There were high hopes for Need For Speed, with many predicting that it might become the first genuinely worthwhile video game to movie adaptation in history. With Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul cast as the lead, what could possibly go wrong? Aside from literally doing nothing to separate itself from countless other car movies made in the same vein, Need For Speed forgot to get even the most basic aspect right: ensure, at least, that the car chases are good. Alas, this turgid, overlong, braindead wreck of a movie fails to get pulses racing at all. Throw in a plot so stupid that it'll literally have you laughing to yourself in the aisles, characters with less personality than their video game counterparts, and a pacing that demands you check your watch, and Need For Speed somehow finds itself a less worthy experience than Super Mario Bros. with Bob Hoskins - at least that movie, for all its failings, is a whole lot of camp fun in retrospect. It's genuinely remarkable that a movie called "Need for Speed" came out feeling so lacking in energy. Its one saving grace? Michael Keaton's video DJ.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
