Need for Speed (8/5/2014)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of reckless street racing, disturbing crash scenes, nudity and crude language.

Starring Aaron Paul, Dakota Johnson, Dominic Cooper, Imogen Poots and Michael Keaton

Directed by Scott Waugh (Act of Valor)

I know the “book is usually better than the movie”, well in this case, the video game is better.

Based on the most successful racing video game franchise ever with over 140 million copies sold, DreamWorks Pictures’ Need for Speed captures the thrills of the game in a real-world setting. An exciting return to the great car-culture films of the 1960s and ’70s, when authenticity brought a new level of intensity to the action, Need for Speed taps into what makes the American myth of the open road so enticing. The story chronicles a near-impossible cross-country race against time-one that begins as a mission for revenge, but proves to be one of redemption. In a last attempt to save his struggling garage, blue-collar mechanic Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul)-who with his team skillfully builds and races muscle cars on the side-reluctantly partners with wealthy, arrogant ex-NASCAR driver Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper). Just as a major sale to car broker Julia Bonet (Imogen Poots) looks like it will save the business, a disastrous, unsanctioned race results in Dino framing Tobey for manslaughter.

If you’re standing in front of Redbox and Need for Speed scrolls by, you may think about it, you may even select it, but before you actually rent it, I would ask you to pause one moment and reconsider.

You may be enticed by Aaron Paul on the cover. I know he was fantastic in Breaking Bad, but this isn’t a multi-layered story about a drug dealer and a school teacher. This is a movie based on a video game that has some cool cars…but no people. Director Scott Waugh and writers George and John Gatins try to give us a story, but it is so paper thin it’s embarrassing to even call it a plot.

Speaking of director Waugh, he tries every cliché in the book…and not a single one works. The car cams, the revving engine sound effects (I literally had a headache within the first ten minutes), the slow motion rollovers and the cars exploding for no real reason. But when he tries to be original, it’s even worse.

There are so many bad scenes; I just don’t have the time to list them all. But some of my favorites include: 1) the race contestants don’t race for money, they race for the losing cars. Unfortunately, only one car crosses the finish line – the rest are burning piles of wreckage. 2) Then there’s Benny. He’s a member of the crew who is a pilot who spends most of the film in the air telling Tobey if the roads are clear. That may not sound bad, but we never are told where he gets his planes or how he manages to pay for the fuel…well except for the two helicopters he “borrows.” One is a local news station traffic copter and the other is a military helicopter, which of course lands him in the brig. 3) While Benny is in the brig, he asks one of the correctional officers to borrow an iPad so that he can watch an ILLEGAL race. But because she finds him cute, she agrees to hold the iPad for an extended period of time while he and the other prisoners watch an ILLEGAL race from his cell. But don’t worry, he gets out of military prison after just a few months because he was able to put together an exercise program for the inmates.

I don’t usually pay much attention to the score of films, but the music in this movie is so irritating that it rivaled the constant revving of the engines.

It’s been a while since I watched a movie where the end credits couldn’t come fast enough. This film is a “Coaster.”

SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
There’s a scene where a guy strips off his clothes when he quits his job. As far as profanity, there are around 10 S-words and a handful of other mild obscenities.

Every car crash in the film is intense and/or disturbing and the drivers never wear helmets and rarely wear seatbelts.

CONVERSATION STARTER:

1. How would you describe the police officers in this film?


2. Why do you think they’re portrayed as so incompetent?


3. Read Romans 13:1-5 (NLT)
   
   Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.

   So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished.

   For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you.

   The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong.

   So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.

   
   According to this passage, why is it important for us to obey authority?