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How entertaining? ★★☆☆☆
Thought provoking? ★☆☆☆☆ 9 March 2014
This article is a review of NEED FOR SPEED. |
“It’s not luck; he’s patient,” Joe Peck (Ramon Rodriguez)
NEED FOR SPEED exists in a world so ludicrous and devoid of common sense, one has to wonder whether the movie is set in a parallel universe. Had they gone all KILL BILL, where Uma Thurman’s Bride takes plane journeys where samurai swords are normal carry-on luggage, and gone completely over the top, the end result might have been a nutty joy. (See for example the ridiculously underrated SPEED RACER). However, NEED FOR SPEED exists in a weird hinterland of manic carnage and unsatisfying, clunkily conveyed unemotional moments.
Helmed by Scott Waugh, co-director of the energetic ACT OF VALOUR, he hasn’t quite mustered the same strikingly choreographed kinetics. Still, the car chases roar. As each one builds up to the green light, the sound design revs, ahem, up to punch you in the eardrums (not unpleasantly for petrolhead movie junkies). Flipping, crushed cars are not held back on. Consider yourself sated, if that’s all you’re after. Those though looking for a little more…
NEED FOR SPEED exists in a world so ludicrous and devoid of common sense, one has to wonder whether the movie is set in a parallel universe. Had they gone all KILL BILL, where Uma Thurman’s Bride takes plane journeys where samurai swords are normal carry-on luggage, and gone completely over the top, the end result might have been a nutty joy. (See for example the ridiculously underrated SPEED RACER). However, NEED FOR SPEED exists in a weird hinterland of manic carnage and unsatisfying, clunkily conveyed unemotional moments.
Helmed by Scott Waugh, co-director of the energetic ACT OF VALOUR, he hasn’t quite mustered the same strikingly choreographed kinetics. Still, the car chases roar. As each one builds up to the green light, the sound design revs, ahem, up to punch you in the eardrums (not unpleasantly for petrolhead movie junkies). Flipping, crushed cars are not held back on. Consider yourself sated, if that’s all you’re after. Those though looking for a little more…
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NEED FOR SPEED makes the FAST & FURIOUS franchise look like Ingmar Bergman’s back catalogue in comparison. Characterisation and plot logic are dismally absent. As is dialogue nuance. The monologue from the trailer, “I do not fear, for you are with me. All those who defied me, shall be ashamed and disgraced. Those who wage war against me shall perish. I will find strength, find guidance, and I will triumph,” Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul), is not only unheard in the film, nothing akin to its weirdly articulate rage is either.
We are in Mt. Kisco, New York state. Tobey’s father has recently passed away leaving his mechanic garage in his skilled hands. Looming over the business venture is the bank looking for its payment schedule to be met. Even winning $5k in the movie’s first illegal street race will only temporarily keep the wolves from the door. In walks school race rival Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper – in a thankless cold hearted, cardboard, bad guy role), offering Marshall’s mechanic team 25% of the sale price to finish the rebuild of a legendary Ford Mustang. On completion and on the auction blocks, rare car buyer Julia Maddon (Imogen Poots) adds some supposed girl power to the testosterone-fest. She gets given lines such as, “Never judge a girl by her Gucci boots.” One minute she’s a cool badass, the next a weakling sidekick. The Mustang sells for $2.7million. Everything seems sorted. Right? Except, Tobey accepts a ludicrous bet with Dino for his cut, to see who is the better driver. Why not just a sportsman bet eh Tobey? The fallout includes one of Marshall’s buds being killed, him sent to prison while Brewster the culprit gets off, and Tobey loses his $675k. That Dino is such a douche is the only reason there should be any kind of sympathy. Actually, Aaron Paul’s role in the magnificent BREAKING BAD is what garners our goodwill. Here, he is offered little to do but look broody and turn a steering wheel. (Without Bryan Cranston’s Walter White there to drown him out, one realises that Paul’s voice has a similar gravelly pitch as the engines in the film.)
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Two years later and out of prison, Tobey is on a quest for revenge. And convoluted narrative elements continue to mount unabated. Entering a legendary illegal race is the choice of vengeance arena. The De Leon rally is hosted by Monarch (Michael Keaton - bringing back his deranged energy, last seen as Bruce Wayne goading the Joker in Vicky Vale’s apartment in Tim Burton’s BATMAN). Going on for years, and live streamed, how has Monarch not been arrested?
There is the possibility of reeling off pages about the things that don’t make sense. FAST & FURIOUS 3, 5 and 6 in the franchise seem to have made the modern carmageddon flick appear easy to fire on all cylinders, while NEED FOR SPEED reminds that bravado, charisma and winsome craziness is never a given even with a talented cast.
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