The last time most people saw Aaron Paul was when he was victoriously driving out of a compound filled with dead white supremacists. Of course if you haven’t seen the smash TV series ‘Breaking Bad’ that will probably mean nothing to you (but I do recommend you watch it!). However, if, like many, you enjoyed the series where Aaron Paul was an integral part, you may realise that him starring in ‘Need For Speed’ isn’t that greater step in his acting career.
He basically plays the same sort of character with a few minor differences. This time he races fast cars, but was deliberately framed for the death of a teammate during a race and sent to jail for five seconds (okay, two years, but his sentence was severely glossed over in film-making terms!). Now he’s out and racing across America for big money stakes (and trying to clear his name while he’s at it).
A lot of people are liking 'Need for Speed' with the ‘Fast and the Furious’ franchise. It has similarities – mainly the car racing and high speed stunts in case you hadn’t already worked that out! But I think there’s room for both, as 'Need For Speed' seems to manage to squeeze enough originality into the genre.
I hear it’s even based on a computer game. I haven’t played the game, but I’m guessing this movie adaptation is a damn sight better than 'Streetfighter' or 'Super Mario Bros,' simply because I'm guessing there isn't much 'source material' in the racing game that can be 'misinterpreted' and annoy fans.
If you’re a fan of the 'Fast and the Furious-type' movies and/or Aaron Paul in general, you should enjoy this. Imogen Poots is the obligatory love interest and she gets better as the film goes on. At first she seems a bit like a fish out of water (or a posh British girl trying to pass herself off as an American street racer), but, once she drops the ridiculous sunglasses, she settles into her role a little more.
Don’t dwell on some of the slight plot holes (like how Aaron Paul’s best friend seems to be able to conjure up a new aircraft to get him out of danger every time), just enjoy the high-octane jousts on the road with a bag of popcorn.
It's definitely watchable, although you can probably just have it on in the background and dip in and out of it as you play with your phone. The second time I watched it I realised that I'd completely forgotten half of it. Michael Keaton is even in it (a bit!) and I hadn't remembered that (just like I hadn't remembered quite how long it was - maybe the two hour run-time could have been trimmed down a little in hindsight).
7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that
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