In the 1994 film Speed, Keanu Reeves plays LAPD officer Jack Traven.
Jack is an officer assigned to a bomb-disposal unit who becomes the film’s central hero after stopping a bomb attack in an elevator. The terrorist Howard Payne then plants another bomb on a Los Angeles bus, rigged to explode if its speed falls below 50 miles per hour. Jack boards the bus and must keep its passengers alive while finding a way to defeat Payne.
The role helped establish Reeves as a major action star. Director Jan de Bont cast him after seeing the balance of vulnerability and strength he brought to Point Break. Reeves trained extensively for the demanding action sequences, including combat and stunt work, and adopted Jack’s earnest, relatively restrained personality.
Howard Payne, played by Dennis Hopper, is the villain, not Reeves’s character. Harry Temple, played by Jeff Daniels, is Jack’s police partner in the opening sequence. Speed premiered in June 1994, became a major worldwide hit, and won the Academy Award for Best Sound. Its confined-vehicle premise later became shorthand for a “Die Hard on a bus” thriller.