The year of 1994 is one that often comes up when discussing the greatest years for film. So many pictures premiered to critical and financial success, and have endured as classics: Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption, The Lion King, it goes on.
Flash-forward a bit, and Howard's back and angrier than ever. He remotely blows up an Santa Monica County bus in front of Jack to demonstrate his might, before lettng him know his new, more ambitious plan: there's a bomb on another bus that will blow if it goes below 50 MPH, or if Howard doesn't get his money.
The late Hopper appeared in many classic movies, but his turn here is probably second-only to a in terms of mainstream audience recognition. Like his most famous turn as the psychopathic sexual deviant Frank Booth in Blue Velvet, Howard Payne has a menace and ick factor that's only matched by the kind of believability only a great actor could bring to the table.
Along with Willem Dafoe, Bullock is one of the few who emerged from the utterly disastrous Speed sequel unscathed. Her star would continue to climb through the '90s and aughts, culminating in an Oscar win for 2009's The Blind Side. Frankly, she's been atop the A list ever since Speed. Harry dies a little over halfway through the film, in what's easily one of the saddest deaths in an action movie. Howard sets a distraction that turns out to be an explosive death trap for several LAPD officers. The moment is milked for all its worth as the camera zooms in on Harry's face as he stares down a bomb; he knows he's toast. It sucks, but thematically and in the name of good screenwriting it had to happen. No one is safe, you see.