Review by Nick Norton
Stars Andrew Keegan, Brandon Quinn, Natalia Cigliuti, Nick Carter,
Reno Wilson, Greg Grunberg, Christian Monzon | Written by Kim Bass
UK certification 18 | UK RRP £12.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 113 minutes | Directed by Kim Bass
Have you ever really wanted to hate someone? That is, wanted to hate somebody you have never actually met and conversed with? Perhaps you've seen them over the other side of the room at a party, acting all brash and cocksure, and you have instantly surmised that their act is phony – all surface without substance, or worse, conniving and manipulative.
Then you actually meet the object of your distaste and, lo and behold, they actually turn out to be at least half bearable. Certainly enough to make you feel slightly strange, obsessive and rashly judgemental for having felt so repulsed by them, even if they are still mildly half-witted and ever-so slightly obnoxious.
Kill Speed is the audio-visual equivalent of that person. Pick it up in the video store and it'll look like another half-arsed, straight to video action flick, directed and written by knuckleheads who've come straight out of some half-rate film school. If you are sensible, you will judge this film by its cover and put it back on the shelf where it belongs.
But on the off-chance you are feeling charitable, or have come to said video store on the way back from the pub, and you do actually pay money to watch Kill Speed, you'll find that time in its company is not quite the ordeal you'd imagine it to be.
Sure, it depicts the ludicrous story of three “hotshot experimental airplane pilots” (and yes, that is a direct quote from the script) who traffic crystal meth in order to fund their playboy lifestyle. It features some truly wooden performances, and its surprisingly big budget aeroplane sequences are offset by a low-budget script that spells out every painstakingly obvious plot detail. It even boasts ex-Backstreet Boy Nick Carter wearing his cap at a jaunty angle and talking like he's an extra from Friday, Next Friday or, indeed, The Friday After Next.
Yet somehow Kill Speed does not manage to be as bad as it really should be. It is bad, make no mistake, and it is 113 minutes of your life wasted. But try as you might, you just won't be able to bring yourself to truly hate it.
EXTRAS None