Need for Speed (film)

Need for Speed is a 2014 American action film directed by Scott Waugh, written by George Gatins and John Gatins and produced by DreamWorks Pictures. Based on the series of video games by Electronic Arts, the film stars Aaron Paul as street racer Tobey Marshall, who sets off to race cross-country, as a way of avenging his friend's death at the hands of a rival racer (Dominic Cooper).

Need for Speed was released by Touchstone Pictures on March 14, 2014, in 3D, IMAX, and conventional theaters. Despite receiving generally negative reviews from critics, the film went on to earn $203.3 million at the worldwide box office.

Plot

Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul) is a former race car driver who owns a Mount Kisco, New York garage which was owned by his late father, where he and his friends service and tune cars. Struggling to make ends meet, he and his crew, consisting of "Little Pete" Coleman, Tobey's protégé, Benny "The Maverick", the team's air recon pilot, Joe Peck, the team's mechanic, and Finn, the team's computer genius, race at night using their modified muscle cars.

After a local racing gathering, Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper), Tobey's former rival and a former Mt. Kisco resident, arrives at his garage with an offer to complete the build of a rare 2011 Ford Shelby GT500KR worked on by the late Carroll Shelby along with Ford. Dino wants Tobey and his crew to complete the project in exchange for 25% of the car's estimated selling price of $2 million. Tobey is at first reluctant, since Dino is his rival and he took his former girlfriend Anita, Pete's older sister, from him. However, due to the mortgage problems over his garage, he accepts the deal.

Upon completion of the project, the Shelby Mustang is put up for auction at a party. At the auction, Tobey and Pete meet Julia (Imogen Poots), an English car broker who agrees to pay $3 million if the car can get anything near to 230 mph (370 km/h), as Tobey claims. The next morning at a nearby track, Tobey drives the Mustang against Dino's objections and achieves 234 mph (377 km/h), which prompts Julia to buy it for 2.7 million. Enraged by Tobey's humiliation and angered by Pete's comments that Tobey is a better driver than him, Dino challenges Tobey and Pete to race his uncle's three Koenigsegg Agera Rs, illegal in the United States because of their powerful engines and capability for high speeds, from his uncle's mansion to a bridge over Interstate 684. If Tobey wins, he gets Dino's 75% of the Mustang deal; if he loses, he gives up his 25%.

The guys agree to the deal and decide to race. They manage to outmatch Dino, as they race through the highway,Tobey takes the lead with Pete behind him and with Dino running last. However, Dino, who actually took the deal to get revenge on Tobey, bumps Pete, causing him to lose control of the car, which eventually rolls over the railing the bridge to the ground below and explodes, killing Pete. Dino escapes by framing Tobey and reporting that they stole his two cars, covering up himself and his own Agera by hiding it to confirm the story, which results in Tobey being sent to prison for car theft and involuntary manslaughter.

Two years later, Tobey is released on parole and he sets out to avenge Pete's death. After Benny meets up with him and drives him back to his garage, now long closed, he contacts the owner of the Mustang and he convinces him to borrow him his car to race it in the De Leon on the condition that Julia is joining him. Tobey and Julia set to enter the De Leon, a winner-take-all race organized by Monarch (Michael Keaton), an anonymous race enthusiast who created it, with the grand prize of taking the the cars of all the other racers who lost. For this, they have to reach San Francisco before the race starts in two days. They also contact Peck, who joins them with his truck, and Benny pilots his Cessna as air support.

Tobey and Julia, along with Peck in his truck, drive to Detroit, where Finn now works as a corporate employee. Engaging a high speed chase with the police, they manage to get Finn to join in, and he goes with Peck while Tobey and Julia evade the police. Using the video footage of the chase and Julia's reasoning about Tobey's innocence, they manage to get an invite from Monarch to the De Leon. However, Dino, learning of Tobey's plan, offers his rare Lamborghini Sesto Elemento to anyone who can prevent Tobey from entering the race, and uploads the pictures of the Elemento and Tobey's Mustang to Monarch's site.

The pair are fueled up by Peck and Finn on the interstate and they drive using country roads to avoid police, eventually reaching Utah. However, while Julia is driving, they are cornered by a group of SUV trucks who are after them to get Dino's prize. They are chased over the desert by them, but Benny appears in a Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King helicopter he stole from the National Guard and tows the Shelby Mustang mid-air to the Bonneville Salt Flats, where Peck and Finn await them. Benny is later arrested by the military for theft of the helicopter.

