Speed is both a reminder of the pleasures of well-done mindlessness and graceful evidence that Hollywood's newest generation of talent can play the box office game if and when it wants to.

| Original Score: A- | Dec 22, 2021

There should be traffic jams at the box office as Fox picks up many busloads of riders for its fast and furiously entertaining thriller Speed.

| Jun 10, 2019

De Bont has assembled it with masterly precision. And Speed looks terrific. There are breathtaking aerial shots, mind-boggling stunts, and camera positioning that you just don't expect. It's a rocketing eyeful.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 11, 2014

A riotously enjoyable locomotive of action, Speed is driven by a premise of such crystalline purity that its ridiculousness becomes part of the fun.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 30, 2013

Believe it or not, the most exciting movie of the year takes place mainly in an elevator, on a city bus and on a train car.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 30, 2013

Action directing is a put-up-or-shut-up game, a skill that can't be faked or finessed; even a 10-year-old can tell if you've got it or not. And on the evidence of the invigorating Speed, Jan De Bont has definitely got it.

| Jul 30, 2013

There are very few action movies that cut to the chase quite as quickly as Speed and then have the stamina to keep it up for nearly two hours.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 30, 2013

The deft arabesques of cinematographer Andrzej Bartkowiak juice up the suspense, and if you're not too put off by the sheer ridiculousness of the story you won't be bored.

| Jul 30, 2013

The result is clean, delirious, and, yes, speedy -- the best big-vehicle-in-peril movie since Clouzot's The Wages of Fear.

| Jul 30, 2013

Just when you think Speed is over, it takes you on a new high.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jul 30, 2013

The story is a starting gun, a reason to roll out the high-tech action movie chase and demolition experts. It's gaudy action shtick, and it's fitting that the last stop is at Hollywood Boulevard.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 23, 2012

Talk about simple. But the film's sheer cut-to-the-chase straightfowardness is part of its appeal.

| Jun 14, 2009

Athough it hits any number of gaping credibility potholes on its careening journey around Los Angeles, Speed delivers the goods as a non-stop actioner that scarcely pauses to take a breath.

Full Review | Jun 14, 2009

Eventually, inevitably, [it] goes too far, too fast, and ends up off the rails.

| Jun 24, 2006

Cleverer action films (Die Hard II and The Fugitive, for instance) deliver more sardonic intelligence, but this one still gets the job done.

Full Review | May 20, 2003

The smart and sassy Bullock is a knockout. She makes us believe the impossible things Annie is doing and, better, makes us care.

| May 12, 2001

Relentless without being overbearing, this is one likely blockbuster that doesn't feel too big for its britches. It's a friendly juggernaut.

| Jan 1, 2000

The plot becomes so overextended, as Reeves and Hopper wage their endless public transportation battle, even the hardest Die-Harders will consider leaping off way before the final stop.

| Jan 1, 2000

We've seen this done before, but seldom so well, or at such a high pitch of energy.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 1, 2000

Undeniably, the picture now and again supplies that edge-of-the-seat sensation; yet, by action-adventure standards, Speed is leaden and strangely poky. It never seems to shift into overdrive and let fly.

| Jan 1, 2000