Speed Kills (2018) User Reviews

You will not take your eyes off the hair or eyebrows....

[FlashCallahan · 5/10 · 20 August 2019]

Wealthy speedboat racer Ben Aranoff leads a double life that gets him into trouble with both law enforcement and drug lords....

Speed Kills is another straight to DVD release starring Travolta that had no reason to have been made at all. The cover states that it's 'The Wolf Of Wall Street on water' and has Travolta leering at you like Michael Myers with his destroyed face.

It's not a terrible film, well it is, but Travolta makes it watchable. Even though his face looks like a weather ravaged, fire burnt apricot, he still has that swagger that has made him an icon for over forty years.

Loosely based on a true story, the film basically tells you that you can't run away from your past, which is ironic because one of the first people you see in this film is Tom Sizemore, and my word, he really looks like he has no idea what he is doing in his two minutes of screentime. His dialogue is bizarre to say the least, and as soon as he enters the film, he leaves, without explanation. A truly worthless role from someone who had so much worth at one point.

Once the film turns to the racing, we are treated to some terrible CG water, and Kellan Lutz looking like a hulked out Noel Edmonds threatening Travolta like a petty schoolboy.

It's trash, but watchable trash, making it a sobering thought that Travolta was once Hollywood gold, and had a wonderful resurgence thanks to Pulp Fiction, when for four years, any film he starred in made oodles of money. Even Michael and Phenomenon.

We can never take that away from him, because he is John Travolta, and he knows he'll always be an icon, and people will always watch his films....

A bit selfish if you ask me.

Speed kills ?

[Concorde2512 · 4/10 · 23 December 2018]

I wonder what was in their minds when they decided to make this movie. A lot of money spent, endless hours of work.This movie has on its cast famous actors with huge revenues,who have already played in very good movies or TV series.What is the reason for this movie? I made an effort to see it by the end. I'm curious if John Travolta had the patience to watch it all the way. I can say that the only thing that this movie excels on is the banality.That is not art.

John Travolta's face is WEIRD

[pyro21079 · 4/10 · 9 February 2019]

You could watch this movie on mute and it would be just as watchable. Ok, first things first it looks like john travolta is wearing a john travolta mask. The movie starts with white old Urkel wanting to buy a boat then it gets weird and not the good kind of weird you know what I'm talking about. This movie will make you laugh and not because it is funny but because it is so terrible.

Speed Kills

[bill-n-terri2006 · 1/10 · 26 November 2018]

The worst movie I've ever seen. We laughed at it for its absurdity. Close ups of John Travolta smiling into the camera seemingly staring at his own reflection, multiple times, very creepy. Numerous boring long periods of him driving a boat and smiling, weird. Him with multiple women, not even believable. His hair looks awkwardly fake. Sluggishly slow. Torture.

Not his best work

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 30 October 2020]

But I've seen so many bad movies, if I even see some resemblance of something good, I guess I am satisfied to a degree. And I'm not talking about the good looking female actors who got cast here, I mean certain plot points and whatever was made of something that is if I understood correctly, based on a true story and true characters.

Some very fine actors turn up in this, some a bit over the top and certain things feel like they are planted but no one gets near to ... well reap whatever that might have suggested. Still there is enough suspense even in the phoned in performances ... just don't expect too much from it

Race to danger

[TheLittleSongbird · 2/10 · 22 January 2019]

Actually was intrigued by the idea for the story, not an original one but intriguing, and have nothing against John Travolta, though it has been a while since he has given a good performance or made a good film. No bias or bigotry against him and his personal life and choices have absolutely no bearing on my opinions of his performances and films (that has never been the case for anybody or any film) and never have done.

'Speed Kills' just didn't work on most levels for me and most people it seems, and this is being said with regret not malice. It is another one of those films that is not irredeemably bad and there is always a real conscious effort to see the good in the bad. 'Speed Kills' though is also another film that has its good points far outweighed by the bad things, there is little good here and the flaws are big rather than marginal.

The scenery was quite nice, but that is pretty much the only praise that could be given from personal opinion.

None of the performances work, in general the acting had a very under-rehearsed vibe while Travolta over-compensates in his role with some off-putting facial expressions that border on unintentionally funny. None of the characters are remotely interesting, little more than undeveloped stereotypes with little personality, very flat character relationships, no interesting or distinct character traits and irritating ways of behaving and decision-making. The direction felt practically non-existent.

Other than the scenery, the production values lack slickness and look rather drab and like they were made in haste. A feeling most betrayed by some very haphazard editing that lacks any kind of organisation. The soundtrack is unmemorable at best and the script is so cheesy watching it with a straight face is impossible and that is when it is comprehensible.

