Starring: Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Imogen Poots
Director: Scott Waugh
Based on the bestselling video game racing franchise from EA. Aaron Paul stars as Tobey a man who is wrongfully sent to prison for the death of his best friend Little Pete. On release from prison Tobey must drive cross country from New York to to get to the famed underground race “The ”. Only this will allow Tobey to avenge the death of Little Pete and expose his rival Dino Brewster once and for all.
When a movie is based on a racing game you don’t have a lot of depth to work with thankfully Need for Speed is able to create some form of plot even if said plot is long winded, improbable and impossible.
The entire premise of the film is based around a street race involving Tobey (Breaking Bads Aaron Paul who doesn’t get to say Bitch once), A gifted racer who never had the car to prove his talent. Dino (Dominic Cooper) the former professional racer who holds a grudge against Tobey and Little Pete (Harrison Gilbertson) the young man who is like a little brother to Tobey. The stakes are high, Tobey and his crew have restored a rare mustang that Carol Shelby was working on when he died, Tobey puts up his 25% of the sales price to the 75% that Dino is set to get. It’s intended to be a one on one race giving each driver 50/50 odds yet they both let Pete join the race, effectively changing the odds. No longer is the race in Dino’s favor he allows these two to race as a team against him. All three drive non U.S spec Koenigsegg Agera R’s, Dino trades some paint with Pete causing Pete to crash and Tobey going to Jail. This is a pivotal point and yet somehow even though Tobey tells the police there were three people involved most notably Dino, nobody bothers to check the tire marks which would have proved Tobey right. The police go with the Dino has an Alibi so there was no third driver route. Any investigation regarding a car accident is going to look at the tread marks on the road.
Cut to two years later and Tobey calls in a favor getting to utilize the famed Mustang he restored to drive to San Francisco under the supervision of the cars buyer Julia (Imogen Poots). Once the mustang is acquired Tobey must assemble his crew Benny (Scott Mescudi) the pilot who flies above, acting as the eyes too spot traffic and police as well as Finn (Rami Malek) the driver of ‘Beast’ the truck with the gas and the tools, who annoyingly chomps on a matchstick/toothpick for the entirety of the film. Rounding out the crew is Joe (Ramon Rodriguez) the expert on vehicle handling. When Dino hears they are going to the “De Leon” He puts a bounty out on Tobey offering his Lambo to anyone that can stop him.
The famed ‘De Leon’ is headed up by Monarch a former racer turned internet Phantom/radio host/race organizer. Michael Keaton plays him with all the subtlety he utilized for Beetlejuice the only thing he is missing is some moss on his face. An over the top character who is supposed to be a mystery man known only through his voice, yet halfway through utilizes a webcam to broadcast video of himself.
- Monarch organizes the race, he broadcasts video of himself over the internet yet nobody is interested in finding him.
- The De Leon is supposed to be a secret race that nobody knows where it is till the night before, Yet the police are there at the onset of the race, organized with a helicopter and multiple police cars. At one point rather than tire strips they use a police car as a moving weapon/barricade to stop the racing cars. They can’t find a third car, don’t look for the organizer of the race but can find the actual mystery race.
- Tobey is wrongfully accused of manslaughter serves 2 years yet when he is proved innocent he goes back to jail for street racing. No get out of jail with time served for a crime he didn’t commit.
- It is funny that this overblown Ford Mustang Commercial includes a chase scene where the bad guys on the hunt for the bounty are driving a Chevy.
- The winner of the De Leon gets the other drivers cars yet they drive like its a demolition derby. Who wants a million dollar car that isn’t drivable and now has a salvaged title?
If this sounds like an overblown diatribe for a film about car racing, that would be correct. This a film with an abundance of car chases and a paper thin plot that runs like a supercar on cheap petrol, It knocks and pings the entire time. For such a high octane concept it’s amazing how slowly paced the film is. With a running time of two hours and 10 minutes it’s a good half hour longer than it needed to be. On the plus side it’s great to see some quality American muscle and a bevy of Exotics that fans of the game will appreciate.
Grade-70
