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Need for Speed Blu-ray Review

By Rachel Cericola

The Film

Yeah video games, bitch!

As if you didn't miss Breaking Bad enough, Aaron Paul's first post-outing will have you wanting to shove Jesse Pinkman back into that underground bunker for safe keeping. It's such a waste of this guy's talent. It's a waste of everyone's talents: Dominc Cooper, Imogen Poots, and even Michael Keaton -- who is barely in the movie, by the way.

After all, it's hard to get revved up about a movie inspired by a video game franchise. They seldomly go well and such is the case with Need for Speed. It plays like filler for in between Fast & Furious movies, which would be fine, if it wasn't so far-fetched and didn't have an insanely lengthy 130-minute runtime.

The story focuses on Tobey Marshall (Paul), a former racer turned mechanic, who moonlights as a street racer to pay the bills. However, he could make a quick score off of his old rival, Dino (Cooper). This doesn't actually involve racing -- yet, anyway. Instead, Dino wants Tobey to complete a build on a rare Ford Shelby Mustang. His cut would be $500K. Of course, it can't be a straight-up deal and a convoluted twist results in one death and puts Tobey in jail -- and bent on revenge. Still with me?

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Aaron Paul and Imogen Poots try to rev up the script of "Need for Speed." Photo: DreamWorks/Disney.

It gets more insane from there, but what Need for Speed lacks in believability, it makes up with plenty of pricey, loud cars. This sort of plot may work on a video game, where pressing the X skips the plot and gets you to the racing. Sadly, my Blu-ray player has no X. Instead, you're left with over two hours of hoping that Walter White or at least Saul Goodman pops in to make an appearance.

If after reading this (or any review, for that matter), you still have a Need for Speed, you may want to seek medical attention.

The Picture

It's not very surprising that Need for Speed has an awesome 2.39:1 image. First of all, this is a Disney flick and they almost never disappoint -- at least not when it comes to newer films. Also, this movie is all about sights and sounds, so if you can't deliver on those two things, what are we left? Well, it's certainly not Rebel Without a Cause. Thankfully, the film will rev up your adrenaline and eyeballs with shiny cars, gorgeous scenery, and tons of detail. Facial details, the texture on Dino's leather jacket, stubble and shiny new paint all glisten in this gorgeous piece of eye candy.

The Sound

Disney's release is running on all cylinders -- 7.1, to be exact. The track perfectly matches the imagery with tons of sounds for your surround setup. There are trains, helicopters, sirens, breaking glass and crunching metal. Of course, the most memorable moments come from all of the cars in the film, which whiz through the soundfield with awesome directionality and enough rumble that you'll feel it in your chest. The sound is so glorious, it even gets its own 9-minute featurette in the special features section.

The Extras

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The list of special features is pretty lengthy on paper. However, when you add up everything included with Need for Speed, it comes out to about an hour's worth of extras. That doesn't include the audio commentary, which has director Scott Waugh sitting down with star Aaron Paul. Otherwise, the disc includes nine minutes on the sound in the film, 11 minutes on the locations, 12 minutes on the stunt team, five minutes of deleted scenes, two minutes of outtakes, and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it video game trailer. There's also an appearance by Steven Spielberg (yeah, that Steven Spielberg), who spends his few seconds of "Capturing Speed" to talk up the "authenticity" of the movie -- which leads me to believe that he didn't see the movie. Like, not even the trailer. Oh wait, he's talking about the cars and special effects. Yes, there's no CG here, kids. Impressed? If you are, you'll enjoy the 10 minutes of car talk featured here.

Final Thoughts

Need for Speed delivers demo-worthy audio and video, but if that's all you need, there's probably a million other movies you could watch and actually enjoy the plot, too. It's not the best video game adaptation. It's not even the best Fast & Furious adaptation. Wait, where was I going with this? Nowhere, really -- which is pretty much what this film does. It's too long, too stupid and jumps around so much, it may could induce more seizures than a marathon gaming session. If you would enjoy watching someone else play Need for Speed for over two hours, you may like Need for Speed the movie -- or maybe you should think about getting some fresh air instead.

Product Details

  • Actors: Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Imogen Poots, Ramon Rodriguez, Michael Keaton
  • Director: Scott Waugh
  • Audio/Languages: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (French, Spanish), DVS 2.0 (English)
  • Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
  • Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Rating: PG-13
  • Studio: Disney
  • Blu-ray Disc Release Date: August 5, 2014
  • Run Time: 130 minutes
  • List Price: $39.99
  • Extras:
    • Capturing Speed: Making an Authentic Car Movie
    • Ties That Bind
    • The Circus is in Town
    • Audio Commentary with Director Scott Waugh and Actor Aaron Paul
    • Monarch & Maverick Outtakes
    • Deleted Scenes
    • The Sound of Need For Speed
    • Need For Speed Rival Trailer
    • Digital Copy

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