Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) recently told “The Hollywood Reporter” he had no interest in doing “just another car film or a video-game adaptation that doesn’t work.” Unfortunately that’s exactly what happened with Need For Speed. Without a doubt, Paul is a talented actor and has two Emmys to prove it. Yet, his (as well as everyone else’s) character in this movie is paper-thin and his only look is being pissed off for over two hours.
Director Scott Waugh (Act of Valor) brings the noise and flash along with every single thing we have ever seen in a movie like this. The only exception is those others executed it better. He brings spurts of adrenaline and excitement that Need For Speed desperately needs, but it’s never enough. The movie may think it’s Fast and Furious, but, in reality, it’s sitting at a green light without its foot on the gas.
Paul plays Tobey Marshall, a young, talented street racer who could’ve done big things behind the wheel. However, he opted for staying low-key and running his garage. The problem is the garage is going through a tough time. A really tough time. So Marshall agrees to race his rival Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper) and if he wins, the rent on the garage is paid for quite a long time. In pure predictability, the race goes bad and Marshall goes to prison for a crime he did not commit.
Of course, once he gets out, what does he want most? Revenge!
The best way to do that is to beat Dino at his own game: winning the De Leon. It’s the Super Bowl of street racing contests ran by Monarch, a race DJ played by Michael Keaton who runs wild while bringing back the spirit of BeetleJuice with every spoken sentence. Besides a few car action sequences, Keaton is the most entertaining part of the movie.
Need For Speed is part racing, part road trip movie, but either way it’s still absurd and disarranged, and stalls out on almost every road the story goes down. Even its attempt at the relationship side of things between Marshall and his British sidekick beauty Julia (Imogen Poots) feels empty-hearted.
Apparently Waugh and Paul have both pointed at films such as Vanishing Point and Bullitt as inspirations, and Waugh has even had the balls to compare Paul to THE Steve McQueen. Now I doubt Paul would agree with that, but I think we could all agree that McQueen would fly by him and this movie and give them both the finger if he were alive today.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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