Need For Speed - Is it worth your hard earned Hamiltons?

"mattoverdrive" (mattoverdrive) 02/20/2014 at 08:00 • Filed to: None

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I would say that, so far, I have had at least two epiphanies about life. The first one is "if you always expect the worst, you'll never be disappointed". The second is "small dogs make the best cats." That second epiphany isn't necessarily applicable in this instance.

Last night I had the opportunity to view an advanced screening of the Need For Speed movie, and I figured "what the heck, I've got two hours to waste on a Wedneday evening." And even better yet, the tickets were free. I had nothing to lose but my time, which I probably would have spent on youtube anyways. However, if you didn't get to see the movie for free, you might be wondering if this movie is worth you time and money. Is it an entertaining way to spend 10 to 20 bucks and a couple of hours? Or is it just a cheap Fast and Furious clone?

So what did I expect from the Need For Speed movie? As was stated earlier I have a tendency to expect the worst. As we waited for the movie to begin, behind the scenes clips and dubstep were in rotation. It would seem that my expectations were becoming validated. Earlier in the evening I lamented the fact that I left my flask at home.

However, there were a few interesting tidbits that I picked up from the behind the scenes footage. The first, the exotic cars were reproductions. This is not particularly surprising, and most of the cars looked legit, but the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento looked like the Volvo that some dude spent $15K turning into a Lambo. The second interesting point was that there was a strong emphasis on stunt driving, including footage of Aaron Paul at a driving school. The third was the claim that there was no CGI in the movie. I doubt the claim that there is no CGI in the movie, but I do believe that there wasn't CGI, or at least very little, in relation to the stunt driving.

If there is a silver lining to constantly expecting the worst, it is that every once in a while you're pleasantly surprised. All in all, I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie. My expectations were met with pleasant surprises.

The first big surprise was how much I liked the characters, save one who I thought was pretty annoying. The characters seemed to be well written and the actors were able to portray them with a good camaraderie. Unlike some of the characters in the Fast and Furious movies that you couldn't care less about (I'm looking at you guy who had the "get lost pizza boy" line, and never showed up in any of the other movies), I found that over the course of the movie I had a vested interest in the characters and I wanted to see how there story unfolded.

The second surprise is that there wasn't many automotive inaccuracies. In fact very little was mentioned about the specific vehicles beyond the make and model. The biggest grievance I found was when the movie stated that the Sesto Elemento was one of only three cars produced. In actuality Lamborghini announced plans to produce 20 Sesto Elementos. I suspect the writes confused the Sesto Elemento with the Veneno (of which only three were produced, even though there's actually four). All in all, that's a pretty petty point to nit pick.

Even though there were a few automotive inaccuracies, this movie is chock full of automotive improbabilities. But really, aren't all car movies? Part of the reason these movies exist is to make super-heros out of our favorite characters, the cars. If not we'd all be lining up to see "The Longest Commute: The Toyota Camry Story". In this movie, cars do things that cars most likely would not be able to do. And you know what, I'm fine with that. Even the most implausible scenarios in this movie are more realistic than the crappy bridge jump from "2 Fast 2 Furious", or the car carrier jump from "Gone in 60 Seconds", or the floorboard falling of the Eclipse and the NO2 explosion in "The Fast and The Furious".

The next surprise was the filmography. The way the races, police chases and crashes are filmed really draw you into the action. In the behind the scenes footage, the director said that he wanted to film the scenes so that audience could draw comparisons to Need For Speed gameplay by drawing them into the action. Admittedly, I haven't played a lot of Need For Speed, but I feel like he succeeded. We see movies, because we want to believe the unbelievable. Even though there are improbable scenarios presented, they don't seem that way. No matter how unrealistic the scene, in the moment they seem plausible.

Is this a good movie? Not really, but most car movies aren't really "good movies". Whether it be semi-serious films like Gone in 60 Seconds and the Fast and Furious franchise, or more comedic films like Smokey and the Bandit, Cannonball Run or Speedzone, you can guarantee that a car movie won't be getting critical acclaim or a nomination from "the Academy". Shoot, besides the rad chase scene through San Francisco, does anybody know what Bullit is about?

