Review: Speed Kills
DVD and Digital HD: Speed Kills (2018)
With a cast that includes John Travolta, Katheryn Winnick, James Remar, Jennifer Esposito, Matthew Modine and Tom Sizemore, there’s a lot of Hollywood ‘big hitters’ on display here. However, being a direct to DVD/Digital HD title, you know that things may not be as polished as in a bigger budget cinematic release.
Based on the true story of Don Aronow, John Travolta (who has an uncanny resemblance to Don in the movie) plays Ben Aronoff; an entrepreneur who dominates the world of powerboat racing both in racing them and building/selling them.
Unfortunately the shady dealings of his past catch up with him and forces him into a corner from which there is little hope of escape.
I knew nothing of Don Aronow before viewing Speed Kills and admit to spending some time online afterwards reading about his life and businesses. While the movie obviously takes a few liberties with the events that happened, it certainly helped to flesh out his real life as I read about them later on.
I’ve seen Speed Kills absolutely slated online: criticism being thrown at 1st time director Jodi Scurfield for sloppy direction, the time hopping narrative often concentrating on superfluous events while missing some essential details, the script being shabby, and the visual effects sequence in a storm being laughable. And I agree with them all.
But…
I really enjoyed Speed Kills.
Maybe it was because I watched it on a Sunday morning, ill and lay prone on the couch. Wanting nothing too heavy to concentrate my aching brain on, it washed over me like a calming sedative. Travolta’s steely stare almost hypnotising me with a mindfulness chant of “this is better than you think it is“.
The narrative does indeed leave you scratching your a head a few times at what has been omitted and left for you to assume what has happened, while that visual effects sequence of being trapped at sea in a storm does indeed look very unconvincing, the sheer absurdity of it had me smiling from ear to ear.
The glue of Speed Kills is John Travolta, and while I’m not a huge fan and watch everything that he makes, I do find him very watchable and he possesses that certain screen presence that you either have or you haven’t. For me, he certainly has it.
The aforementioned shortcomings of Speed Kills are definitely to be noted, along with a lack of action sequences that may well be anticipated going from the movies title, DVD cover and synopsis, but, like me, that all may well mean nothing and there’s a movie here that will keep you quietly entertained throughout its running time.
Would I watch Speed Kills again? You know what, I think I may.
Speed Kills will be released on 21st January 2019 and you can buy it buy clicking HERE. ALL money raised by purchasing from Amazon via our website is given back to our listeners and followers in upcoming competition prizes. The more people buy, the bigger our prizes.
Review by Dave (host of 60 Minutes With) from a streaming link kindly supplied by Fetch Publicity.
