Here we go again, another miserable Hollywood attempt to bring a popular video game franchise to the big screen. First there was Super Mario Bros. in 1993, then Resident Evil in 2002, and the many video game adaptations directed by the infamous Uwe Boll, now the successful racing game franchise, Need for Speed, and we were doing so great after Disney’s animated hit, Wreck-It Ralph and now this mess of a game to film adaptation comes out directed by Scott Waugh (Act of Valor).
Aaron Paul (K-Pax, Mission: Impossible III, Breaking Bad) stars as blue-collar mechanic, Tobey Marshall who builds and race muscle cars with his team. In an attempt to save his garage from financial problems, he partners with wealthy ex-NASCAR driver, Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper-Captain America: The First Avenger, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, My Week with Marilyn).
During an intense race against Dino, one of Tobey’s crewmembers, Little Pete (Harrison Gilbertson-The Turning, Haunt) is killed during the race and Dino frames Tobey for vehicular manslaughter. So, Tobey, with the help of an exotic car-dealer (Imogen Poots-Me and Orson Welles, Jane Eyre) and a wise cracking helicopter pilot (Kid Cudi), will do whatever it takes to prove himself innocent and bring Dino down in a race to the end.
Overall Need for Speed is a pretty forgettable adaptation of a great video game, just because it can show off awesome car chases and action; it’s no excuse not to execute a clever and original concept. Basically, it’s a knockoff of the massively successful Fast & Furious franchise, both films have lots of cars, action, and crashing.
But what Fast & Furious had that this film doesn’t are likable and memorable characters, a charismatic cast, and decent stories (Well, the later entries at least!). Here, the characters are very stock and not that well-developed, even when they're being portrayed by great actors nobody leaves a lasting impression once the film ends.
The plot is uninspired and often derivative of other movies, as mentioned before the film borrows a lot from the Fast & Furious movies and is clearly trying to capitalize on its success where you have a ragtag group of street racers and criminals competing in cross-country races and trying to complete them in over-the-top and ridiculous ways. I wouldn’t mind the similarities between both movies if this film took those tropes and did something new or unique with them, instead it’s just a run-of-the-mill movie about street racing that’s trying to cash in on a popular franchise and it all feels so secondhand.
The action is pretty fun I guess, it’s your typical street racers VS rivals and police action and for the most part they’re well-choreographed and staged. But without an engaging plot or characters to latch onto, they seem more like a distraction from the narrative and filmmaking flaws for the dumb adolescent boys in the audience (The TransformersEffect).
If there’s one good thing I can say about Need for Speed is that Michael Keaton’s (Night Shift, Beetlejuice, Batman 1 and 2) performance as an energetic host of the underground supercar race competition is pretty enjoyable and he is clearly having a ball despite the limited screen-time. Even when he’s casted in a terrible movie, Keaton is always a joy to watch.
But that’s the only positive thing I can say about this flick, it suffers from poor character development, wooden characters, and a madhouse of non-stop car chases and action. Granted as a video game it works because you get to be in control of the game and do whatever you want, but here, there is no control, you’re better off playing the video game.
It’s not as bad as other past attempts at bringing a video game to the big screen like Mortal: Kombat Annihilation, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, or anything by Uwe Boll, but that still doesn't make it good and serves as another reminder of Hollywood not understanding how to bring a beloved video game series to the screen. Let’s hope the upcoming Ratchet & Clank movie in 2015 will make up for this loud and thinly-written movie.
GAME OVER!
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