Need For Speed is one of my most anticipated movies in 2014. It sounds a bit ridiculous, right? I don’t have any high expectations for it and I’ll explain what I mean in a little bit, not that I think anyone else has any higher expectations than I did either. Still, as the weeks after it opened went by, I started to think that I wouldn’t go see it but on Monday, my friend called me up and asked if I wanted to go see a movie and he was paying, kind of, since he works for a company that offers sweet deals on things such as Cineplex. After a rather rushed dinner, I went off to go catch Need For Speed!
Two movies in a week! Now, I can see my 2014 movie watching picking up 😉 Let’s check this out!
Director: Scott Waugh
Cast: Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Imogen Poots, Dakota Johnson, Scott Mescudi, Rami Malek, Ramon Rodriguez, Harrison Gilbertson, Michael Keaton
Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul) is a up and coming star in his hometown of Mt. Kisco where he took over his father’s car shop. He keeps it going with a bunch of his buddies who are all great at what they do. Tobey Marshall is also known for his great street racing skills. When Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper), a wealthy businessman and also a professional racer challenges him, it causes some trouble that lands Tobey in jail for two years. When he comes out, he skips parole and drives across the country trying to catch the eye of Monarch (Michael Keaton), who is the guy who sets up one of the biggest street race competitions so that he could get the last spot against Dino in hopes to have his revenge.
Before I tell you what I thought about Need For Speed, I really think I should clarify why I didn’t have high expectations for it even though I anticipate it so much. Point is, Need For Speed is based on a video game and a very arcade style racing game on top of that. It could easily turn into the Fast and the Furious ripoff and it could be hurt by my assumption that it has a low budget (which I might but I haven’t researched it) and well, the actors are all that known, at least not by me. BUT, BUT, with all that I said, Need For Speed is my most favorite video game and to see it get a movie even though there isn’t all that much of a storyline is just the most awesome feeling. I loved the trailer and it reminded me of the game a lot. So, you know what, I’m totally on board with the concept. The lack of a thorough storyline from ALL the games gives it just that much room to weave a decent story. I love to give chances to movies and for Need for Speed, anything!
Now that I’ve professed my love for Need For Speed, you all want to hear what I thought, right?
Here it goes!
Honestly!
I totally had so much fun with it! I’m going to say it right now that you have to really like the Need For Speed franchise to love this. I saw this because I’m not exactly sure if Need For Speed comes in normal viewing in theatres but we had 3D and let me tell you, watching it in 3D was set in a way that it was like when I was holding the controller and playing the game. Obviously, without the mad skills, Tobey Marshall has because I’m a really bad video game player. I mean, in NFS, you don’t see the cars get fixed, you see them roll in and roll out and they are transformed. If you look really closely, some of the tracks actually look like the tracks that the game has: the set up and the lighting and especially the blurred effects when they are going fast. Some of the camera angles were shot to have that effect of feeling like being in the car and behind the wheel. Seriously, it was so fun!
Now that thats off my chest, let me take a deep breath to calm myself. Need For Speed is no masterpiece and you know even when you watch the trailer that its not. Its a guilty pleasure flick. Its meant to be fun and entertaining wrapped with a little bit of drama to add some purpose to the character and the overall storyline. The story itself is actually pretty thin and at some times, I even questioned why certain things went the way it did but still, with a movie like this, I’m willing to overlook it and take it for what it is.
Its actually pretty funny because I’ve never actually watched any of these actors except for Dominic Cooper in Captain America and Mamma Mia and well, we have Michael Keaton (who I could not figure out his name until the credits rolled). Thats horrible, right? And no, I haven’t watched Breaking Bad yet so no I don’t know Aaron Paul. My favorite character in this has to be Michael Keaton as Monarch. He brings this different weird but pretty enthusiastic vibe to the movie and he pops up some random moments. I have to also admit that when Aaron Paul first entered as Tobey, I wasn’t totally liking the way he talked. He has this calm, silent husky voice and theatres don’t have subtitles so I was really focusing to understand it all but very soon, I totally connected with his character and he has awesome chemistry with his buddies who were the comic relief along with Imogen Poots who was somewhat cute and feisty at times. Somewhere before we reached the middle, I just believed that Aaron Paul was perfectly cast for this role.
Honestly, admitting that I love Need For Speed makes me feel like how I express my profound love for the Resident Evil series but you know what, I’m a fan and I’m going to buy the movie when it comes out. Plus, it just revived the urge to play hours on hours of Need For Speed. Did I tell you that between my boyfriend and I, I think we actually own all of them except for the newest one? I’ve played only bits of the PS3 ones but I’m working on playing through all of them on my free time and even though its at a slow pace, I’m halfway through Underground 2!
If you are a fan of Need For Speed, this is definitely a must-see. Don’t get all nit-picky about the story and just enjoy the thrilling ride this movie has to offer and it can get pretty fun. It might be predictable in some parts but before you know it, maybe you’ll start cheering Tobey Marshall on also 😉 Just to give you an idea of how much I liked it: I would be down for a second one (although I doubt that would happen ever).
Are you a Need For Speed fan? Did you see this movie? What did you think?
Tranquil Dreams 