“Need for Speed” review: Revving up for mindless fun

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Photo courtesy of Guarav's Movie Reviews

Aaron Paul goes from cooking meth as Jesse Pinkman to behind the wheel as Tobey Marshall in the film adaptation of the popular racing game franchise, “Need for Speed”.

Have you been left craving for a legitimate racing movie after the “Fast & Furious” franchise turned into more action than racing? Can “Need for Speed” satisfy avid racing cars fans?

“Need for Speed,” adopted from the popular street racing video game, obviously targets the “Fast & Furious” audience. Unlike the latter “Fast” movies, “Need for Speed” relies heavily on racing cars than explosive action sequences; In the process, it sacrifices a strong plot.

Director Scott Waugh’s “Need for Speed” is largely story-free, but the majority of scenes are dependent on racing in excitement-inducing venues, such as highways, narrow streets and mountain paths. It is a must see movie for those who really like racing movies.

“Breaking Bad’s” Aaron Paul stars as Tobey Marshall. Marshall is a mild-mannered mechanic who lets his action speak for him. He loves to race cars and is widely known for his ability to race.

The initial race between Marshall and Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper, “Dead Man Down”), his former partner, becomes the start of the conflict. Brewster, who is the president of a car dealership, is a rich man who provides his cars for racing. Dino is confident that he can win a race against Marshall.

Eventually, Tobey is falsely accused by the death of his work partner, Pete, which leads him to prison. Eventually, he is ready for revenge for his buddy’s death after he is released from prison, on parole.

Aaron Paul getting behind the wheel as the leading character suited him very well. He delivers a different performance than the one that he is most recently known for: Jesse Pinkman. This kind of action suited him quite nicely; The calm yet serious street racer persona looks good on him. He delivers an emotional performance as an intense driver during the scene when he jumps out of his car and tries to help Pete.

Pete’s death is the most emotional scene; The sounds forming in the background pushes the scene to an even sadder tone, especially when Marshall gets down on his knees and breaks into tears. It was a very intense, gripping scene. The sound editing was superb during this scene

Dominic Cooper performance is pretty weak as the villain in the movie; his screen time was lackluster. His performance in “Need” is not close to his challenging performance as dual roles in 2011’s “The Devil’s Double.” His performance is weak not because of him, but because of the poorly written script.

In the rest of the movie, the sound effects in the background are somewhat annoying. The loud sounds are more dominating than helpful. In some scenes, the cameras rotate too fast that it may cause dizziness. In combination, the dizzying shots and harsh noises are detrimental; It doesn’t help with a lack of a story.

The film locations are just perfect. The scenery is gorgeous. It reminded me of races in “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” which took place on mountain passes. The final race in “Need” takes place in a beautiful, albeit dangerous, mountain passage.

Even though the movie is faithful to an actual car racing film, the script should’ve been written better than this. The entire movie depends so much on visual effects to make up for its lackluster script.

“Need for Speed” doesn’t fully satisfy a movie lover’s expectations, but if you like car racing it’s worth a watch.