A Binge too Far #53: The Mega Size Action of the Speed duo (1994 – 1997)

Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bulloch in Speed (1994)

Mega Hollywood stars usually have people driving them in limousines, but Sandra Bulloch is taking the bus [in Speed (1994)] and then the ship [in Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)].

 

Speed (1994) poster

Speed (1994)

 

A mad terrorist motivated mainly by money (Dennis Hopper, no introduction needed) sets a bomb on a bus full of civilian passengers (led by Sandra Bulloch) that will explode if the vehicle stops speeding over 50 miles per hour. Police officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves, in a career-defining performance) gets on the bus and tries to find a solution.

 

Written by Graham Yost (known mainly for his work in television), this is your typical ‘the clock is ticking’ action story, and the direction by Jan de Bont (a cinematographer by trade) is even more conventional, but somehow it is all well-executed enough to keep your interest and allow for a good time to be had. It made a massive $350.4 million at the box-office and it even won a couple of Oscars among other awards, which doesn’t often happen in pictures of this genre, therefore it has become a classic of sorts.

 

Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)

Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)

 

A hacker (and embarrassing and embarrassed Willem Dafoe) gets a hold of a cruise’s control in order to drive it into an oil tank, as if terrorists opt for such bizarre actions. It is now up to glorified cop Alex Shaw (Jason Patrick, who for a leading man doesn’t have too much screen time, and we are grateful for that) and his love interest Annie (returning Sandra Bulloch, who probably couldn’t say no to the fat check) to save the day.

 

Doomed to fail from the get-go not only due to Keanu Reeves’ last minute absence but also because you can’t make a film called Speed about a cruise boat because these things are not very fast, so director Jan de Bont is left with a gigantic budget ($160 million) to save the day, and he doesn’t even do that as the whole thing is exceptionally mundane, with every scene resorting to basic coverage and resembling a bad TV movie. It was destroyed by the critics, hated by the paying audiences, and it grossed $164.5, merely making its money back and putting a tombstone to the promising franchise.

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A Binge too Far #47: The Twister duo (1996 - 2024)

Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton in Twister (1996)

Happy New Year! For me New Year’s Eve is always about changes and setting new goals. Well, for starters, I thought I’d change the way my posts work in Cinema Head Cheese. You’ll still be getting one post per month by yours truly but for 2025 you’ll have only one Static Age installment (that will essentially make the television column annual and will be published in December, in order to wrap things up on the small screen front), and for all other months (January to November) you’ll have A Binge too Far installments (most of them covering a duo of films, or even a trilogy). In other words, every eleven A Binge too Far posts, will be followed by one Static Age post. I decided upon this new arrangement in order for Static Age to grow even bigger and include more content each time (I’m thinking more than 3,000 words and more than twenty series or forty subjects overall tackled per post), while of course A Binge too Far will remain pretty much the same, featuring a special each time that’ll included a couple reviews of a duo of films or a trilogy. Got it?

 

Twister (1996) poster

Twister (1996)

 

A couple on the verge of divorce (a tornado expert meteorologist played by Helen Hunt and television weather forecaster played by Bill Paxton) has to overcome its differences and tensions in order to work against a combination of tornados by employing a recently-invented device.

 

Backed by Warner Bros, Universal Pictures, and Amblin Entertainment, with a lavish $92 million budget, this studio project ensured that director Jan de Bont [Speed (1994)] would have everything at his disposal in order to create a bombastic blockbuster; which is exactly what he did, as a perfect combination of surprisingly believable CGI and practical havoc is blended perfectly and results into a fascinating picture, much more enjoyable than its subject matter would have you expect. It made $495.7 million at the box-office and it became the second highest grossing film of 1996.

 

Twisters (2024) poster

Twisters (2024)

 

Traumatized by the death of her colleagues many years ago, meteorologist Kate Carter (the gorgeous Daisy Edgar-Jones) moves to New York in order to approach science in more conventional manner, but when the chance arises she returns to Oklahoma to chase tornados, where she meets local twister wrangler superstar Tyler (Glen Powell), only to create a completion between their two teams.

 

Directed by Lee Isaac Chung, this belated standalone sequel to the mid-1990s blockbuster is a sensation in itself, featuring bombastic tornado scenes – mostly rendered with surprisingly believable CGI – and a country rocking soundtrack, as well as a great cast. It is very enjoyable and an overall better film than the original. It was budgeted at $155 million and it grossed $369.7 million.

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