a5c7b9f00b Fresh from prison, a street racer who was framed by a wealthy business associate joins a cross country race with revenge in mind. His ex-partner, learning of the plan, places a massive bounty on his headthe race begins. Framed by an ex-partner for a murder he did not commit, Tobey Marshall, a financially struggling custom-car builder and street-racer, spends two years in jail thinking about one moment. Fresh out of prison he reacquires the fastest car his workshop ever built and sold, and seeks to enter a secretive and extremely high-stakes race knownThe DeLeon. His purpose; redemption, recognition from the world of racing and to solve his problems. Yet all this fades in comparison to his driving reason. Revenge. Above all, revenge. This is a story about love, redemption, revenge and motor oil all swirled together Despite the game franchise not having a set story mode until 2003 with Need for Speed: Underground, screenwriter George Gatins took it upon himself to create an original narrative without having to lean on preexisting material. Need for Speed follows Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul), a run-of-the-mill, auto mechanic nice guy with a knack for illegal street racing – daddy issues are assumed, but no real back story is defined. He uses his race winnings to pay off debts accumulated by his shop because apparently no one wants to have their car tuned up by the best racer in town.<br/><br/>Like all video game protagonists, Tobey has a rival, Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper), a spoiled rich boy sociopath who must win at all costs – he also has the Tobester&#39;s ex-girlfriend Anita (Dakota Johnson) wrapped around his fingers to establish top tier bad guy status. She proves to be a worthless character anyways until one significant plot convenience and Cooper struggles to grow Dino beyond the stereotypical villain role, lacking any dimension and zero charisma.<br/><br/>Dino strolls into town one day looking to hire Tobey to build a Mustang. They eventually end up racing each other so Dino can prove his mega star status isn&#39;t a fluke. This of course entices Tobey&#39;s wide-eyed, ADHD BFF Little Pete (Harrison Gilbertons) to want to get in on the action, which you know won&#39;t end well. Doing what any rival would do in the face of near defeat, Dino knocks into Little Pete&#39;s car causing it to burst into flames mid-air. Racing away from the scene of the crime, Dino leaves Tobey behind who is picked up by the cops and held accountable for the unintentional murder of his friend.<br/><br/>Released on parole two years later, Tobey seeks revenge, recruiting his ragtag group of friends – Joe (Ramón Rodriguez), Benny (Scott Mescudi aka Kid Cudi), and Finn (Rami Malek), a colorful bunch who provide comedic relief and come in handy when the story requires them to be –wella cheeky-British gal with a wealth of car knowledge named Julia Maddon (Imogen Poots), whom he helped build the Mustang for. Poots is the most lively of the cast, creating great chemistry with Paulthey bounce off each other very well. You definitely feel their camaraderie buildthe two get to know each other while they are chased by the cops or flee from other drivers because Dino issues a bounty to stop Tobey from reaching Dino.<br/><br/>Together they all must drive across the country to San Francicso in two days time in hopes they can gain the attention of Monarch (Michael Keaton), the organizer of the most illustrious, invitation only underground street racing competition, the DeLeon. Tobey believes that if he qualifies for the DeLeon and wins he will somehow prove his innocence to the world – if that makes any sense at all. Keaton chews up every scene with absolute flair and a wonderfully silly, caricature of a performance. Never interacting with a single cast member, I can only imagine Keaton letting loose on set by his lonesome.<br/><br/>This plot summary is reflective of how much time the film takes to establish conflict. Even with two race scenes before Tobey is arrested, the first act is so draining and prolonged that everything becomes completely uninteresting. And you may think that Aaron Paul will save you because he&#39;s Jesse from Breaking Bad, but Need for Speed doesn&#39;t have the writing team of Vince Gilligan and pals to make Tobey a fully fleshed out and fun character. Thankfully Paul gives a decent enough performance through repetitive scenes of angst to make Tobey&#39;s cause seem believable for this movie. But still, the plot is so linear and thin that everything is paint by numbers for director Scott Waugh (Act of Valor).<br/><br/>But thanks to Waugh&#39;s insightsa former stunt performer/coordinator, Need for Speed pulls off some of the most brain racking practical effects stunts. That&#39;s right, every car chase, crash, and race is performed with real stunt drivers without the use of CGI. With how incredible of a feat that may be, what is presented on screen is not very compelling due to lousy editing. Scenes cut back and forth between the streets and low angle shots of the driver from within the cars sporadically making a lot of the action hard to follow at times. Setting up practical stunts takes money and time, so I&#39;m sure they had limited funds to shoot scenes multiple times and had to use what they had. The cinematography, shot by Shane Hurlbut (Terminator: Salvation; Semi-Pro; Act of Valor), is also very sub par. The movie captures none of the stylish or slick appeal the video game has.<br/><br/>What also makes Need for Speed frustrating is that all of the races are given very poor direction so that it is a bit difficult to grasp exactly where our drivers need to be at the end of each sequence. This disregard of set up places the viewer in an awkward position because the driving feels like it drags on forever without a sense of urgency which hurts the tension in the scenes. Luckily some suspense is built up with police chases and various obstacles that stand in the way of the drivers.<br/><br/>Need for Speed could have easily been called anything because it has little to do with the game other than the racing. In that regard you could call it a success because it doesn&#39;t tarnish the game&#39;s reputation. However,a movie, Need for Speed fails to deliver much value for the overly long run time, weak characters, and linear plot. Moviegoers hoping to see a sleek, finely polished Fast &amp; Furious knock off will surely be disappointed by its spastic editing and gritty cinematography. A simple filmyou would expect when it is based on a computer game, but that does not take away from the fact that there appears to have been a real effort put into unlike some with the same background.<br/><br/>It&#39;s a very simple plot line no difficult twists and if you do need to take the kids to the toilet whilst you watch it you will be able to join straight back in with no effort. There is a real effort with the race scenes and no CGI which really does detract in some filmsquite clearly there is no real driving, in this you have to admire the skills of whoever is employed in this film to perform the race scenes , they are truly amazing. A car nuts dream of a film with an amazing selection of cars that we can only dream of owning after a lottery win and then watch them driven to the max.<br/><br/>Some have said it is just another version of the Fast and Furious franchise but it much simpler than that.<br/><br/>Sit back relax and enjoy. The cast doesn’t have the sassy swagger of the “Fast & Furious” crew. Paul, surrounded by co-stars of the same modest height, isn’t particularly charismatic in this setting. He’s not a natural “quiet tough guy.” But the actors are second bananas here — to the Koenigsegg Ageras, Saleens and Shelby Mustang that feed America’s Need for Speed, on screen and off. And the cars deliver.
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