Speed's secret weapon is Keanu Reeves Jack Traven, a near perfect movie cop.
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1994's Speed is one of the most agreeable action movies of all time. It's got a killer premise, a punchy script full of great movie one-liners, a great cast, a thumping, definitive score, and an excellent action director behind the camera who milks every wild solution to the movie's ultimate problem for maximum tension. In short, there's a reason why this movie is beloved and Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock can revisit "Speed 30 years later," and no one bats an eye.
But there's something else about the movie that stands out, especially in the parade of action movies featuring cops: Keanu Reeves' Jack Traven, about as close as we've gotten to a perfect movie cop in an action movie.
So today, I'm going to breakdown why this character is so integral to this movie's evergreen appeal.
The Character: Jack Traven
When we first meet Jack Traven he fulfills the "hotshot" label Dennis Hopper's villain gives him. He arrives roaring into a hostage situation with his car literally flying over a hill, he and his partner take aggressive action to get the hostages off the elevator that's rigged with explosives without asking for permission. He even provides a ridiculous solution to a hostage situation proposed by his partner Harry: shoot the hostage.
Thankfully for everyone involved, all of these aggressive plays work as Jack and Harry are able to get all of the hostages to safety despite the elevator brakes being blown before the deadline. They also presumably take care of the bad guy with Harry prompting Jack to "shoot the hostage" (aka him) and Hopper's bomber appears to blow himself up. Cut to a few months later and both men are being honored for their bravery.
But as much as Jack tries to play it off as a "good day" all things considered, a drunken Harry emphasizes that they weren't good they were lucky. A sentiment that becomes even more apparent when Jack watches a bus driver friend get blown up in a massive fireball the next morning and receives the call from Hopper's Howard Payne to let him know about a second bus bomb.
So that's Jack, a hotshot that perhaps needs to learn to take more calculated risks to avoid more close calls. And...he delivers. In one particular way. He's doing his best to keep everyone alive.
Jack vs. The Typical Action Movie Cop
There's been a near infinite number of movie cops put to screen ranging from criminal to paragons of virtue, and everywhere in between.
Cops in action movies tend to do one thing above everything else. They shoot people. Their ultimate goal may to be save lives in the long run, but every movie cop from Axel Foley to Al Pacino's Vincent Hannah in Heat end up in a firefight where they take lives to save lives.
In fact, many movie cops go through a transition from being reluctant to shoot anyone to being convinced that the extreme situation they're in requires lethal force. Die Hard's John McClane does his best to keep all of the hostages and local police alive (including trying to stop Ellis from running his mouth and getting himself killed), but after one hesitation, he's firing first and asking questions later. Hell his buddy on the ground Al's entire journey is going from reluctant to pull his gun to being willing to unholster it and shoot Karl after...shooting a kid.
So what about Jack?
Jack...fires his weapon once. The shot that hits Harry.
Admittedly a big part of that is that this movie is about Jack and company trying to outsmart Howard Payne and they're in a hostage situation. So you can't shoot your way out of this problem.
But there are numerous situations where Jack decides to avoid risk and violence to ensure everyone's safety.
The best example is shortly after Jack hops onto the bus from a moving car. After a brief talk with the bus driver Sam, he introduces himself to the passengers who are understandably upset, and tells them that there's a situation and to remain calm. Believing Jack is there for him, a passenger named Ray pulls a gun and Jack in turn pulls his.
In a lot of movies this is where Jack would at the very least would take out this man with his weapon to take him out of the equation. Instead, Jack does his best to deescalate the situation, clearly realizing that a firefight in a bus he needs to keep going at 50 mph will get everyone killed. He says he doesn't care what crime Ray committed and begins to put down his weapon as a show of good faith. And it's actually the action of a passenger, Ortiz, who rushes Ray and causes the driver to get shot. Even then, Jack does just enough to get the weapon away from Ray and handcuffs one of his wrists to a bus seat. Not only that, but he then ensures the bus keeps moving at speed and negotiates with Payne to get Sam off the bus so he can get medical attention.
That's the biggest reason Jack stands out amongst the typical movie cop who tend to shoot first and ask questions later. But there's a few more that reinforce the values, we the audience, want police officers to have.
Risks His Own Safety, Not the Hostages
The public portrayal of police officers is that they risk life and limb to keep us, the citizens, safe. In reality, that's often not the case. Things like police chases put more lives at risk than the allegedly dangerous criminals they're trying to capture and plenty of police have hit each other with friendly fire or bystanders.
In Speed Jack does a lot of dangerous and risky things, but he's mostly endangering himself. For instance, at one point Jack gets off the bus only to come back so he can be wheeled in underneath the bus and try to disarm the bomb. Worst case scenario he gets run over and the bus keeps driving. In the same sequence he also refuses to cut a cable on the bomb because he recognizes that it will blow.
Likewise, climbing on top of a moving subway train is insanely dangerous, but he does that to keep Annie safe from Howard's wrath and to avoid bull rushing the automatic weapon-wielding maniac.
He's trying to minimize risk to the passengers/hostages at every turn.
Even the impossible jump over the missing section of highway is his best attempt to keep everyone alive, due to an error that he didn't make. He's also trying really hard to keep the passenger's spirits up, in spite of the circumstances.
Trying His Best to Keep Up Morale
Another reason I love Jack is that while he is professional, he's not cold. When one of the passengers dies, after Jack's fellow officers encourage her to try and get off the bus in spite of Payne's instructions, our current driver Annie is understandably distraught. And instead of saying "hey, we'll get through this," or some other kind of platitude, he lets Annie explain why she's upset and Jack helps her reframe it and does his best to deflect her survivor's guilt in the moment. "He's the asshole, Annie, the guy who puts us here. Remember that, ok?"
And as much as this is movie logic, it hits with Annie and she's able to keep driving as needed.
The End Result: Co-Operation and Trust
One of the loveliest things about Speed, is how Jack's good heart and selfless nature earns the co-operation and trust of the bus passengers. When the bus rolls over a busted tired that catches on Jack's little scooter apparatus beneath the bus and Jack is force to hang onto the bus for dear life. The passengers work together to pull him in and even earns a compliment about his ballsy nature from Ortiz. And when Harry and his team are killed and Jack, understandably, has a violent outburst, Annie returns the favor and refocuses him...just enough to help Jack find a way out of this awful situation.
Jack helps the passengers. They help him. And everyone minus that unfortunate woman from before goes home safely as a result.
As much as I still love old action movies with gun-toting cops who shoot bad guys, I've soured on the premise quite a bit. Not just because police violence towards civilians is often horrific, unnecessary and costly in lives and resources. But because so many police officers have adopted this warrior ethos. That they are warriors in the war against evil instead of people who should do everything in their power to keep people alive and get them home safe.
So while so many movie cops kill countless drug dealers or thieves in massive firefights, here's Jack Traven risking his life and rarely anyone else's to make sure a bus full of strangers go home safely including a man who pulled a gun on him.
Because Jack Traven, is a near perfect movie cop.
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