From a story, structure and pace point of view, 'Speed Kills' is a mess. There is no excitement, let alone tension or suspense whatsoever. Structurally, the story just jumps about and constantly feels like there are parts missing that were meant to be there, so the flow is always choppy. And the pace is very pedestrian with many parts dragging, making a film that wasn't that long feel twice as long to the extent it felt there was nowhere near enough story to sustain the length.

All in all, the scenery aside a poorly done film. 2/10 Bethany Cox

Bizarre

[gregberne11 · 4/10 · 14 February 2019]

This is a bizarre movie. It starts out with crazy intensity between Old John Travolta and Old Other Guy who ends up standing menacingly by his truck just staring at him.

Then it goes back in time. Travolta is in trouble with the mob and has to get his family out of town. So he goes to Florida and... immediately gets super involved in speedboat racing for some reason? People watching and clapping and him getting hooked right away are kind of ridiculous, especially if Travolta's supposed to be on the run - why enter and win a bunch of boat races and get that kind of attention?

But I guess it's OK because this hood fresh in town gets the OK from Meyer Lansky himself, for some reason.

Lots more pointless boat racing. He cheats on his wife for like a decade and she knows but does nothing about it I guess. His son goes in the hospital while he's off winning one of his races. His boat racing gets in the way of his mob duties and Meyer gets mad at him.

It's so bizarre and Travolta LOOKS so bizarre in his various ages in this movie but it at least kept our attention. Until we turned it off.

Who Would Think That Getting Involved With The Mafia Could Have A Downside?

[boblipton · 3/10 · 21 March 2023]

John Travolta is Ben Aronoff, whom you should not confuse with Ben Aronow, the boat racer, designer and company president who was shot to death in 1987. Travolta is a boat racer, designer and company president who is shot dead in the end of this movie.

Pure coincidence, no doubt, despite the attribution to the book of the same name by Arthur Harris. Perhaps it is because Aronow's son Wylie is a founder the the Bored Apes Yacht Club, and he might have gotten out before NFTs began to crash and resented any implication that his father was mobbed up and started expensive lawsuits. Or perhaps not.

Travolta, whose performances I have admired over the years, looks like he has had extensive unsuccessful plastic surgery. And his varying toupees seem to do most of his acting. Perhaps he is wearing prosthetics. Other fine performers wasted in this dully shot movie on the remarkable thesis that getting in bed with the mob has its downside include Katheryn Winnick, Jennifer Esposito, Matthew Modine, James Remar, and Tom Sizemore.

It's a shame the producers chose amateur filmmakers for this production.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 6/10 · 17 November 2018]

This film is based on the true story of Don Aronow (changed to Ben Aronoff in this film), of which I've never heard of until after seeing this film. At first I thought "why John Travolta?" but after Googling Donald Aronow, I see the uncanny resemblance.

I'm a fan of films based on true stories, and I enjoyed learning something new, especially about the beginnings of the cigarette boat racing industry.

Where this film failed miserably was in hiring amateur director Jodi Scurfield of whom this is his?/her? first ever film directed. Why? Was Jodi one of the 25+ executive producers significant other or child?

This films editing was one of the worst I've seen in a while. Then there's the writing; you would think at least one of the five writers could have re-read the screenplay and see how hacked it was. The were many jumpy plot issues and omissions. I feel certain scenes needed more relevance to what was happening or how/why they happened.

The 102 min length felt much longer due to the slow pacing contributed by the bad editing and sloppy directing. The SFX during the storm was 1980's technology. The cinematography was adequate, as was the score.

The cast however all provided decent performances, considering the director probably had no input during scenes of their performances. It showed from the flat and unconvincing relationships of Travolta's two wives and children.

I'm disappointed that of the 25+ producers, no one made the effort to hire professional filmmakers to make this film way better. This story had much potential.

I know this film will get bad ratings due to all the negative reasons I've stated above, but oddly enough, I still enjoyed it and liked learning something new and interesting from this film's base of a true story. If you can look past the flaws, you might enjoy it as well. A generous 6/10 from me, only for the base story and the cast's performances.

Desperately seeking money.

[bwilliams1907 · 1/10 · 2 March 2019]

If this is what $cientology reduces you too - then it's time to quit!

Spanx you very much, Tom Sizemore!

[kerry721 · 8/10 · 24 March 2019]

I wanted to give this a 10 for giving me one of the best nights of entertainment ever. I had to take off one star as they should have used less money from the budget on potted palm trees to buy Tom Sizemore some Spanx. The second star is for having to watch John Travolta play both present day (1987) and "late 20's" (1962) versions of the same character, different wig. Now, yes, that also is one of the best parts, except that it means you have to watch "young" Travolta lure in all of the ladies for scenes rated S for Sensuality! Otherwise the continuity, lack of empathy for family, and descriptions of the "sexy speedboat" industry are A+++. The body doubles also deserve recognition as do the editors who just kept playing the vocal tracks even when the actors were not talking on camera. I can sincerely say, Speed Killed me!

