NEED FOR SPEED DVD (2014)

SYNOPSIS: Buckle up with Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad) as he sets out on a mission of revenge against wealthy and arrogant Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper), who framed him for a crime he didn’t commit. Tobey pushes his limits to the max in a high-octane race across America, hitting the road with the world’s most exotic supercars – delivering real speed, real danger and real action. Adapted from the top-selling video game franchise – and complete with never-before-seen bonus features – Need For Speed is the ultimate thrill ride.

MOVIE REVIEW:

You can’t totally blame Need For Speed for not trying. For a movie that is based on a best-selling video game, the budget and technical achievements will put the original Fast & Furious to shame but alas the plotting just come up way short and in desperate need of further polishing.   

Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul plays Tobey Marshall, a small-town mechanic and street racer who unwittingly causes the death of a childhood buddy after a race with once rival, Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper) went wrong. Tobey subsequently went to jail because of it and Dino went scot-free.

It took an excruciating two hours to flesh out a simple revenge tale on wheels because once Tobey gets out of jail, the first thing he did was hook up with a tough chick, Julia (Imogen Poots) and cross-country in a Shelby Mustang to participate in a winner-takes-all race, the De Leon while invading the cops and bounty hunters sent by Dino. The long drive from New York to California is a poor excuse to showcase more reckless driving and some needed romance between Tobey and Julia. Not to mention, Tobey’s motley crew, Benny, Joe and Finn. With the exception of Benny who always show up interestingly from a small plane to a military chopper, the rest are merely there to provide the movie’s cheesy one-liners.

Yet if you are car junkie or a fan of daredevil stunts, director Scott Waugh (Act of Valor) opted for some amazing practical stunt effects and choreography in place of CGI to deliver often spectacular looking car flipping explosions. Of course, the excellent display of those killer gleaming machines, Shelby GT 500, Lamborghini Sesto Elemento, Bugatti Veyron to Koenigsegg Agera are pure eye candy.

As one of DreamWorks’ title and even with Steven Spielberg’s inputs, Need For Speed just doesn’t quite have the horsepower to zoom past the finishing line. But then again, the Fast & Furious took three sequels to finally find it’s footing maybe this property from Electronic Arts need a couple more outings to hone its engine. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Capturing Speed: Making an Authentic Car Movie is a nine minutes plus feature that takes a look at creating the car chases and stuntwork.

Need for Speed Rivals Trailer is a brief videogame promo reel. 

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Prepare for a dynamic, aggressive Dolby Digital 5.1 listening experience as muscle cars throttles across the screen. Video presentation is also solid and striking as well. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee