Hot cars, hot women and hotheads cut loose in Need for Speed an action packed film that will make your head spin. It’s a little of Smokey and the Bandit, a measure of Fast and Furious and a lot of Cannonball Run, and that’s a good thing.  Much like those films, Need for Speed hooks its audience from the very beginning with exciting street racing, an interesting back story and embraceable characters.  Now on Blu-ray and DVD the movie plays well on your home TV, especially if it’s HD and Widescreen.  Slow down the action so you can see every detail or reverse to see what you may have missed.

The following day after winning a street race, Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul) gets a visit at his family owned garage by ex-NASCAR driver Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper).  The two never got along since forever, competing in go-carts to high powered cars. Tobey’s one of the top mechanics and drivers in high powered road racing and loves to street race. He uses his winnings to keep him and his crew in business.  Low on funds to keep his garage going he accepts a job from Dino to build the fastest Mustang in the world for 25 percent of the profits.

Aaron Paul as Tobey in NEED FOR SPEED

Brewster sells the car after a demonstration and the owner tells Tobey to deliver it with broker Julia Maddon (Imogen Poots) to his estate. Letting pride and monetary needs cloud his senses Tobey makes a winner-take-all bet with Brewster in a street race and ends up getting jail time for an accidental death. Two years later Tobey gets out of the clink and right back onto the same track that got him there. With the biggest money making illegal race the De Leon coming up, Tobey goes all out to get a slot, win the race and get retribution for Brewster’s dirty deeds.

Imogen Poots as Julia and Aaron Paul as Tobey

The movie moves along at a fast pace from race to race, each one as thrilling as the next.  Director Scott Waugh (Spider Man, Act of Valor) makes his film very exciting much like those in the Fast and Furious franchise.  Taking a script by George and John Gatins (Flight, Real Steel) that swipes from some of the best car films ever, Waugh holds nothing back. He puts together a very good cast that has a lot of chemistry together, adds excellent cinematography of the street car races, and brings to life an explosive story.

Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad”) gives a top notch performance as the wrongly convicted ex-con trying to come up for air from being framed.  He’s determined to get back at those who ground him into the dirt and knows he can find a way with a little luck, a little love and a lot of car.  Paul puts on a realistic show driving in some very tricky scenes that create a lot of thrills on the big screen.  He also has very good chemistry with Imogin Poots who plays his partner in getting the very expensive Mustang cross country to San Francisco for the De Leon race.  You can see their impulsive relationship grow as the two get in and out of some close scrapes.

The video and audio quality is extremely good played on a HD 16×9 TV with adequate speakers.  If you have a ramped up sound system, let the base fly and the roar of the engines will blow the walls off.  The close-ups and wide shots are amazing and when Toby takes his Mustang to “new heights”, it’s downright ridiculous.

The Mustang takes flight in NEED FOR SPEED

Bonus features that accompany the Blu-ray disc are quite good and add extra entertainment and knowledge of how the film was made.

BONUS FEATURES

• “Audio Commentary” Optional making of the film with both Director Scott Waugh and actor Aaron Paul as they talk about the film as you play it on your home TV.
• “Capturing Speed: Making an Authentic Car Movie” features a close-up look at all the car stunts and action.  The cameras roll on some awesome high flying action using skilled stunt drivers.
• “Ties That Bind” shows how the amazing “grass hopper” stunt was done. Watch this only after you’ve seen the film.
• “The Circus is in Town” locations and road video show how Director Scott Waugh filmed the movie in California then took it on the road to Georgia.
• “Monarch & Maverick Outtakes” is a comical look at Michael Keaton and Scott Mescudi improvising on camera.
• “The Sound of Need for Speed” getting just the right sound to provide the energy for the film.
• “Deleted Scenes”

Need for Speed has been rated PG-13 for sequences of reckless street racing, disturbing crash scenes, nudity and crude language.

FINAL ANALYSIS: A very exciting film that explodes on your home screen. (B)

Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Imogen Poots, Ramon Rodriguez, Rami Malek,
Scott Mescudi, Dakota Johnson, Harrison Gilbertson and Michael Keaton
Directed by:  Scott Waugh
Genre: Action, Drama, Car Street Racing
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of reckless street racing, disturbing crash scenes, nudity and crude language
Running Time: 2 hrs 10 min
Video Release Date:
Original Film Release Date: March 14, 2014
Language: English
Format: Released in Blu-ray/DVD, Reviewed Blu-ray
Audio: DTS-HD MasterAudio 7.1
Video:  Blu-ray- 1080p Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.38:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: Buena Vista Home Entertainment