For my money, this is Keanu Reeves' best (and hottest) performance. He is "Jack", an LAPD officer who finds himself embroiled in a bus-hostage situation. Not any ordinary kind of scenario, though - the bus is atop a bomb that will detonate if it slows below 50mph. He must track down the bus and figure out a way of ensuring, in a gridlocked and pedestrian-riddled LA, how to make sure it doesn't explode and how to evacuate the passengers. Luckily for him, Sandra Bullock ("Annie") is on board so perhaps he has a fighting chance? We know from the start that it's explosive expert Dennis Hopper pulling all the strings - boy has he got a grudge - so the rest of LAPD (and his partner Jeff Daniels) have to try and track him down. Mark Mancina's score and some really intense action photography keep this gripping drama racing along really well with loads of (ok, pretty implausible) engineering acrobatics. The dynamic between Bullock and Reeves is effective, she plays her role really entertainingly too as it turns out the bus has it's fair share of quirky passengers too, and she ends up doing all the driving (without a driving licence!). Almost 30 years on, it hasn't really dated at all - indeed, there is an authenticity to the whole production that helps keep it enthralling all the way to an ending that sustains momentum really well.
