Director: Scott Waugh.
Starring: Aaron Paul, Imogen Poots, Dominic Cooper, Ramon Rodriguez, Rami Malek, Harrison Gilbertson, Scott ‘Kid Cudi’ Mescudi, Michael Keaton, Dakota Johnson.
Running Time: 130 minutes.
Synopsis: Fresh from prison, a street racer who was framed by a wealthy business associate joins a cross-country race with revenge in mind. His ex-partner, learning of the plan, places a massive bounty on his head as the race begins.
There have been many film adaptations of video games over the years. Let’s list a few: SUPER MARIO BROTHERS, DOUBLE DRAGON, STREET FIGHTER, MORTAL KOMBAT, TOMB RAIDER, RESIDENT EVIL, PRINCE OF PERSIA and MAX PAYNE. All shoddy, shockingly bad films. In fact, it’s quite difficult to think of a decent video game based movie. It’s difficult because there isn’t one, and a NEED FOR SPEED movie comes at a time when there is no need for any more video game adaptations. At all.
Aaron Paul, current Hollywood hot property due to his huge success as the tormented Jesse on the international hit TV show Breaking Bad, takes the wheel in his first proper cinematic lead role post-Pinkman. Here he plays Tobey Marshall, a small town garage mechanic who is sent to do a bit of bird for a crime that he did not commit. Fresh out of the can, Marshall focuses his sights on a naughty cross-country racing event, and the former business partner that framed him.
It’s all quite basic stuff really; a story of revenge concocted in a way that includes aspects of a very popular video game series. Take away that fact and all of the hype that comes with the title, and you’ve still got yourself a decent little movie. True, this film’s strengths falls to the feet of its very capable leading man, and here Paul very much lives up to his ample hype. Parallels, at least thematically, were always going to be drawn to the very successful FAST AND THE FURIOUS franchise, and while this road-set actioner does feature very fast cars, naughty drivers, and themes of ‘family,’ NEED FOR SPEED is delivered as some weird cross between DRIVE, BULLITT and THE CANNONBALL RUN. Paul is very strong as Marshall – trust us, nobody on this earth can do crushed, shouty-annoyed and emotionally-tortured, smiley-sexy hipster kid quite like the former Breaking Bad star.
There’s solid support too from the likes of Dominic Cooper, kicking it in one of his first mainstream bad guy roles, and particularly Rami Malek, who provides some of the film’s lighter moments, including a very, very funny scene in which his character quits his job (it involves male nudity). Imogen Poots successfully navigates her way across America as Marshall’s right-hand woman, and at the same time through her first big Hollywood blockbuster in the first of an Aaron Paul double-hitter (she’ll also be seen trying to win Paul’s heart in the Nick Hornby adaptation A LONG WAY DOWN later this month). Michael Keaton lords it up, and quite literally phones it in as race organiser Monarch, though he’s clearly underused and given the piece’s corniest dialogue.
As for the action, well, it’s as you’d expect; high-octane, high-speed fun with some superb set-pieces, particularly during the latter reel of the film. There’s hardly any visual effects, with the gifted director and former stuntman Scott Waugh (ACT OF VALOUR), opting for actual street carnage rather than computer-generated throwaway fodder. Waugh also employs some very subtle, and indeed effective, over-the-shoulder, lingering POV shots of the actors ‘driving’ the cars at high-speed – an effective nod to the source material.
NEED FOR SPEED, though a tad overlong at a whopping 130 minutes, is a pleasant surprise. If not the greatest video game to film adaptation of all time (which it probably is), then it’s certainly the best action film of the year so far.
[usr=4] NEED FOR SPEED is released in UK cinemas on Wednesday 12th March and US cinemas on Friday 14th March, 2014.
