Need For Speed

Need For Speed, the latest from director Scott Waugh, the man that brought to the screen the half documentary, half fictitious military film Act of Valor brings a high energy, slick looking car racing film that amazingly isn't all that bad. While the acting is over the top at times, the stars of this movie aren't the actors but the cars, and the cars shine. Because of that, I give Need For Speed three buckets of Killer Korn.












With his first foray into big budgeted Hollywood films after his memorable run in the TV show Breaking Bad, Aaron Paul, who plays Tobey Marshall is a charming mechanic/street racer from Mt. Kisco. A sleepy little town that still has a drive in, if you can believe that. Aaron Paul is not a great actor, in fact I have my doubts if he's even a good one, which is evident by his performance in this movie. What he is right now though is a hot actor which is how he landed this role in the first place. I'm sure the producers on this film are hoping all Aaron's fans from Breaking will come and watch him sit behind the wheel of some amazing cars and drive, because that's basically all he does. He drives and he rarely talks, and when he does talk, it's pretty much all cliche drivel that pours out of his mouth. It's not just him though, the entire cast is also prone to overact due to being saddled with cringe worthy dialogue, but what do you expect from a movie inspired by a video game, Shakespeare?

Written by (and I use that term loosely here) the brothers Gatins, John and George, the story is one of revenge and redemption, with really bad dialogue. The revenge comes in when Tobey's good friend and brother of his ex-girlfriend Pete, played by Harrison Gilbertson is killed while street racing against Tobey and the bad guy of the film Dino Brewster, played by Dominic Cooper. Tobey does time for a crime he didn't commit and is hell bent on making sure Dino pays for what he did to Pete. Tobey and his crew of misfit mechanics Benny, played by Scott Mescudi aka Kid Cudi, Finn, played by Rami Malek, and Joe, played by Ramon Rodriguez are all reunited when Tobey is released and they figure the best way to get back at Dino is to race him in an exclusive race thrown by Monarch, played by Michael Keaton who does his best to make the corny dialogue sound convincing. He fails but again, the stars of the show are the cars and they don't fail at all.

A Lamborghini Elemento, a Shelby Mustang, a Saleena S7 Twin Turbo, a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, and three Koenigsegg Agera R's tear up the roads in marvelous fashion in Need. They are what makes this movie worth watching if you are a car person. Even if you aren't a car person, it's hard to not be impressed with the array of exotic cars that litter the screen, and the driving  is very impressive with the exception of a few unrealistic stunts. Get past those and Need For Speed truly does keep you entertained.

The cinematography by Shane Hurlbut is well done, he captures the cars in their full throaty glory as they rip past cameras or drift around corners perfectly. The look of the film is soft, there are no hard edges and the color palette is very easy on the eyes. The score by Nathan Furst, who also did the music for Valor creates a score that kept me humming it for days afterwards, which rarely happens, if ever. It was the perfect accompaniment to the images on the screen. In my opinion, this movie is what Fast And Furious used to be but has failed to deliver on for the past six movies (I'm counting Fast 7 that's currently in production). I highly recommend Need For Speed if you want a good time and I'll see you at the theater.