Review for Need For Speed

Tobey is an expert street racer who is framed for causing the death of one of the other competitors. The real culprit Dino is also a hotshot racer who thinks he is the best thing on four wheels. Upon release, Tobey and his friends borrow a suped up car and are joined by British car expert Julia on their way to The DeLeon. This is a high stakes race where if you win, you win everyone else's vehicles.

When you are told that this is a film based on a video game you have flashbacks to Super Mario Bros., Streetfighter or any game Uwe Boll has had his hands on. That being said, this is a film based on a racing game? It really is just the use of the name and the fact that there are cars racing that has anything to do with the game. This would be like a film about a boardgame like Battleships... oh wait nevermind.

That being said. This is a really good film. It is true that it is dripping with cliches and with a cast change could easily have been Fast and the Furious 6, but it is an enjoyably, simple film. You don't need to think to hard while watching and is perfect for just sitting down and enjoying, without having to work about deep-meaning themes, plot twists or excessive violence.

The cast headed up by Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul are excellent, with Paul almost shedding the Jesse Pinkman persona, but this could easily have been what Jesse went to do after the show ended. Dominic Cooper as Dino is an amazing badguy and it is strange that they didn't make him be the typical smug Englishman instead, though his American accent is perfect. The rest of the cast are fine, with Imogen Poots as Julia a fine female love interest and his three buddies who help him out add a lot of humour without being too over the top.

Another great addition is Michael Keaton as Monarch, the video host character who is organising the race. His comments throughout are great and if this was an attempt to bring the commentary aspect of the games into the movie it certainly worked.

I would say that my only issue with this film is that there is too much driving. Yes, I know this would be like complaining that the comedy has too many jokes, but for me there was just far too much time spent on the race scenes. I understand that this is the point of the film, but they could have edited them down somewhat. However, that is just a little quibble as the rest of the film is filled with laughs and action that don't allow the film to become boring.

Only two features are on the DVD which is a shame as this certainly could have benefited from a few more. Apart from the trailer for the Need for Speed Rivals game (but no film trailer?), they include a short featurette about the filming of the racing scenes. I almost feel like this should be shown before you see the film as it really does make you appreciate it more. I assumed that most of the racing was CGI, but surprisingly most, if not all of it, was real.

We also get to hear Steven Spielberg who produced the film through his Dreamworks studio talk about how he was so excited that Director Scott Waugh wanted to do all this for real. Funnily enough when I watched this I went back and I watched the film again and if this was all real then it is impressive, if it is a mix between the two then you couldn't tell. It really made me appreciate the film a lot more.

Need for Speed is not a film that will be winning awards for acting or its story, but for a high-octane ride this is the perfect film to watch long after you have seen the Game Over sign. If you liked the Fast and Furious films, you will love this.