&W 602
     Centre: B&W CDMC-SE
     Rears: Jamo Magic 14
     Subby: M&K V125 

- Reviewed 9th February 2000