Need for Speed - The Movie | March 14, 2014

Yet to find a reviewer who thinks it's a decent movie, I think IGN compared it to Torque. Yes that Torque.
 
Regarding that Jalopnik Review: He seems mad, even offended for no reason.

I kinda disagree that Hollywood thinks "gearheads are idiots" as lets be honest, what Hollywood really thinks, as has been proven with Many video game movies, racing movies and every kind of movie, is that people in general are too dumb to tell the difference (which from experience I've had in the movie theatre and the kinda of people that show up most of the time, I unfortunately kinda can confirm it). People these days have a far shorter attention span and a they simply exercise no kind of curiosity or desire to know better. The exact same can be said in a way for the video game industry.


Anyhow, after seeing the advanced screening, (and being abit behind on sharing my take), here's my casual movie going, mostly spoiler-free thoughts on it in 4 short categories:

Cars: Phenomenal (this being Need For Speed, the car selection shouldn't be a surprise). However, its hit & miss. Its a hit in that there are some nice mix of muscle cars and exotic supercars (including a yellow one I never heard of), but its a miss in that not only can you tell the Koenigseggs are fake, but the jump and the swerves to avoid traffic are abit physics bending. I kinda can forgive this as it more or less falls right in line with the games, which themselves are regularly physics bending. I'll even overlook the stereotypical unlimited upshifts since you can actually hear and see downshifts.

Sounds: Like the cars themselves, hit & miss. In one racing scene, there's only 1 or 2 times where a certain V8 was switched out with another. However in the other, lets just say a certain V10 sounded like a V8 at certain angles.

Visuals: I was surprised to find no CGI in any of the action scenes (even the crashes and the jump, which is impressive and refreshing in a world were most people honestly think CGI trumps storytelling and character development (I'm looking at you, Scyfy channel). I have one huge complaint but if I give too much detail, it spoil the entire scene of the movie so I'll just say this about it: It comes off as weird and awkward as the first person scene in the Doom movie.

Characthers: Can't say I'm too surprised to find some stereotypical character elements (though I'm surprised for once, the one black friend actually had more of a purpose outside of being the typical hype man). While I only have seen bits of Breaking Bad, I am surprised that Aaron Paul's character Tobey Marshall was not this obvious reference of that character from the show as I expected (although he does come off abit as a shoddy attempt to mimic Dom Terreto From Fast & Furious with the low voice). While all the characthers had stereotypical qualities (Crazy friend, loud Black Friend, The "guy you know is about to be killed very soon" Friend and the Toothpick guy and Girl who acts dumb), only real annoyance I found was the bad guy Dino Brewster, who just reeked of the overused "Rich evil snob with cartoonishly evil plans" plot. The only dialogue that annoyed me most was whenever he spoke because it just grated me. Just a weak evil character overall to me and not even a great villain by any means.

Overall, nowhere near as bad as I was expecting it to be. Not spectacular but not actually even close to being the worst thing ever made (which I still believe lies solely with that mistake we refer to as "Redline"). Its actually watchable and the lack of CGI I feel makes it very much worth watching. If you are familiar with the outrageousness of the games, then consider this a kind of weird amalgamation between a few of them (which would be The run, Most wanted and Rivals in my opinion) and possibly see it. You love NFS (somehow still), then I would recommend it. You hate NFS as whole, avoid it as I doubt even Aaron Paul and the car porn in it will change your mind.

That's my take on it. And now the only spoilers I'll give you:

You see all the product commercials featuring this movie? You'll be seeing some of those products very clearly in this movie (including the very end, which obviously is a short commercial in itself).
 
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I imagine they used the real cars where they could for things like static shots - like the scene in Dino's garage when he shows off his Ageras, they're too highly detailed to be replicas.

And the Mustang in the movie is supposed to be a Shelby GT500 one-off.

Wonder if the spoiler tags work.

Did no one post the video from the official site showing them building the replicas and using the real cars as reference points?
 
He didn't seem that angry to me. His beef is that hollywood thinks that us gearheads are all dumb.

I realize that was his issue. The problem I found with was all the outlandish things in the movie were exactly what you get in the recent Need For Speed games (minus the stereotypical rich snob, guy who always mysteriously aquires a helicopter from somewhere or a naked guy, which none of us needs to see) so it comes off as his rage seeming not only over the top (or so that's the impression I get from reading it), but abit misplaced.
 
I am going to be very disappointed if this song isn't played at least once in the movie.




Just going off the trailers, what do you think are the odds that they even at all played anything remotely close to that song?
 
Ive been reading the reviews and i kinda think that most of the negative reviews forgot that this is a video game adaptation movie and are being too rough to the movie. They didnt even compare how close this movie is to the game, which imo the importance on how good a video game movie is. All they talk is about how this movie isnt oscar material, and therefor it sucked.
Ive been comparing the critic reviews with the reviews from the peeps who saw the screening, and i saw most of them enjoyed the movie, maybe because they didnt expect much. It made it seem that the critics are bashing the movie just because its a video game movie.
 
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So it's pretty much "Drive", a short-lived FOX series about a secret, illegal cross-country road race, but with none of the stuff that made "Drive" interesting?
 
So i just saw the movie, and Its not as bad as what the critics said, its very fun. here's a bit of a review.

The cars : sounds amazing, the car choice was great too. Though i have a little trouble seeing a Sesto Elemento can catch up to a Agera R (maybe catch up was turned "on") :P. The classic muscle cars are awesome (loving the 68 Torino so much) and kinda a bit sad that they have little screentime.