Not that bad

[rdoubleoc · 7/10 · 1 April 2019]

Not as bad as reviews/ratings would suggest. Would've probably did better in the 90's, however, even though I didn't think it was that bad.

Two stars for the boats, one for the Botox

[alexcavaliere · 3/10 · 29 November 2018]

Where to start? I have my boat, so I know a thing or two, I lived in Miami in the 90s, so I kinda get whatever the movie wants to convey, Then I see Travolta falling in love with a fiberglass hull with twin V8s, haha. Next to that, the first race scene, with the boat shortcutting through the shallows? hahaha. I like Travolta´s sense of humor. This movie is one of his expensive jokes, and I am still trying to find the punchline. If I can finish watching it...

He has everything

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 26 November 2018]

In the 1960s Ben Aronoff (John Travolta) goes to Miami in an attempt to branch out on his own away from the Jersey mob. He falls in love with speed boats and manufactures them. He becomes world famous as a speedboat racer and manufacturer. The mob wants a piece of the action which leads to his downfall....the opening teaser scene.

The film was not well constructed or edited. There were numerous plot holes the viewer had to fill in. The acting was decent, but the script was too bad for them to save. Loosely based on the life of Don Aronow.

Guide: F-word, sex. No nudity.

If you know boats don't watch

[adamleland · 2/10 · 22 June 2022]

In the first 12 minutes I was done. A movie about the history of powerboats? Cool I will watch. So it's starts in the 1969 and Travolta looks out at the sea while talking to his new lawyer. There are two boats racing, one has a mid 2000s Mercury 135 the other has a early 2000s Mariner 75. Then he walks up to a dock and I see a sea of modern 4 stroke outboards in the 1960! Amazing. He gets on a boat and the guy tells him it has twin 327 chevys, yet it only has exhaust for one motor and a throttle for one motor. When he pulls it into his driveway you can see the single v drive.

People don't make car movies from the past and show modern cars, don't make a movie from the past and show modern outboards.

Stupid.

Oddly made film

[chris-h-3 · 2/10 · 20 November 2018]

Its as if they shot the rehersals for each scene rather than the scenes themselves.

The drama and dialogue reminded me of the original H.B. Halicki Gone in 60 Seconds film, that bad! Only this film had none of that films well shot action to save it.

Was it a tax write off or something?

VIEWS ON FILM review of Speed Kills

[burlesonjesse5 · 5/10 · 8 December 2018]

Released in limited fashion via November of 2018 and named after its fifth production company (Speed Kills production, naturally), Speed Kills seems like a fitting title. Fitting for its star John Travolta that is. John's waxy, self-tan character loves his fast boats, loves his fast woman, loves his fast cash, and well, you know the rest. "Kills" is inspired by a true story but sorta feels spoofed and hard pressed to do any justice. Oh well. This rise and fall, American dreamed film is not as horrible as you might think.

Saddled with a running time of 102 minutes that could've been stretched out to two-plus hours (gee I never thought I'd say that), Speed Kills has a murky storytelling arc, a seemingly low budget, stark production values, and pivotal scenes that are cut rather quickly. With a timeline spanning about 25 years, "Kills" is like a condensed, motorboat version of Goodfellas and Blow. The presence of actor Jordi Molla only enhanced my thought-out comparison.

Directed by a first-timer (the unknown Jodi Scurfield), containing random freeze-frames, and featuring a cameo by Tom Sizemore that shows he's aged about 9,000 years, Speed Kills chronicles one Ben Aronoff (played by John "I just came from the set of Gotti" Travolta). Aronoff is a speedboat racing champion who has made millions not only racing boats but building them as well. Mysteriously and without much explanation, Ben is also a bad husband and a credulous drug trafficker that's unwillingly connected to the Mob.

In retrospect, "Kills" has a bunch of known troupers that fade in and out (Jennifer Esposito, Matthew Modine as George Bush, Kellan Lutz, and James Remar). They do what they can with sparingly undeveloped parts. As for Travolta, well he's not bad here despite almost devoting his caked, makeup presence to self-parody. Bottom line: Speed Kills is entertaining, novel, and absorbing in spots. It uses its Mafia violence effectively (when needed) and contains a happy-go-lucky, 60's pop soundtrack. Still, "Kills" with its direct-to-video feel and shortcut racing sequences as split-screened, archived hooey, comes off as a little cheesy and a little thin. If I had to see it again, I wouldn't have a whole lot of need for "Speed". Rating: 2 stars.

why?

[MrsBeanBeanBean · 1/10 · 25 January 2019]

Why put forth this garbage? I think this is probably a way for Travolta to get more money for David Miscavige/some Ideal Org/To buy the 47th copy of the LRH textbook set/etc. The fact that this film was produced at all should be cause for a charge of crimes against humanity.

Not sure why there's so many low ratings for this movie.

