Need for Speed

Fast cars, high-octane police chases and plenty of eye-opening crashes.
It is those three components that have made Need for Speed one of the most successful video game series in history. The premise is simple: buy or select some serious fast and classy cars (Lamborghinis, Koenigseggs, Ferraris, etc.), drive at ridiculous speeds either through traffic or on one of a wide selection of areas, and escape from the police who give chase.
I remember playing Hot Pursuit on PlayStation over 10 years ago and becoming addicted almost straight away. The video game was an entrance to alternate reality where you could do whatever you wanted, all the while attempting to finish first (I'm a little competitive).
Since then I have played or owned quite a few of the NFS series, so when the film was announced I was a little bit eager to see how it was adapted, with fears of it becoming just another chapter of the highly successful Fast and the Furious.
Unfortunately, it was the latter.
Following six chapters of the Fast and the Furious franchise, there is not overly too much else the "driving cars particularly fast and evading the capture of police" genre can do.
And while NFS did do something slightly different, and the plot was strong enough to carry the film while providing plenty of comic relief, it still suffered from the limited breadth of the genre.
Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) plays Tobey Marshall, a former race car driver who runs a garage specialising in tuning performance cars. Marshall and his friends are struggling financially, so they street race at night to earn a little more cash.
One day Marshall's former rival Dino (Dominic Cooper) rocks up to the garage with a Shelby Mustang. Not just any Shelby Mustang though: the one Carroll Shelby was working on before his death. A deal is made between the parties which would see Marshall and his friends take 25% of the $2million price tag if they are successful with the car.
Marshall, at the behest of Englishwoman Julia Maddon (Imogen Poots), gets the Mustang to clock 234mph, which ups the price to $2.7 million. Dino, enraged Marshall drove the car, challenges Marshall and his partner Little Pete Coleman (Harrison Gilbertson, who resembles a One Direction member) to race his father's three illegally imported Koenigsegg Ageras from his mansion to a bridge over the interstate, with the winner set to claim the full amount of others' share of the deal.
During the race, Dino tags Little Pete's car, triggering a spectacularly fiery crash that sends it down a ravine before it bursts into flames. Dino takes off while Marshall, who was leading the race, stops and turns back to help his friend. Marshall eventually does time for involuntary manslaughter, while Dino gets away with his dastardly crime due to no evidence.
This sets up the rest of the film, with Marshall's thirst for revenge fuelling his cross-country adventure to bring Dino to justice in a style that brings up memories of 1977 classic Smokey and the Bandit.
I am a fan of fast cars and stunts on the big screen so it wasn't too bad for me, while the comic input of Marshall's friends/crew Maverick (Scott Mescudi), Joe (Ramon Rodriguez), and the utterly outrageous Finn (Rami Malek), who delivers the funniest scene of the film when he quits his job to join the crew, kept the ball rolling well.
The chemistry between Paul and Poots is well alive on screen, but the scope of their roles is limited I don't think it brought out their best, though Poots was quite good throughout. I tend to agree with the Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips who said Paul's idea of intensity in the context of Need for Speed "comes off more like serial killer in the making". Cooper puts in the best performance on anyone in the film, living up to, having fun with, and simply nailing the brash, daring Dino.

Need for Speed will not win any Academy Awards but it is a whole lot of fun worth watching on the big screen. Little Pete's crash during the race between the three Koenigseggs is one of the best I've seen in film (it's also used in the trailer), while the De Leon, an invite-only street race run by Monarch (a hilarious Michael Keaton), is an exciting finish to the film that will have viewers and gamers alike reaching for the controller.