Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper and Sandra Bullock in the Jan de Bont movie ‘Speed’

In coming across a list of favorite movies since 1992 attributed to Quentin Tarantino recently, my expectation didn’t immediately think of the Jan de Bont directed movie Speed (1994) starring Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper and Sandra Bullock. The fresh look at the film happily offered more than I remembered.

(From left, Keanu Reeves as Jack Traven and Jeff Daniels as Harry Temple in the Jan de Bont movie Speed).

Working as bomb disposal experts for the Los Angeles, California Police Department‘s SWAT team included Jeff Daniels as Harry Temple and Keanu Reeves as Jack Traven. Our first introduction to these all stars comes when Traven and Temple thwart an attempted extortionist bombing in an elevator.

(Joe Morton as Lieutenant Herb ‘Mac’ McMahon in the Jan de Bont movie Speed).

The averted tragedy takes a pair of unique turns that saves the day twice, resulting in the promotion of Harry Temple following the incident. It was praise from Lieutenant “Mac” McMahon, as portrayed by Joe Morton, that in part sees Harry ascended to detective.

(From left, Dennis Hopper as Howard Payne and Sandra Bullock as Annie Porter in the Jan de Bont movie Speed).

Despite the superior work in averting one disaster, the suspense, action and danger of bomber Howard Payne, as portrayed by Dennis Hopper, has not come to an end with one averted attempt at making death in large numbers. Circumstances represent themselves when Payne reemerges with an attempt to repeat the extortion again. This time, Payne has attached the bomb to a bus that will explode if the bus slows to less than 50 miles per hour. Passengers leaving the bus also prompts an explosion.

(The bus in the Jan de Bont movie Speed).

Passenger Annie Porter, as portrayed by Sandra Bullock, just barely becomes a passenger on the ill-fated bus. Porter is joined with passengers Ortiz and Doug Stephens, portrayed by Carlos Carrasco and Alan Ruck, respectively. The drama of keeping the bus going, with Jack Travern interacting with a second attempt to end Payne’s revenge, become the drama that we witness through the remainder of the film.

(From left, Alan Ruck as Doug Stephens and Carlos Carrasco as Ortiz in the Jan de Bont movie Speed).

Speed offered a solid portion of good versus evil, wrong versus right, suspenseful intrigue that asks you to suspend a degree of disbelief. The movie doesn’t take itself too seriously, and there is suspense for the characters that women and men can find emotionally satisfying. That a love interest of sorts is formed between Traven and Porter is the whip cream and cherry that tops the dish of ice cream that is Speed. I give Speed 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Mark Wahlberg and the movie ‘Deepwater Horizon’

On April 20th of 2010, an explosion on the oil rig Deepwater Horizon approximately 41 miles (66 kilometers) off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico became the largest marine oil spill in history. The rig would sink two days later. Eleven workers would die with another 17 injured. The movie Deepwater Horizon (2016) was released in the fall of 2016.

(Mark Wahlberg as Mike Williams)

Mark Wahlberg stars as Chief Electronics Technician Mike Williams in the movie. His character is among the first introduced in the movie. As he is flown onto the oil rig Deepwater Horizon, he is shown questioning the installation of the concrete and nitrogen fortification that is meant to make the extraction of the deposit below the sea floor.

(Kurt Russell as Jimmy Harrell)

Kurt Russell as Offshore Information Manager Jimmy Harrell shared similar concerns over the stability of the extraction system. Harrell was chiefly pitted against British Petroleum Supervisor Donald J. Vidrine, as portrayed by John Malkovich, in pushing the safety or profitability angle within the movie.

(John Malkovich as Donald J. Vidrine)

In my humble opinion, the movie aimed to be fair in depicting some of the competing motivations within this debate for whether extracting oil/natural gas was legitimate in the situation aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig. Criticism that the movie does not cover the full complexity of the situation is raised by University of Texas at Austin Professor of Petroleum Engineering Eric van Oort here.

The oil rig Deepwater Horizon was a marine vessel in the sea. As such, the vessel is piloted by Dynamic Positioning Operator Andrea Fleytas, a role portrayed by Gina Rodriguez in the movie.

(Gina Rodriguez as Andrea Fleytas)

The overall story felt even-handed in addressing the larger facts of the fact that the drilling in this case was questionable. It felt that the underlying facts were addressed in such a fashion as not to blame as much as to demonstrate the underlying realities at a level understandable to the film viewing public.

(The Deepwater Horizon memorial Eleven in New Orleans, Louisiana)

The movie has some depth to it, and explicates the story of the explosion. The loss of life as well as the oil spill was a tragedy. That this was reportedly at least the second such well explosion of this nature is definitely a shame. That I came away with a desire to understand this event better after watching the movie Deepwater Horizon speaks to my ability to recommend this movie.

Matt – Saturday, September 8, 2018