After crossing the U.S., Tobey and Julia manage to arrive in San Francisco in time to register for the race, but after leaving the hotel where they've registered, Dino's right-hand man attempts to murder the two by ramming the Mustang with a truck which destroys the car and wounds Julia, resulting in her being taken to hospital. Meanwhile, Anita has become aware of Dino's plans after hearing the bet involving the Elemento. She searches his computer and discovers that the Agera R which Dino drove when Pete was killed, exists and is stored in a local warehouse in San Francisco. Anita calls Tobey and they meet up, where she gives him the location of the Agera R as well as the passcode for the warehouse, and also gives him the engagement ring that Dino gave her, and asks him to tell Dino that she is ending her relationship for murdering her brother. With the help of Peck and Finn, Tobey retrieves the Agera R.

The next morning, Tobey arrives at the starting location on the Pacific Coast Highway along with the other competitors, a yellow GTA Spano, a silver Saleen S7 Twin Turbo, a black and orange Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, and a violet McLaren P1. Tobey surprises Dino by not only showing up in the Agera R, but also giving him Anita's ring, revealing to him that Anita knows the truth about Pete's death and that he intends to bring him to justice. Monarch is also surprised by Tobey's arrival and concludes that Julia's testimony to him was correct, since he has the evidence for Pete's true cause of death.

The race starts, covered by Monarch. In the first part of the race, Tobey manages to gain the fourth position, but soon, the California Highway Patrol helicopter notices them and chases them, soon joined in by ground units. The Saleen spins out of the road and crashes into several police cars. As more of the police shows, a police car in the opposite direction jumps over a rail and smashes into the Spano, kicking it out of the race. Another police officer pulls his cruiser in front of the Bugatti, sending it into the ditch in the woods, leaving only Tobey, Dino and the Mclaren driver in the race.

Dino, being in last place, is desperate to win and to also kill Tobey. He T-bones the McLaren, causing it to spin out and crash, leaving only Tobey and Dino in the race. Dino tries to T-bone Tobey as well, but he slams on the brakes and lets Dino take the lead, preventing the attempt. He passes Dino again later on, and when Dino attempts another T-Bone, Tobey slams on the brakes again, causing Dino to flow ahead of him. Confused, Dino swerves and crashes. Tobey, now the only one surviving is sure to win the race. But after seeing Dino's car in flames, he turns back and saves Dino from the wreckage and punches him as a revenge for Pete's death. Tobey drives back and reaches the finish line near the lighthouse and gets arrested. As he sees the lighthouse and the farm, he realizes that the lighthouse is actually Monarch's hideout. Dino was also arrested.

Tobey serves six months in prison for illegal street racing before he is once again released and reunites with Julia in a brand new red 2015 Ford Mustang GT. Peck and Finn contact them from Peck's truck, saying that they have to go back to Utah to pick up Benny from prison, as Benny is being released early for good behavior since he started a fitness program for the rest of the inmates. Tobey takes the driver's seat and the two drive off.

Cast

• Aaron Paul as Tobey Marshall, a blue-collar mechanic from Mount Kisco who is framed for a federal crime he never committed. He was a professional street racer and he is managing his late father's garage.
• Dominic Cooper as Dino Brewster, a former Indy racer and Tobey's fierce rival. He is Anita's fiancee and an owner of a dealership that sells and tunes high-end and exotic cars.
• Imogen Poots as Julia Maddon, a savvy exotic car dealer who connects the wealthy with high-end supercars and Tobey's partner during the trip.
• Scott 'Kid Cudi' Mescudi as Benny 'Maverick', a member of Tobey's crew. He is a pilot, able to fly small airplanes and helicopters, and is often called a liar because the team doesn't believe he can fly a military helicopter. He owns a Cessna plane.
• Ramón Rodríguez as Joe Peck, a member of Tobey's crew. He is the team's professional mechanic, and drives a 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor
• Rami Malek as Finn, a member of Tobey's crew. He serves as the team's computer expert, monitoring cameras to record races.
• Michael Keaton as Monarch, a reclusive and eccentric host of an "underground" supercar race competition, De Leon. He operates from a lighthouse on a small farm where he lives. Even though he is a huge racing enthusiast, he himself cannot drive at high speeds because of a heart problem.
• Dakota Johnson as Anita Coleman, Pete's older sister, Tobey's former girlfriend and Dino's fiancée. She was with Tobey but left him years ago, and then accepted Dino's proposal. She thought that Tobey was responsible for Pete's death and resented him, while Dino, who was really the one who killed him, was comforting her. She left Dino after she found out that he was the one that killed Pete.
• Harrison Gilbertson as Little Pete Coleman, Anita's younger brother and a member of Tobey's crew. He was the team's racer along with Tobey, and Tobey mentored him. He died in a car crash caused by Dino, although everyone believed that Tobey killed him.