Is "Need For Speed" an enjoyable movie? HELL YES! I loved every minute of it. For a movie based on a video game that has no real story or object besides "race cars/run from cops", this smashed my expectations. Sure, parts of it are juvenile and sophomoric, but cars movies are supposed to be.

When compared to other car movies, Need For Speed can definitely hold it's own. Many people, including myself, may have worried that this movie was going to be a second-rate Fast and Furious. In actuallity, Need For Speed is very different from the Fast and Furious movies, and not once did I think the film makers were trying to copy those films. In all honesty, I'd have to say that Need For Speed feel more like Smokey and the Bandit with a serious and modern twist.

You'll have to decide if this movie is worth you're time and money, but I can almost guarantee that I'll be seeing this movie again.

TLDR: ME LIKE MOVIE! MOVIE MAKE ME HAPPY! YOU SEE MOVIE! MOVIE MAKE YOU HAPPY!

SRSvictor > mattoverdrive 02/20/2014 at 08:07

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No,not worth it.I'm probably gonna wait for it to be released on Blu Ray and then I MIGHT torrent it but in my opinion NFS is now cheap and shitty.I miss those old great NFS's like 2SE,Porsche(THE BEST!),HP2,the underground series,the 1st most wanted and pro street.The last great NFS was Shift in 2009.I've tried all the most recent ones and they're all SHIT,just horrible,lacking in realism and boring.My 1st game was NFS III hot pursuit in 2001(great times,I'm shedding a tear right now) and it was awesome,but in my opinion we've lost NFS,it's now ruined,gone are the good times.

feather-throttle-not-hair > mattoverdrive 02/20/2014 at 08:13

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Wow, seriously? I'm sorry I couldn't get past your first paragraph.

Small dogs are like incredibly loud and shrill cats that have lost 90 percent if their athleticism. Cats can run and jump without looking pathetic. They're also way softer and generally exude an aura of "I wouldn't die in nature within the first hour I was set free, if it came down to that."

Don't get me wrong, I like a good dog, they have plenty of redeeming attributes, but these attributes I'm referring to are minimized when the dog is too small. It's not really a loyal protector and friend because you have to do everything for it. Plus, and I can't emphasis this enough, they make the single worst noise to ever come from a commonly owned animal. Instead of being a friend who is cool, you get a friend that sucks.

Bear in mind I'm not saying any small dog you might own sucks, just that he or she would probably be way cooler if it were about twice the size.

sp1nz1 > feather-throttle-not-hair 02/20/2014 at 08:23

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Can't tell if serious... but I'll give you a polite haha if you were joking. In defense of this reaction, I may need more coffee.

feather-throttle-not-hair > sp1nz1 02/20/2014 at 08:27

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I mean, yes I'm serious, as in those are my actual thoughts. But my post probably indicates that I care way more about the subject than I actually do. In reality, I barely give a shit how big a dog might be.

mattoverdrive > feather-throttle-not-hair 02/20/2014 at 08:47

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Yes, and when you die alone in your apartment with your 19 cats, rest assured that their survivors instinct will allow them feast on your rotting corpse.

I can see where you would assume that I have a small dog, but I do not. I prefer large dogs over small dogs. The epiphany stems in the fact that I think cats suck, and in every scenario I can think of where one would have a cat as a pet a small dog would be a better choice. Dogs form bonds with there owners, where as cats view the owners as providers of sustenance.

It's really encouraging to think that you were unwilling to read past the first paragraph of an article that I spent two hours writing last night, because you decided to focus on one sentence that has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the article.

mattoverdrive > SRSvictor 02/20/2014 at 08:54

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I haven't played a lot of the games, but I can understand your reaction based upon the direction that the game franchise has gone. Being that I haven't really played the games I didn't have a parallel to draw between them and the movie. As far as a movie goes I enjoyed it.

