Review: Need for Speed (2014)

Cast: Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Scott Mescudi
Director: Scott Waugh
Country: USA
Genre: Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller
Official Site: Here

Editor’s Notes: Need for Speed opens in wide theatrical release this Friday, March 14th. 

To say that racing is in Toby Marshall’s blood (Aaron Paul) is an understatement. In Need for Speed, he runs a auto repair shop with his unpredictable but reliable team and also race cars for money and street cred. One night he gets an offer from Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper), a hugely popular driver that offers Toby a deal he can’t refuse. He fixes his car and gets paid a huge million-dollar percentage. But even after the deal happens, a clash of egos leads to a horrible racing accident involving a dear friend to Toby. What’s worse: Dino frames Toby even though he caused the crash. Years pass by, and Toby goes out to get revenge the only way he knows how: out on the course by competing against Dino in the huge race hosted by the mysterious man named Monarch (Michael Keaton).

The main drawing factor of Need for Speed is, without a doubt, the neon-lit marketing of the first starring role for Paul. 

The main drawing factor of Need for Speed is, without a doubt, the neon-lit marketing of the first starring role for Paul. He’s been in most of America’s addictive hears for the past few years due to his work as Jesse on Breaking Bad (you may have heard of it), so they’re ramping up his presence here accordingly. The buzz has been extremely iffy for a while now. “Yes it’s a chance for Paul to shine on his own, but he’s starring in a videogame adaptation, and we all know those sucks!” At this point, cue the nerdy rumblings and spit sound effects.

 Truth be told, the ‘video game adaptation curse’ has always bothered me. It’s like they think the filmmakers take the actual game contents/graphics/footage and mold them into something of their own accord. Ultimately a movie is a movie, especially if it’s an adaptation. If there’s fault with a movie, it all lies in the foundation. The script, the creative forces behind the production, etc. You can take a video game premise and give it something more. It just so happens that most of cinema’s takes on the subgenre have, indeed, sucked. Cue the angry fanboy. But is it coincidental? Of course it is, and Need for Speed is the proof.

Director Scott Waugh (Act of Valor) talked a lot about this project, including his desire to make a throwback tribute to the car chase movies of the 1970’s. He comes from a stuntman background (including his family) and he wanted to make a car movie that’s effective without the use of computer effects. Ok, that’s a tall order. Fortunately for him, the kind of script he had to work with was just perfect for his ambitions. Writer George Gatins (making his screenwriting debut) is just simply effective, getting all points across without any added noise. The script does something that is probably considered foreign in this subgenre: it makes you care. It pulls you in. It’s touch, fun, silly and hyper. Of course the translation needs to be guided by the talent on screen, and that’s where the very bright future of Paul-the-star comes into play. With the help of an eager, playful supporting cast, Paul engages his journey of revenge and fires off a performance that’s so full of emotion and pride, the strides taken to command the screen are shown with little effort.

With the help of an eager, playful supporting cast, Paul engages his journey of revenge and fires off a performance that’s so full of emotion and pride, the strides taken to command the screen are shown with little effort.

With all that in place, that allows Waugh to do his thing. The action he sets up produces some truly marvelous results. The question of whether or not Waugh could direct action was never brought up; we’ve seen the man do it before quite well. The question was whether or not he could successfully infuse the struggles of the human nature alongside a bravado of action spectacles. Well, that was my question at least. Most people who see this man’s background and this source material and will probably expect little to nothing in return. And that’s just fine, because the payoff for those people will be tremendous. Waugh marries the mayhem and the inner human realms into something that’s not too heavy on either side; in other words it’s an almost perfect marriage. You add all that with a score from Nathan Furst that does a fantastic job of creating a protective circle of atmosphere construction, and you’ve got a great time at the movies, and I dare say the first truly awesome ride of 2014.