![]() When the bus episode finally ends, we sit back, drained, ready for the movie to end, too. Meanwhile, the story intercuts between Hopper, who is issuing ultimatums and dropping sinister hints, and Daniels, back at headquarters, who is using computers to try to figure out the blackmailer's identity. Bullock keeps her cool at the wheel while Reeves tries stunts like going under the bus to try to disarm the bomb while it continues to bounce along at high speed. The screenplay, by Graham Yost, piles on complications until the movie's very construction is a delight. Can a bus really leap a 50-foot space? This is the kind of movie where you don't ask questions like that. Reeves manages to get himself on board the bus, of course.Īnd after the driver is shot by a passenger, another passenger ( Sandra Bullock) grabs the wheel while Reeves tries to think a way out of the dilemma, and the bus cruises at 55 mph - in the wrong lanes, in the wrong directions, sideswiping other cars, causing accidents, and eventually ending up on an empty freeway that would provide clear sailing - if it weren't for a 50-foot gap in an overpass. ![]() This is an inspiration that will raise many questions for anyone who has ever been in L.A. traffic, but never mind: It provides the basis for an extended, suspenseful chase sequence that comes up with one ingenious crisis after another. ![]() He rigs an ordinary Los Angeles rapid transit bus so that if it exceeds 50 mph, a bomb will be armed - and then, if its speed falls below 50 mph, the bomb will explode. He wants not only the ransom money but also the satisfaction of humiliating the LAPD, and when he's outsmarted on the elevator caper, his next trick is truly diabolical. He's a former cop with a grudge, an intelligent man with a big bag of tricks who seems able to anticipate every one of Reeves' moves. The bomber is played by Dennis Hopper, the most dependable and certainly the creepiest villain in the movies right now.
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