Production

In July 2012, DreamWorks Studios was committed to a film based on the Need for Speed series of video games by Electronic Arts, initially with a release date of February 7, 2014, and later March 14, 2014. Brothers George and John Gatins had written a script that was being shopped to studios by April of that year. Taylor Kitsch was offered the lead role in July 2012, though the role eventually went to Aaron Paul that October. Paul had originally auditioned for the role of Dino Brewster, although director Scott Waugh and DreamWorks head Steven Spielberg decided against that and cast him as the lead. The same month, Imogen Poots was cast as the female lead. In January 2013, Dominic Cooper, Kid Cudi, Ramón Rodríguez, Rami Malek and Harrison Gilbertson were cast in the film. Michael Keaton was cast in February 2013.

Principal photography began in Macon, Georgia, in mid-April 2013. Other filming locations include Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, on May 12, 2013, the 13th Street Bridge in Columbus, Georgia, and Campus Martius in Detroit, Michigan, beginning on June 1, 2013. Other production locations include sections of California's Highway 1 north of Point Arena, CA, the Point Arena Lighthouse, and Highway 253 between Booneville, CA and Ukiah, CA; and also Highway 128, between the town of Navarro and the Navarro Bridge linking Highway 128 North to Highway 1 South to Point Arena, California.

For the film's chase sequences, the filmmakers decided against the use of computer-generated imagery, instead employing practical effects, which required the cast to receive extensive driving lessons. For the final race sequences and the car crashes the production unit used propped supercars.

Release

On September 25, 2013, DreamWorks released the film's trailer on iTunes. Disney and DreamWorks announced the film's post-production conversion to 3D on February 5, 2014.

Need for Speed held its world premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre on March 7, 2014. The film was released by Touchstone Pictures on March 14, 2014, in selected 3D, IMAX, and conventional 2D theaters.

Home media

Need for Speed was released by Touchstone Home Entertainment on Blu-ray Disc, DVD and Blu-ray 3D on August 5, 2014.

Reception

Box office

Need for Speed has earned $43,577,636 in North America and $159,700,000 in other countries, as of May 19, 2014, for a worldwide total of $203,277,636. In North America, it topped the box office with $6.7 million on its opening Friday, March 14, 2014. However, the film finished in third place over the three-day weekend (Friday-to-Sunday) with $17.8 million. Outside North America, the film debuted in first place with $45.6 million on the same weekend as its North America release. It remained in first place for a second weekend. Overall, the film's largest territory is China, where both the film's opening weekend ($21.1 million) and its total earnings ($66.2 million) are higher than in North America. Following these two territories in total earnings is Russia and the CIS with $13.8 million.

Critical response

Need for Speed received generally mixed to negative reviews from film critics. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 22% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 154 reviews, with an average score of 4.3 out of 10; the consensus states: "With stock characters and a preposterous plot, this noisily diverting video game adaptation fulfills a Need for Speed and little else." On Metacritic it holds a score of 39 based on 38 reviews, indicating generally unfavorable reviews.

Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, remarking that "Paul has talent, though the actor's idea of simmering intensity in the context of Need for Speed comes off more like serial killer in the making. Cooper, by contrast, seems to be having some fun playing a dashing, dastardly, sexy beast." Philips added, "At its occasional best, the thrills in the film recall the delirious fun of the Fast & Furious franchise." Betsy Sharkey of Los Angeles Times felt similarly, writing "In trying for the vicarious varoom of the street-racing video game that inspired it, and no doubt dreaming of Fast success, Speed clocks in at a long two-plus hours and falls painfully short." Jason Torchinsky of the automotive blog Jalopnik decried the movie for insulting gearheads with its far-reaching suspension of disbelief on many plot points and tropes and stated the film was nothing more than a glorified car commercial for the 2015 Ford Mustang.

A.O. Scott of The New York Times gave a more positive review, praising the film's car chase sequences, while declaring the overall film "an energetic, unpretentious B movie".

West Coast Midnight Run publication's Jon Shiin declared the movie “emotionally softer and more Valentino than Fast and Furious high octane threads.” relative to its main competition.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack, composed by Nathan Furst, was released by Varèse Sarabande on March 14, 2014. Interscope Records released a separate EP on April 8, 2014, which featured four songs; "Fortunate Son" and "Back in the Saddle" by Aloe Blacc, "All Along the Watchtower" by Jamie N Commons, and "Hero" by Kid Cudi and Skylar Grey. Linkin Park's song "Roads Untraveled" from their 2012 album "Living Things" was also featured in the film.

Track listing

All music composed by Nathan Furst.

References

External links

• Official website
• Need for Speed at the Internet Movie Database
• Need for Speed at Box Office Mojo
• Need for Speed at Rotten Tomatoes
• Need for Speed at Metacritic
• Template:Movie Review