[juliehampton2012 · 6/10 · 19 November 2018]

Not sure why there's so many low ratings for this movie. While it isn't the greatest movie ever made, it was entertaining and enjoyable. The scenery, music, fashions, and boats were all a plus. Travolta nailed the character, as he did for Gotti.

Slow speed

[mgruebel · 5/10 · 10 February 2019]

A mob-linked big-league contractor moves to Florida, falls in love with boat racing, but ultimately cannot escape his past because he makes many bad choices. We know there's no happy ending because the film starts with John Travolta getting shot to death.

The film has the incongruence of real life events that it is based on, as well as the mix of excitement and boring stretches. However, this is one of those situations where good film making departs from the literal, and hones the story to make it spellbinding. Here the scripting and directing fell short of that, despite passable attempts by the actors to fill in the story of a man who deserts his family for boat racing, makes a new family, and ultimately is haunted by his past when he is forced by bad business deals to come back to the fold of his mob connections.

The film is an interesting 1960s to 1980s period piece, but it simply falls short on the quality of the storytelling, often being quite boring or having elements that do not move the story along and could have been cut. Nice try, but no cigar! 5/10.

This movie is hilarious

[Jexic1 · 10/10 · 20 January 2019]

It's awful. Worst movie of the year for sure. The plot has no direction and there are some amazing boat race montages with stock footage and some cameos of important political figures of the time. You never know what's about to happen or what's happening, but it's entertaining garbage. Solid comedy

The Speed, the Water, the Rush!!!

[lavatch · 7/10 · 18 January 2019]

Ben Aronoff was the son of an immigrant from Sheepshead Bay. He attended school at Brooklyn College and worked briefly as a gym teacher. He had a run of commercial success in a New Jersey construction company, before going bust and trying to make a fresh start in Miami. It was in Florida that he discovered his true passion in speed boat racing. This film is a chronicle of a kid with a dream, the joy he found in building and racing boats, and his fall from grace when his life become enmeshed in the world of crime.

The film was based on the true story of Don Aronow, whose name has been slightly changed in the screenplay. John Travolta makes the film worth a view for his portrait of the likable yet gullible addict to boat racing, power, money, and women. While the production values were good, especially the boat racing sequences, the film artists failed to age Travolta properly. The action of the film extended from the mid-1960s to the late 1980s, yet Travolta looked the same age throughout the film. The same problem persisted for the treatment of the character of Meyer Lansky, who died at age 81, yet never appeared to be more than 50 in the film.

Ben Aronoff is described in the film as contractor, entrepreneur, husband, and father. As portrayed by Travolta, he had an insatiable appetite for the thrills involved in high-speed boat racing. Unfortunately, the film never made it clear why Aronoff would ever get himself involved with Meyer Lansky and other figures of organized crime. He was not personally involved in drug trafficking, and any criminal activity appears to be the result of coercion by thugs from the underworld. In one land transaction, he was beaten up and held at gunpoint to sign the deed. He should have been working with the authorities during their investigation of Lansky and his shady nephew, Robbie Reemer.

Aronoff had skills as an inventor in his dynamic boat designs that even appealed to George H. W. Bush, who apparently was involved in boat transactions with Aronoff's sleek racing boat called the "Cigarette." Bush '41 had a long history with boats that may have gone back to the 1950s and '60s fifties in his stewardship of the Zapata Off-Short Company. Russ Baker's book "Family of Secrets" demonstrates how the story of "Pappy" Bush ties directly into the themes of this film, plus the arcane world of American intelligence.

"Speed Kills" is a genuinely American story, one of rise-and-fall of a hustler and the ultimate tragedy of an energetic man in pursuit of the American Dream.

Doesn't quite make it

[Tak005 · 3/10 · 26 September 2019]

The story is an interesting premise and It feels like the film has promise, even though it does go down the well worn track of life of gangster/drug dealer that ends badly. However, as it plays along it never delves deeper into either the characters or the story. It seems like you are watching an abridged short story of the supposed true life on which it is based and are always wanting more. Also the makeup of John Travolta is appalling. It is so bad that it actually is a distraction as you can't take your eyes off it. Could have been a lot better.

Smoking

[bassgas1 · 1/10 · 21 January 2019]

Watching Travolta smoke a cigarette told me how good the acting was!

Please John, stop.

[joelt-orme · 2/10 · 14 August 2019]

Quite possibly the (second) worst film Travolta has ever been in, and that's the bottom of a very long list of duds. Someone should tell the CGI team it's 2018; my 6-year old nephew could use green screen better and he can't spell 'deluded', which aptly is what the director must be for releasing this to the public. The writing made what could have been a complex and multi-dimensional drama into a child's play, which again my nephews recent portrayal of a tree in a forest would beat to an Oscar. The only reason this gets two stars is because it's not 'Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000'.