Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul) sets out on a mission of revenge against wealthy and arrogant Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper) as he sets out to clear his name for a crime he didn’t commit and put the memory of his friend to rest. Part of the plan involves getting invited to race in a secret race somewhere in California which is by invite only (and somehow the cops get wind of it and try to stop the race cars for some reason).   Mix in the plot a hot British blond is along for the ride with Tobey and a bounty by Dino to stop Tobey from getting to the race with a car.

 

NEED FOR SPEED is a fun and sometimes funny car action movie where all of the car stunts are real (and no CGI).   The story is hardly original as it makes use of several clichés (like one big deal to save the business and the revenge plot) and mostly white people cast (with Maverick being the token comedic relief black character and Michael Keaton as the mysterious commentator for the big  illegal race at the end of the movie).  The Disney trailer department did the film no justice with the film’s trailer as it came off looking like a FAST AND THE FURIOUS rip-off too much (with only fans of the video game recognizing the film).   NEED FOR SPEED is one of those movies that will build a following on blu-ray and DVD, but many people will probably just enjoy renting this movie.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Audio commentary with director Scott Waugh and star Aaron Paul is a nice listen or read (which you can read the commentary track while watching the film).

 

CAPTURING SPEED: MAKING AN AUTHENTIC CAR MOVIE- go behind-the-scenes and see how they strived to make the car racing and fast car scenes are authentic as possible in addition to making chase cars and car rigs that can go faster than was done before

TIES THAT BIND- meet the Gilbert family stunt team who has close ties director Scott Waugh and his family that features interviews with the stunt team, the director, behind-the-scenes footage, stories about growing up in a family where their father was a stunt driver, and family photos

THE CIRCUS IS IN TOWN- director Scott Waugh narrates the journey they took traveling across the country, illustrated with still photos taken on location by the stills photographer

THE SOUND OF NEED FOR SPEED- interviews with the film’s composer and sound editor as they mixed the sound and score in 7.1 in addition to recording the car sounds out in the middle of nowhere (and recording the sound of someone’s Mustang)

 

Three deleted scenes (cut for pacing) are introduced by the director in addition to an extended version of the jail dance party seen during the end credits.

The extras are rounded off by Monarch and Maverick outtakes (which are ad libs by the actors who played those characters- edited in a way like it is a competition between the two of them), a trailer for the NEED FOR SPEED: RIVALS video game, previews for other releases (playing before the main menu), and a code to download and stream a Digital HD digital copy of the movie.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: NEED FOR SPEED is a fun car action film with some humor.   It seems destined to build a fan base on blu-ray and DVD, but many people will probably enjoy renting it.    The disc has some good featurettes on the making of the movie, but the extras are only for fans of extras (where others may just check out the five minute of deleted scenes).

 

This review is ©8-5-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com