I think I saw this shortly after it came out, haven't seen it since. It's an incredibly silly movie ... and yet it's one of the classics of action cinema. I can kind of see why, although the flaws are enough that I'm unlikely to watch it again. There are huge problems ... and there are some really good elements that mostly redeem it.

Bad:

• the whole "bus must stay over 50" concept ... but I guess we have to swallow that to watch at all, and it's not terrible
• Keanu Reeve's (typically) wooden acting ... although it did manage to show me he's improved in the intervening years
• The whole subway sequence at the end, which I think they should have dropped entirely
• And finally, the prize: a bus jumping a 50 yard gap in the freeway (see: "Movies that Maul Science")

Good:

• Dennis Hopper's vicious (but not really over-the-top!) villain
• The palpable tension on the bus for most of the ride
• And, surprisingly, the rapport between Keanu's character and Jeff Daniels' character

Still not a favourite of mine, but at least I kind of understand why it holds the regard it does.