Need For Speed (2014/DreamWorks/Touchstone Blu-ray)

Picture: B Sound: B+ Extras: B Film: C

Need For Speed was a landmark video game and was the first real time that you can get behind the wheel of a fantasy sportscar and excel to 240-mph and lose your tracking on sharp turns. While watching this feature film version, its easy to think of the videogame that came before it but in a sense, it captures the feel of the game without making it too obvious. The problems with the film are obvious - it's a paint by numbers Hollywood screenplay, it has only two good actors (Aaron Paul and Michael Keaton, the latter in a great cameo) and a supporting cast of pretty faces with no chops., and finally it has a sense of seen it/ done it before. It actually makes The Fast and the Furious movies look good if that tells you something.

It stars Aaron Paul as 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 who also happened to steal his girl and his money. Marshall is a former race car driver who owns a Mount Kisco, New York garage, where he and his lame friends (even the token black guy) tune performance cars. Struggling to make ends meet, he and his crew participate in street races after hours where somehow no cops are alerted to their presences during these high speed chases. One day, Dino Brewster, Tobey's former rival, arrives at his garage in a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren with Tobey's hot ex-girlfriend and an offer to complete the build of a rare Ford Shelby Mustang worked on by the late, great Carroll Shelby. Dino wants Tobey and his crew to complete the project in exchange for twenty five percent of the car's estimated selling price of $2 million. Despite objections from the crew, Tobey agrees to the deal.

Upon completion of the project, the Shelby Mustang is put up for auction at a party. Tobey and Dino meet Julia, an Englishwoman who agrees to pay $3 million if the car can go over 230 mph, as Tobey claims. The next morning at a nearby track, Tobey gets the Mustang to reach 234 mph, prompting Julia to purchase it for $2.7 million. Later, Dino challenges Tobey and his partner Little Pete, a.k.a. Little Buddy, to race his uncle's three Koenigsegg Agera R's from his mansion to a bridge over Interstate 684.[5] If Tobey wins, he gets Dino's 75% of the Mustang deal; if he loses, he gives up his 25%. During the race, Dino tags Little Pete's car, sending it to flip down a ravine while bursting into flames. Dino disappears from the scene, and Tobey is sent to jail for involuntary manslaughter, as there is no evidence pointing to Dino's involvement.

Two years later, Tobey is released on parole and he sets out to avenge Little Pete's death. He is able to borrow the Shelby Mustang he had worked on from Julia. Tobey and Julia set to enter the De Leon, a winner-take-all race organized by local DJ Monarch; for this, they have to reach San Francisco before the race starts in two days. You can guess where it goes from here.

The picture and sound on the disc are fine though boasting a 1080p high definition transfer in a 2.35 X 1 presentation and lossless DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio track that's impressive. There's also an English DVS lossy 2.0 Dolby track, and French and Spanish 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.

Extras are plentiful including Capturing Speed: Making an Authentic Car Chase, Ties That Bine about the stunt team, The Circus is in Town, Audio Commentary, Monarch and Maverick Outtakes, The Sound of Need For Speed, Deleted Scenes, and a Need For Speed Rivals Trailer.

- James Harland Lockhart V

www.vimeo.com/jamielockhart