Need For Speed Review

Posted 10 years ago by myetvmedia

When his best friend dies in a horrific car accident, Tobey Marshall (‘Breaking Bad’s’ Aaron Paul) is framed for the accident. After three years in prison, he is released and determined to clear his name, even if he has to break parole and numerous laws to do it. Along the way, he joins an underground racing ring (that for some reason has a public site with full details on participants), gets in a few car chases, and even falls in love.

Directed by Scott Waugh, and also starring Imogen Poots, Dominic Cooper, Michael Keaton and Rami Malek, Need for Speed is a weird film. It’s a knockoff that lacks the fun of The Fast and The Furious, it’s a videogame tie-in, and despite a fantastic cast (Malek in particular steals the show), it never really figures out what it is. And so we get a scene where Paul cries a single perfect tear as Linkin Park wails in the background, and “wacky” moments that occasionally involve a dancing fat man. It attempts to get out of the shadow of Fast by playing it deadly straight, but then tries to be wacky funny. It’s possible to be both, and parts of this movie do manage it, but largely it just doesn’t go together.

With plotholes you could drive a supercar through (if real names and car details are publicly posted online, why are the cops endangering themselves and others by waiting until the middle of a race to interfere?), enough car-nage to make the Blues Brothers blush, it’s just not as good as The Fast and the Furious. If you’re a fan of the game or supercars, you’ll probably find something love. If you just want fast cars, sexy dames and explosions, there are better options.

Forgettable, but not terrible.

Donal O’Connor

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