Why I Saw It: Aaron Paul and my massive respect for him. That's it.
Cast: It's remarkable how bad an actor this movie makes Aaron Paul look like. Had I never seen him in Breaking Bad, I'd wonder what the hell he was doing in front of the camera. And that really goes for every actor in this. No one can overcome this dialogue. NO ONE. With Paul in particular, I get the feeling that the screenwriter or director watched Drive once and thought that the only thing that made Ryan Gosling's performance good was that he didn't say much. Every single character is wooden and static as can be.
Plot: A bunch of assholes have vendettas with one another and endanger thousands of innocent bystanders in order to settle their petty squabbles. That's it. Until now, I never really appreciated how much the Fast and Furious movies have to get right. Because, sure, this movie is about fast cars and cool racing scenes, so it doesn't need to be deep, but the level of douchiness of all the characters is off the charts. They laugh at homeless people who's belongings they destroy, cause highway pileups to make a point about their transmission being a little off, shrug off the police who are giving chase to them for valid reasons, and just all around at like bottom of the barrel pieces of shits. Normally, I can ignore some of this, but it is at a level that I simply cannot. There are no protagonists, just people foolish enough to feel guilty on occasion (and normally about the wrong thing).
Elephant in the Room: Is it bad because it is based off a video game? It's true that the nature of what is fun about video games is not that same as what makes a good movie. I expect to see something adapted into a worthwhile film one of these days, but this isn't it. I've never played any of the Need For Speed games but I'm guessing that they rely on joyriding around different locations at fast speeds. That's great, but in a movie, and one with very little plot, it comes off rather badly. It's why we won't be seeing a Grand Theft Auto movie that captures the spirit of the games any time soon.
To Sum Things Up:
Don't see this. Rent a Fast & Furious movie. Go driving down some country roads. Dig your Criss Cross Crash out of the attic. All of these things are more worth it. No one needs to have memories of this when Aaron Paul shows up in something else. The same goes for virtually everyone in this. As much as I disliked Non-Stop a couple weeks ago, I was nowhere near as close to walking out as I was with this.
Verdict (?): Strongly Don't Recommend
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