Humor : The humor was a little bit meh but there are some scenes that are funny.

The characters : Aaron Paul's and Kid Cudi's acting are great, the rest are decent. Though there is one scene with Aaron Paul and Dakota Johnson that came off a bit awkward to me but overall its good. The characters arent really memorable though, except maybe Benny.

The story : Like some people said, it's generic. The dialogues arent cringe-worthy like the critics said (well, to me at least)

Stunts and Races scenes : Some of the stunt scenes could have been more engaging if the trailers didn't reveal it to us. The classic muscle cars race are decent, a bit disappointing, it started great when all the V8s were revving, its music to ears but then it was regular racing like in NFS Underground.
The super car races, they're really thrilling. The crashes were very brutal. This race scene is the part where it resembles the classic games and the newest Hot Pursuit, Rivals.

The POV scenes : these are my favourite moments in the movie. There's a scene where you get to see whats it like inside a car that is speeding to 230mph and coming up to a turn.

Overall : its a lot better than Redline, Getaway, Torque. Its very different than FnF. Its one of the best racing film imo. Some of the shots reminds me of 60-70s car movies. The way they view the drivers face and everything.
Its one of the video game adaptations that succeeds in adapting the game.

7/10
 
So i just saw the movie, and Its not as bad as what the critics said, its very fun. here's a bit of a review.

The cars : sounds amazing, the car choice was great too. Though i have a little trouble seeing a Sesto Elemento can catch up to a Agera R (maybe catch up was turned "on") :P. The classic muscle cars are awesome (loving the 68 Torino so much) and kinda a bit sad that they have little screentime.

Humor : The humor was a little bit meh but there are some scenes that are funny.

The characters : Aaron Paul's and Kid Cudi's acting are great, the rest are decent. Though there is one scene with Aaron Paul and Dakota Johnson that came off a bit awkward to me but overall its good. The characters arent really memorable though, except maybe Benny.

The story : Like some people said, it's generic. The dialogues arent cringe-worthy like the critics said (well, to me at least)

Stunts and Races scenes : Some of the stunt scenes could have been more engaging if the trailers didn't reveal it to us. The classic muscle cars race are decent, a bit disappointing, it started great when all the V8s were revving, its music to ears but then it was regular racing like in NFS Underground.
The super car races, they're really thrilling. The crashes were very brutal. This race scene is the part where it resembles the classic games and the newest Hot Pursuit, Rivals.

The POV scenes : these are my favourite moments in the movie. There's a scene where you get to see whats it like inside a car that is speeding to 230mph and coming up to a turn.

Overall : its a lot better than Redline, Getaway, Torque. Its very different than FnF. Its one of the best racing film imo. Some of the shots reminds me of 60-70s car movies. The way they view the drivers face and everything.
Its one of the video game adaptations that succeeds in adapting the game.

7/10
The Sesto is pretty quick and is lighter then the Agera R by alot so believable in my eyes (until 150mph anyway) good review and i may watch it sooner rather than later.
 
The Sesto is pretty quick and is lighter then the Agera R by alot so believable in my eyes (until 150mph anyway) good review and i may watch it sooner rather than later.
I didnt know that, guess you learn something new everyday.
Yeah just watch it, dont let the negative reviews fool you. This movie is great, everything feels like its from the game, which i think is the most crucial when adapting a video game to a movie.
 
I didnt know that, guess you learn something new everyday.
Yeah just watch it, dont let the negative reviews fool you. This movie is great, everything feels like its from the game, which i think is the most crucial when adapting a video game to a movie.
Just google it, Hammond drove it last series and has compared it to the 918 in the Mag. Weights the same as a lotus elise and has the gallardo v10 plus many track features.
So many review about it being a had film but its a game to film and in that concept, has done pretty well (and i haven't seen it yet)
 
Just google it, Hammond drove it last series and has compared it to the 918 in the Mag. Weights the same as a lotus elise and has the gallardo v10 plus many track features.
So many review about it being a had film but its a game to film and in that concept, has done pretty well (and i haven't seen it yet)
yeah, when it comes to adapting the game, the movie is perfect. Its the perfect NFS movie imo.
 
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I just got back from seeing this and much like GTboyz, I thought it was great.

Some of the acting was a bit hilarious and OTT (over-the-top), most of the time, it's decent and there were a few jokes that I had a good laugh out of.

Likewise, the car chases are well-executed and the Shift-style driver cam bits were awesome.

I give it a 8/10.
 
I just got back from seeing this and much like GTboyz, I thought it was great.

Some of the acting was a bit hilarious and OTT (over-the-top), most of the time, it's decent and there were a few jokes that I had a good laugh out of.

Likewise, the car chases are well-executed and the Shift-style driver cam bits were awesome.

I give it a 8/10.
Some people said Kid Cudi wasnt funny but i like him. That
bum bum bum part [\SPOILER] was funny lol. Rami Malek was funny too.

I'm pretty sure Malcolm in the Middle led to Breaking Bad which was then followed by the 2014 Need for Speed film :lol:

Im pretty sure its Breaking Bad --> Malcom in the Middle --> NFS
(Remember Walt had gone to witness protection which would end BB and started Malc)

Its a trilogy !!! :D

Btw for those who have seen it, did you guys catch the glimpse of Aaron Paul's "No Half Measure" tattoo ? I caught it and it was awesome. Too bad none of the people in the theater acknowledge that.
 
Went to see the movie yesterday. It was a good attempt but it's no Fast & Furious.

The racing scenes were good and there were some delicious cars despite some of the glaring errors with the hypercars.
 
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