MOVIE REVIEW: Need for Speed

GENRE: Action

RUNNING TIME: 132 minutes

STARRING: Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Dominic Cooper (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), Imogen Poots (Fright Night), Rami Malek (Night at the Museum)

DIRECTED BY: Scott Waugh (Act of Valor)

RATING: 7/10

Currently screening at Ster-Kinekor Northgate.

PLOT: Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul) is a street racer who has been falsely accused of killing his friend. Upon his release from prison he sets out to avenge his friend’s death. Entering an illegal street race is his only option to bring the killer down.

THE GOOD: George Gatins who wrote the story did his homework. He never just made it a typical action film; he actually created a semi-decent storyline based around the Need for Speed game franchise. There are some really good driving scenes that are not too over the top and it is a nice R&R movie for petrol heads. They will thoroughly enjoy seeing the exotic sports cars and the racing. The police chases are rather enjoyable. If you know the game franchise, then the movie delivers what you will expect: police chases, rolling roadblocks, choppers and awesome stunts to escape the police.

THE BAD: Comparable to the games, there is probably not enough action and too much drama. The lack of police chases is a bit disappointing but nonetheless fun. The amount of racing done is the film does not hold up to the game. There could have been a lot more, and the police vehicles seem to have as much power as these ‘jacked up’ race cars have, which is not believable.

VERDICT: Need for Speed is a thoroughly enjoyable movie. It is not a slapped together racer film. There is a plot and a good storyline that might have been done a couple of times before but it works well in this film. The acting is possibly a bit weak on occasion but the driving scenes make up for that. They don’t use allot of CGI for the car chases and races. This just makes the driving all that more ‘WOW’. This movie will appeal to NFS game fans and car enthusiasts alike. Could this possibly be the next racer franchise?

Thanks to Ster-Kinekor Northgate for making the review possible.