Need for Speed (2014)

[baumer]

Discuss

[rukaio101]

Does Need for Speed finally beat the 'video game films are shit' curse? Simple answer? No.

 

The first third was the worst. Aaron Paul's crew had painfully little chemistry with each other and the movie seemed to be painfully trying to force the fact that they were 'bros' like in F&F. And Pete was such an annoying little git I was almost glad when they killed him off. The only highlights were Imogen Poots (although it got annoying when she fell into the pit of 'generic love interest') and Michael Keaton who was just chewing scenery through all his scenes.

 

I think the film was at its best during the middle when it stopped trying to copy F&F and instead became more of a road trip movie. It was actually pretty enjoyable then. But eventually it began to drag and the finale wasn't nearly fun enough to break out of that slump. Speaking of, could someone tell me who thought this should be over two hours? It barely has enough material to last one.

 

As for the car action (aka, the only reason anyone would actually watch this) it was alright. The best scenes came in the middle when they were trying to outrun the police/bounty hunters. The rest was just meh and the final race was pretty underwhelming. It doesn't go nearly over-the-top enough to compete with the recent F&F films though.

 

Final thoughts, if you're going to see this in the hopes it might be good, don't. If you're going to see this for the sweet car action and are completely willing to ignore flat characters and a generic story then wait for it to come out on rental. There's really not enough in this to justify spending the extra money to see it in cinemas.

 

Final score- C-

[DoctorWho]

Wow, the story in this is shit, but I could get over it because the races were excellent so.....i give it a 5.5/10

[baumer]

It's got perhaps the worst dialogue of all time.  As rukaio says, the chemistry with the crew was horrible and the appearance of brotherhood and closeness that they are supposed to have is so forced that it's embarrassing.  The black dude and his helicopter stuff was awful and here's the thing about the movie.  It has one of the stupidest, most selfish, moronic so called heroes and yet we're supposed to root for him.  Him and his buddies just made about 650 grand, divided into 5.  He needed money to get the bank off his behind.  And what does he do?  He decides he's going to risk it all, meaning his friend's share, so that he can hopefully parlay that into 2.7 mill.  I'm not sure what moron does that.  Even if he is pretty sure he can beat the guy, there is still a chance that he doesn't.  So why give up the sure thing?  Because he's an idiot.  His selfishness is what caused his friend to die.  

 

I hated the film up until the part where his buddy strips naked at his office job.  That was pretty funny and from there the film got better.

 

5/10

[Kvikk Lunsj]

The movie is as good as the fast and furious movies. Aaron Paul is only reason why I saw advance screening. The car stunts are car and race scene are done well but everything was kinda lame. But it fun to watch the car sequence. In the end it is typical average Blockbuster movie. 

5.5/10

Edited March 16, 2014 by Jesus of Suburbia

[Phil in the Blank]

Straight up this isn't my kind of film. The essential problem with almost all 'street racing' type films for me is that the characters tend to always rub me the wrong way. They just tend to be dicks. You are engaging in a behaviour that not only risks your life but innocents as well. So yeah sure, Aaron Paul may not had killed his friend, but I mean come-on, you drive fast cars on a course thats not built for it. What the fuck do you expect? Count yourself lucky that no innocents died for your sport.

 

And beyond that the movie is just dumb. What, no evidence of a 3rd car at the accident? Didn't THREE cars just race through hundreds of cars. Are you honestly expecting us to believe that there were no witness to their being a 3rd car there? Lol. And why would this guy just randomly loan you a car he paid 2.7 million for, who you barely know, who knows you have been in jail and therefore 'out of the game' for 2 years just for a chance to win 4 million in a competition he doesn't even have entry to yet. I dont buy it. So what, anyone can just waltz on in and take an army apache helicopter for a spin? Are you fucking kidding me! I could go on and on, the plot is literally the dumbest I've seen since TF2 in the cinemas.

 

If you can turn your brain off and just enjoy the fast cars making car noises while barely avoiding other cars and/or people and if thats all you want from a film then you are probably better off with re-watching a F&F movie to be honest, but I guess it would scratch that itch. If you want a film with any semblance of characters or well written dialogue, or a plot that doesn't make you go WTF every 2 seconds. Then stay faaaaaar away from this film.

Edited March 20, 2014 by Spottswoode

[baumer]

You nailed it, Spottswoode.  Absolutely stupid script.  Nicely said.  

[SchumacherFTW]

It had a stupid script. It had no characterisation. Every plot point could be spotted a mile away. But I still loved it. It was some cracking car porn!

[Dark Jedi Master 007]

"Racing is art. Racing with passion is high art."-Some random dude in the filmThe same statement applies to filmmaking as well, and from the looks of it, nobody involved in this process actually had any passion for it. I could tell how lifeless this movie was from the first few scenes, where none of the actors turned in a single good performance. The script was lackluster, going for cliché on top of cliché. At times, the film did have comedy, and some cool race scenes. But in general, the movie lacked any actual emotion. It was a bore and a chore to sit through.1.5/4 

[darkelf]

"Racers should race, cops should eat donuts." - Batman

 

Stupid script, stupid characters, stupid Batman. Good races, good Pinkman. Plus, there's plenty of stupid shit you can laugh at.

 

5/10

[superstancer]

Utter Crap. 1/5 1 for some car sequences tats it!!!! 

Strong F

[Lordmandeep]

Very hit or miss film.

 

The starting starts off rather oddly like if its a TV show.

 

There are some cool race sequences. I am a sucker for landscape shots of the American West and there were some great scenes from there.

 

 

B- 

[TheMovieman]

Alright, first thing's first: This is a dumb movie. Really dumb with a weak script and spotty acting. It's also a movie that DreamWorks hoped to be a cash-grab considering the success of the Fast and the Furious franchise. However, after a rough start I have to admit, I was relatively entertained in a Gone in 60 Seconds (remake) kind of way where the racing and action scenes are well filmed and despite some of the stupidity, in the end I didn't feel like it was a waste of time. Aaron Paul and Immogen Poots are both quite charming, Dominic Cooper is a waste though playing a one-dimensional villain (douche-bag) and Scott Mescudi is a poor man's Tyrese Gibson with a smidgen of the charisma.

 

I can't say I fully recommend the movie, but perhaps as a rental, it might be worth it.

 

***/*****, (C+, 6.2/10, 2.5/4)

[mdot1982]

I really enjoyed this film. Some of the action sequences were a bit much, such as the apache helicopter grabbing the mustang off the cliff while the baha trucks were en route. That was my main gripe.

 

This actually felt like a video game / movie hybrid. It truly made me nostaglic for Need for Speed : Hot pursuit on the PS2. The final race through the forest was 100% like the video game.

 

The girl was super hot. Aaron Paul was great. Bad guy did seem like a genuine douche, I didn't like his face.

 

The cars were excellent. They didn't go for rice rockets, but went with super cars and also good old muscle.

 

Micheal Keaton was great as well.

 

Overall a B.

[James]

This is no FF, but I actually liked it a lot more than I though I would. I just love race / fast cars movies. The acting at times was pretty bad though. But that Linkin Park song at the end was such a nice touch. The action scenes were also pretty good.

 

Also the chick's british accent...

 

 

B

Edited October 8, 2014 by James