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Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3
Act 1
Speed opens up with a very interesting opening scene. The entire opening sequence is just a camera falling from the top of an elevator shaft to the ground floor. We then see Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) killing a security guard by stabbing him in the head. After he dies, we see people entering an elevator and becoming trapped after a bomb detonated part of the elevator. A car then comes flying down a highway with two SWAT teams members; Harry Temple (Jeff Daniels), and Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) getting out and meeting with the other members of the SWAT Team. Their leader Lt." Mac" McMahon (Joe Morton) tells them that a bomber, Payne, has trapped people in a elevator for ransom. After Jack makes a remark, Mac sends him and Harry to check the device. After doing so, they take matters in the own hands, causing the bomber to blow the device early. The SWAT team gets everybody out of the elevator safely before it comes crashing to ground floor.
Even though it is all over, Jack has a gut feeling that the bomber is still here. Harry and Jack come to the conclusion that he his hiding in the freight elevators. After searching, they find him and a standoff commences. Payne takes Harry hostage and tells Jack who he calls "Hot Shot," that he has a bomb strapped to his chest and asks him "What do you do?" Finally after enter the parking lot, Harry tells Jack to "Shoot the hostage," which makes Jack shoots Harry in the thigh. Jack then chases Payne but the bomb goes off before he can catch him. Later we see both Harry and Jack accepting an award for bravery with Harry using a cane because of gunshot caused by Jack. During the ceremony, Harry tells Jack that he can't believe that they are giving him a medal for shooting him in the leg. Jack responds by saying "Harry... you told me too."
Act 2
After the night of partying following the ceremony, Jack goes to his normal coffee shop and talks to Bob, a bus driver who is an acquaintance. Bob leaves and so does Jack but returns when the guy behind the counter tells him that he forget his muffin. Bob drives off in his bus and Jack says goodbye. Right has Jack is about to enter his vintage Ford Bronco, the bus Bob is driving blows up. Jack runs over to try and save Bob but it's no use. Just as the bus blows up, a payphone nearby rings which Jacks answers. It's Payne telling him that he ruined his plan and two years of his life with the elevator job. He then tells Jack it's time to play another game. "...There's a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up. What do you do? What do you do?" Payne then tells him his ransom amount, when he wants it , the bus number and it's exact location, which makes Jack get in his car and drive off, leaving his coffee and muffin still on the roof.
As Jack is chasing down the bus, we find Annie (Sandra Bullock) chasing the bus and finally getting on. After a back and forth cut between Jack hurrying to the bus and character development of Annie and the bomb, Jack finally finds the bus but is already armed. Jack tries to board but the driver will not let him. He then hijacks a Jaguar and tells the man to write on a back of a piece of paper "Bomb on Bus" and holds it up for the driver to see. The driver sees this and does everything Jack says. He also calls Harry, who is hung over from the night before, to tells him the bomber is back, and get informed moments later by Mac. Jack then takes the man's car phone that he has been using and jumps onto the bus from the moving car, which crashes after he boards. When he enters the bus, a passenger pulls out a gun. Jack tries to calm him down but another passenger tackles him, which causes the gunman to shoot the driver. Annie takes over as driver and tells Jack to stop the bus. While Jack is subduing the gunman, he tells the passengers that there’s a bomb on the bus and that if anyone tries to get off or if the bus goes under 50 miles an hour, then it will explode.
Jack guides Annie to the 105 freeway that is not is use from information giving to him by Mac who is following him in a police helicopter. Jack also calls Harry about the device from time to time via the phone he took from the Jaguar. Harry believes that he is a cop and is searching that lead after Jack tells him information about the device. The media starts following this story by helicopter as well. After the chaos of maneuvering from the city and many close calls, they finally make it to the 105. Mac and fellow SWAT Team officers are following the bus on a flat-bed truck, hoping to get some of the passengers off. After a call from Payne, he is allowed to unload the driver because he is shot, which goes successful; however, another passenger tries to exit, but Payne see this from the Television coverage and blows up the stairs, killing the woman.
Later on, it comes to the police's attention that the freeway is not in use because there is a 50 foot section missing. Mac tells Jack who decided to jump it and tells Annie to "flooring it." The bus jumps the gap and stays above 50 miles an hour making everybody survives. After the jump, Jack tells Annie to pull into the airport where their circle the runways, but now the tires are all flat after running over a barricade.
Jack calls Payne to see if he can leave. After getting the permission, Jack leaves then comes back to see if he can disarm the device with Harry on headset. He then goes under the bus and tries to disarm it, which he cannot. While Harry is talking to him back at the police station, they find that the bomber is Howard Payne, a retired bomb squad officer from Atlanta. Harry leaves with the SWAT Team to check his house.
As Jack tries to leave from under the bus, he gets stuck and it is up to the passengers to save him, which they do successfully. While trapped under the bus, Jack punched a hole in the gas tank with a screwdriver which causes another problem. Meanwhile, Harry and the SWAT Team arrive at Payne's house but it is rigged to explode which kills all of the officers at the house including Harry. Payne calls Jack's to tell him that Harry is dead and where/how to drop the money off. Jack realized that Payne has been watching the bus because he can see Annie's Arizona University sweatshirt by calling her "Wildcat," their mascot. Jack searches the bus and finds a hidden camera. Jack tells Mac, who makes a looped copy of the feed from finding the signal off of a news van and sends it back to Payne's. He then helps Jack unload the passengers. After all the passengers are off, the bus becomes harder to control. Jack and Annie rig the bus so they can get off safely. After doing so the bus becomes totally out of control and drops below 50 miles an hour and blows up after crashing into plane.
Act 3
After the bus blows up and everybody is ok, it is time to pay Payne. Jack and Annie go to the drop where police follow Payne's orders. Just as Payne is about to leave to get his money, he realizes that the feed coming from the bus was actually a tape and becomes irate. He then puts on his old police uniform and takes Annie hostage.
Meanwhile, Jack feels like Payne has tricked them. When they turn on the tracking device, it is moving, meaning that Payne picked up the money. Jack runs to the drop and realized that Payne has cut a hole in the street to the subway and picked up the money. Jack chases Payne only to realize that it's Annie who picked up the cash with the same type of bomb strapped to her chest that Harry had. Payne and Annie get on a subway train where Payne kills the driver. Jack sneaks onto the train and climbs up on the roof.
Payne hears Jack and offers him money. When Payne opens the bag, a dye pack explodes on his face, clothes, and more importantly the money. Payne then goes up to the roof of the train and a fight between Jack and Payne breaks out. Jack wins by beheading Payne and returns to save Annie. He disarms the bomb but doesn't have a key, because Payne and handcuffed her to a pole. They try to break it but it is no use. Jack tries to stop the train but cannot so he speeds up the train in order to jump the track because it is not completely finished.
Jack and Annie hold each other while the trains speeds past the constrcution site and plows through a concrete wall and crash into a tour bus. They began to make out and decided to start dating while the tourist from the bus watch and take photos.
THE END
