There are a few ingredients in thrillers that are pretty much indispensable. And “Speed” is missing those crucial elements. You need a main hero who oozes style. Sorry, two who don’t ooze style won’t do. Same goes for the villain. Then you need the one-liners - you might roll your eyes when they are said, but you have to agree a thriller is incomplete without them. And most importantly - an engaging plot! See, we know it’s an average thriller, so we know the earth won’t shatter into a zillion pieces. But, at least make a teeny-weeny attempt to engross us in your narrative.

Again, out-of-this-world performances are not expected. Just enough to move the story along. And that, the not-so-stellar cast accomplishes. We could have done with a little less excited Zayed Khan, though. And why on earth was Aftab Shivdasani sporting the Mahendra Dhoni look? It is amazing how Aftab can wear the same expression, no matter who he is made to look like. I am not sure whether I can completely blame the actors for the lack of style. The lamest dialogues ever were fit into those two hours. How stylistically can you deliver lousy lines after all?

The plot tries to strike a balance between two main threads, at least two mini-threads, 4 actors, and their ladies. That’s a whole lot, and thus the loss of focus and mismanagement of pace is not really a surprise. I really didn’t like the way the motivation of the villains unfolds for us. Too little, too late.

What I did like though, are the action sequences saved for Zayed Khan. They are very-well choreographed and executed.

The songs are dull too - lyrics, music, picturization, choreography, etc. Particularly bad is the one which is supposedly a love scene. People, decide - either be bold enough to show a couple actually making love, or skip it! You are fooling no one by using silly editing techniques to imply that the twosome is actually doing anything.

Another director going from bad to worse. Another movie with actors continuing to do what they do in every other movie. Another story that needed at least another year’s worth of work. Another few songs that the cine-goer could have survived without. Another wannabe entertainer released this Friday.