Need for Speed (film)

Need for Speed is a 2014 sports action thriller film directed and co-edited by Scott Waugh and written by George and John Gatins. It is the film adaptation of the racing video game franchise of the same name by Electronic Arts. The film stars Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Imogen Poots, Scott Mescudi, Ramón Rodríguez, Rami Malek, and Michael Keaton. It tells the story of 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, Dino Brewster.

Need for Speed was released by Touchstone Pictures on March 14, 2014, in 3D, IMAX 3D, and conventional theaters. The film received a negative critical reception and grossed $203 million worldwide.

Plot
Tobey is a former race car driver who owns his late father's garage, Marshall Performance Motors, in Mount Kisco, New York where he and his friends tune performance cars. Struggling to make ends meet, he and his crew participate in street races after hours. After a race, Tobey's former rival Dino Brewster conscripts them into completing the build of a rare Ford Shelby Mustang worked on by the late Carroll Shelby, in exchange for 25% of the car's selling price. The completed Mustang is displayed for auction at a party in New York City. Tobey and Dino meet Julia, an English car broker whose client, Bill Ingram, wants to purchase the car if they can prove it will drive over 230 mph as Tobey claims. Despite Dino's objections, Tobey takes the Mustang to a local race track and successfully drives it at 234 mph, convincing Ingram to purchase it for $2.7 million.

Dino, enraged that Tobey disobeyed his order, challenges Tobey and his friend Pete to a race after Pete flatly tells Dino that everyone knows Tobey is a better driver than him. Dino offers to relinquish his entire share of the Mustang sale if Tobey wins, otherwise Tobey will have to forfeit his share. He challenges them to race with his uncle's three illegally imported European Koenigsegg Agera cars. On the home stretch, Dino, realizing he will lose, intentionally bumps Pete's car, sending it down a ravine and killing Pete when it bursts into flames. Dino disappears from the scene, and Tobey serves two years in jail for involuntary manslaughter, unable to prove that Dino was there.

Upon his release on parole, Tobey sets out to avenge Pete's death. He borrows Ingram's Mustang to enter the De Leon, a winner-takes-all supercar race organized by the mysterious Monarch. As a condition, Ingram requires Julia to accompany Tobey while Tobey is driving the Mustang. The pair have to reach San Francisco before the race starts in 45 hours. In Detroit, they cause an interstate chase with the Michigan State Police and upload the footage, leading Monarch to offer the invitation for the De Leon. Dino offers his rare Lamborghini Sesto Elemento to anyone who can stop Tobey from entering the race, causing a group of truckers to go after the Mustang as well.

The truckers ambush Tobey and Julia in Utah, forcing them off the road. Maverick, a member of Tobey's crew, appears in a US Army helicopter stolen from the National Guard, and carries the Mustang mid-air to Tobey's crew at the Bonneville Salt Flats, getting himself arrested in the process. Tobey and Julia reach San Francisco's Mark Hopkins Hotel in time to register for the race, but on Nob Hill, a tow truck smashes into the Mustang, injuring Julia and leaving Tobey without a car for the race. Desperate, Tobey meets Dino's fiancé Anita, his ex-girlfriend and Pete's sister. Having discovered Dino's involvement in Pete's death, Anita gives Tobey the location of Dino's hidden Koenigsegg, which Tobey and crew member Joe extract. Tobey meets Julia at a San Francisco hospital, and confesses his feelings for her with a kiss, letting her know that he has a "fast" car, and that this is for Pete.

The next morning, Tobey surprises Dino by showing up in the Koenigsegg and giving him Anita's engagement ring, informing him that she is through with him. The race begins, with the California Highway Patrol in hot pursuit. One-by-one the cars either crash by their own means or forced off of the road by the pursuing police. Nearing the finish line, Toby and Dino are side-by-side along the Pacific Highway. Coming up to a corner, Dino misjudges an attempt to ram Tobey - much in the same manner as he did to Pete. He crashes and rolls as his Sesto catches fire. Tobey sees the finish line ahead, but turns around to pull Dino from the flames. He takes off just as the police arrive. They follow him to the finish line, and block him in. Both he and Dino are arrested. Dino is jailed for the death of Pete.

178 days later, Tobey is released and Julia meets him at the prison gates in a 2015 Ford Mustang. The couple has five hours to reach a prison in Utah, where Maverick is getting released early for good behavior.

Cast

 * Aaron Paul as Tobey Marshall: a blue-collar mechanic and skilled former race car driver from Mount Kisco, New York who is framed for a federal crime he didn't commit.
 * Dominic Cooper as Dino Bambino: a former Indy racer and Tobey's fierce rival.
 * Imogen Poots as Julia Maddon: a savvy exotic car broker, who becomes Tobey's love interest.
 * Scott Mescudi as Benny "Maverick" Jackson: a member of Tobey's crew. He is a pilot, able to fly small airplanes and helicopters, and is often called "Liar One" because fellow crew members don't believe he can fly a military helicopter, which he later proves. He owns a Cessna.
 * Ramon Rodriguez as Joe Peck: a member of Tobey's crew. He is the crew's professional mechanic, and drives a modified 2011 Ford F-450 called "The Beast".
 * Rami Malek as Finn: a member of Tobey's crew. He serves as the crew'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.
 * Dakota Johnson as Anita Coleman: Pete's older sister, Tobey's former girlfriend and Dino's fiancée.
 * Harrison Gilbertson as Pete Coleman: Anita's younger brother and Tobey's protégé and friend.

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 shipped 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, Scott Mescudi, 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 Phenix City, Alabama, 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, California, the Point Arena Lighthouse, and Highway 253 between Boonville, California and Ukiah, California; 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. All of the exotic cars seen in the film (with the exception of the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 roadster) were kit car replicas.

 

Release
On September 25, 2013, a trailer for the film was released 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 Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through the Touchstone Pictures banner on March 14, 2014, in selected 3D, IMAX, and conventional 2D theaters. It was also released worldwide by Disney, except for territories in Europe, Africa and Middle East, where the rights are sold by Mister Smith Entertainment to other industries. Reliance Entertainment had released the film in India, while Entertainment One Films released it in the United Kingdom.

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

Box office
Need for Speed 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
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 22% based on 180 reviews and an average rating of 4.34/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With stock characters and a preposterous plot, this noisily diverting video game adaptation fulfills a Need for Speed and little else." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 39 out of 100 based on 38 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

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." Phillips 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.

Danny Korecki of automotive outlet The Drive discussed the thought that the Need for Speed film could have been better had it been a TV series.

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".

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. Score performed by a 77-piece The Angel City Studio Orchestra: 60-piece string orchestra conducted by Tim Davis and 17 musicians on brass section consists 8 French horns, 3 trumpets, 5 trombones and 1 tuba conducted by Suise Benchasil Seiter.

Sequel
China Movie Channel, Jiaflix Enterprises and 1905 Pictures are teaming up with EA Games to develop a sequel with the film to be set and shot in China.