Friday, July 18, 2014

Speed 2 Month Day 18: It’s an adventure… no, it’s a date



SPEED is not the first movie to mix action, adventure and a bit of romance to draw in both the guys (for the eye candy) and the girls (for the… eye candy?). Although I doubt very much that Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw received many female fans for THE GETAWAY. In fact, I wouldn’t really consider THE GETAWAY and action/adventure date film, mainly due to the plot. Still, it comes damned close, mostly due to the actors’ chemistry and the movie’s conclusion. Of course, I’d never even put THE GETAWAY on the same shelf as SPEED 2, as it might contaminate the former, and might confuse people into thinking they were on the same level. Now, that would be a travesty.

For some reason, the action/adventure date film seemed to dominate screens in the 1990’s, including one movie that I’ve already spoken about: CHAIN REACTION. While it is true I’d actually consider CHAIN REACTION to be a science fiction tale (yeah, I’m aware the science is terrible), the continuing saga of the two main characters on the run and eventually becoming attracted to each other, well, it’s a Keanu Reeves’ regular setting! He’s got THE MATRIX, SPEED, the aforementioned CHAIN REACTION, and even CONSTANTINE and POINT BREAK, to a degree. What, you don’t see the bromance in POINT BREAK? It’s so damned obvious…

To segue further, look at Keanu’s frequent partner in films, Rachel Weisz. She did the ultimate in action/adventure date movies with her role in the first of Stephen Sommers’ Mummy flicks. She reprised it with an interesting spin for the second, but at that point it was less a building romance than story building.

Further down the line, you can probably make the same stamp on DIE HARD, which came out in ’88. While the action doesn’t much include Bonnie Bedelia, some of the ideas are still there, with the guy getting the girl in the end. Too bad it doesn’t work out well for Mr. McClane over the next plethora of Die Hard films. Of course, CON AIR would fit in this particular offshoot of the action/adventure date flick, as it’s got essentially the same premise. Con Air: Die Hard at 30,000 Feet. I’d like to find something else that Nic Cage did that fits more along the specific lines here, but it just isn’t going to work, unless you count HONEYMOON IN VEGAS. Which is still a better film than SPEED 2. Hell, the Flying Elvis’s (Utah Chapter) so soundly trump SPEED 2; you don’t even need to start watching the ‘Annie tries to drive’ scene. No really, you don’t – and it’s likely the best scene in the whole film. Yup.

I’m pretty sure I’ve tapped out this topic, here. If you feel you can find another action/adventure date movie (not ROMANCING THE STONE, please) let me know and I’ll disseminate it against SPEED 2 just for giggles.

In fact, if anyone has any ideas at all, anything you’d like me to cover at this point, there are a few days left in the month before I lay this to rest until next year. Go ahead, I’m game.

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