Jodi Scurfield’s Speed Kills, one of the least engaging criminal sagas ever to star a former movie star, stars John Travolta as a haughty speedboat racer who runs afoul of both the law and the mob. Travolta’s career has encompassed both L. Ron Hubbard-sized disgraces and unexpected, charm-filled comebacks, so it was never safe to bet that he was done for good.
However, with this absolutely lifeless picture sandwiched between the critical punching bag Gotti and other in-post cheapies, including a feature helmed by Fred Durst, 2018 might be the year that finally does him in.
Is Speed Kills based on a true story?
The opening 45 minutes of “Speed Kills,” an unprofessional film based on a true tale, are rough. Some of the early sequences are meant to be unsettling, but many of the film’s artistic choices are perplexing: there are sudden smash-cut cuts, badly choreographed and shot speedboat racing scenes, and voiceover narration that hurries viewers through major story sections.
Rewinding a few important scenes—which established grudgingly mobbed-up speedboat racer and designer Ben Aronoff (John Travolta) as the Henry Hill of Miami—confirmed that they are as lukewarm and un-engaging as they first looked. The last half of “Speed Kills” is Gerber-bland, but the first half is among of the year’s worst filmmaking.
Meet the cast
Main cast in Speed Kills are playing as John Travolta as Ben Aronoff (Don Aronow), Katheryn Winnick as Emily Gowen, Jennifer Esposito as Kathy Aronoff, Matthew Modine as George Bush, James Remar as Meyer Lansky, Kellan Lutz as Robbie Reemer, Moran Atias as Contessa, Jordi Mollà as Jules Bergman, Michael Weston as Shelley Katz, Amaury
Nolasco as Agent Lopez, Mariana Paola Vicente as Cocktail Waitress, Luis Da Silva Jr. as Panama, Ed Amatrudo as District Attorney, Keith Hudson as Dutch Kramer, Rob Gough as Agent Schaefer,Stewart J. Zully as Al Glassman.
Amber Rivera as TV Reporter, Justin Nesbitt as Barrel Chested Man, Omar Cruz Soto as Restaurant Client / Boat Yard Worker, Charlie Gillespie as Andrew Aronoff, Anita Leeman Torres as Millie and many others.
Plot of Speed Kills
In this mediocre film based on the actual tale of Speedboat racing champion and multimillionaire Ben Aronoff (Don Aronow is his real name), who leads a secret life that gets him in problems with the authorities and drug lords, John Travolta stars alongside an exceedingly unconvincing hairpiece.
It’s predictable and not really action-packed, but it does get fairly stressful in the second half. It’s supposedly historically wrong, employing boats that weren’t even available in the 1960s, among other gaffs, so you’d think more study would have gone into crafting a biographical picture.
Set in Miami (but not filmed there), Speed Kills has a Miami Vice atmosphere at moments, particularly in terms of the soundtrack, which sounded like a tribute to the legendary program. There is some beautiful photography of the speedboat sequences (using old film), but additional race scenes would have been more intriguing to add some excitement.
Travolta appears to be in the boats for the most part, but there is just one shot during a storm with some questionable visual effects, but audiences have seen worse.
Speed Kills: Stream it or skip it
By owing to above information and according to our critics we will say skip it. Aside from that there isn’t much to recommend the film; the performances are alright but it feels cheap and is the type of movie you’ll forget about after 10 minutes.
