‘Need for Speed’ delivers fast-paced race scenes
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Despite some confusing moments, “Need for Speed” proves to be a very entertaining action flick with enough racing scenes to go around.
As much as I enjoy the “Fast and Furious” movies, it is disappointing to me that they do not take advantage of the street-racing aspect. There are some awesome race scenes, but they are few and far between. “Fast Five” even brushes over one, implying that a race occurred but never actually showing it.
“Need for Speed,” however, takes advantage of street racing by making it central to the plot. The story is simple: In order to get revenge against the pompous Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper), Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul), an expert street racer, travels from New York to California within about 50 hours with an attractive British woman named Julia Maddon (Imogen Poots).
The main reason I looked forward to this film is because of Aaron Paul. He is most notable for his role in “Breaking Bad” as Jesse Pinkman. He has been nominated for four Emmys and won twice for not only portraying the drugged-out meth cook, but for causing the audience to fall in love with him.
Paul does a great job with what he has. There are several scenes that require him to show extreme emotion, and he does it well. However, there is not a lot of depth to the character for Paul to showcase.
It seems like he doesn’t know what to do with himself during the first half hour. That time is mostly used for exposition, and it starts off pretty slow. It is also hard to follow at first because some characters are talked about before they even appear. They are not properly introduced.
Another confusing aspect of this film is that some of the logic does not make sense. The man who sets up the race is a video blogger named Monarch (Michael Keaton), who has somehow never been caught despite the fact that a lot of people know what he looks like. His voice is what sets up the opening scene, and this is confusing at first. It sounds like something on the radio, but that would be impossible because street racing is illegal.
This film will not win any Academy Awards, and it certainly does not try to be an Oscar contender. It is simply a fun racing movie that does not overstay its welcome. At just 130 minutes, it is the perfect length. I give it three and a half out of five stars. If you are looking for a fun flick to watch without thinking too much, this is one to go see. I would not mind seeing it become a film franchise like the “Fast and Furious” movies.
Content: Rated PG-13. There is a moderate amount of profanity throughout the film, and no F-words. The film is mostly rated PG-13 for violence. There are some intense car crashes throughout the film. A little bit of blood shown is shown from scratches, but it is not gory. There are maybe one or two sexual innuendos that will go over children’s heads. One scene features male backside nudity for about a solid thirty seconds (it is meant to be comical).
– Christopher Campbell is an Aggie film buff who has written reviews for several publications. He has been involved in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS) and Psi-Chi. He is currently majoring in psychology and minoring in Portuguese. Send any feedback to topherwriter@gmail.com, check out his blog at criticalchristopher.blogspot.com or follow him on Twitter @ChrisCampbell02.