Krieger (@FSKrieger22) > SRSvictor 02/20/2014 at 09:07

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Um... NFS was never really about realism. It was always about having cathartic fun with cars you had and have really long odds of affording. Except a good deal of the starter cars in the Underground series, that is.

Krieger (@FSKrieger22) > mattoverdrive 02/20/2014 at 09:10

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So they did manage to pull off that "tribute to Smokey and the Bandit" they mentioned a while ago. I remember them knowing that it was going to be a B movie and running with it as well.

Well, as a longtime NFS fan, glad to know this has sort of averted the trend of video game movies sucking. Now... when can I get the Hot Wheels version of that Mustang, not actually 900HP be damned...

mattoverdrive > Krieger (@FSKrieger22) 02/20/2014 at 09:40

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I would say that they did. For a long time I've been thinking that there needs to be a modern Smokey and the Bandit movie, but I couldn't imagine how it could be successfully rebooted.

The movie had a Smokey and the Bandit vibe, but it didn't rip off the story.

SRSvictor > Krieger (@FSKrieger22) 02/20/2014 at 10:16

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Yes,maybe I'm influenced by the fact that i've grown up with those games,but still,each time I play a game like underground 2 i have fun whereas each time I play NFS The Run or Nitro i get bored and delete the game soon after.I can't customize my cars and the handling is just horrible.Drifting at 150mph in any car is just too unreal for me to accept.

oldestyoungn > SRSvictor 02/20/2014 at 10:39

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The 2010 Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is pretty good. No story to obstruct the gameplay. Also if you had it on X-Box or PS3 it had some rad DLC cars.

Yeah, I know it was arcade style racing, but it still was pretty good. Smooth corners may be cool, but NFS:HP lets you take turns sideways incredibly easy.

oldestyoungn > Krieger (@FSKrieger22) 02/20/2014 at 10:39

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I think some of the older ones were semi realism.

oldestyoungn > SRSvictor 02/20/2014 at 10:42

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Sorry for another reply buuuut...

Did you ever play Need for Speed Carbon?

When I was 13 and 14 this is where all my time went. I had multiple profiles with the game *almost* completed. (That boss guy sucked on the final stage.) I made some of the most ridiculous ricer cars along with quite a few classy/tasteful ones.

Oh and it was Wii and had graphics almost as good as the other versions. That Wii remote with a steering wheel was epic.

feather-throttle-not-hair > mattoverdrive 02/20/2014 at 12:23

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I think cat's suck

Well see there's your problem. I'd argue this makes you unqualified to talk about what is or isn't better than a cat, since in your eyes anything that's at least neutral to good would be better than a cat.

Stale gram cracker? Better than a cat. Iron man lunchbox with a broken handle that's duct taped so it still works? Better than a cat. Fast and furious? Possibly better than a cat.

But if you like cats and you like dogs, I think it's generally pretty hard to prefer the yippers over the meowers. You even implied yourself that you like large dogs better. As they get smaller, you like them less and less, but they're never going to be so bad that you like them less than cats, because you think cats suck.

A big part of the problem for me is that we spent what? Decades? Millions of man hours? Several people's life works? All just to breed smaller dogs. This to me is a tragedy when those people could've spent their lives on something actually useful. Because as an inhabitant of this world I can't help but notice that it is completely and totally absent tiny bears. Had any of those tiny dog making breeders thought of this, i'm sure they'd agree that creating tiny domesticated bears would be a much better usage of their time. Think about it. A tiny bear would still be normal dog sized and dare i say it...cuter than the average dog. Plus they'd attack stuff and try to push over little tiny saplings. It's just an utter tragedy in my mind that these dont exist.

Anyway I read your article, it was pretty good and quite helpful. I just had to stop after the first paragraph and write a totally ridiculous, yet far too long rant about dogs and cats, as the thought "why would anyone have a tiny dog when they could have a cat" has passed through my mind many many many times. Pretty much every time i see a small dog. Which is a lot, because my friend owns one and i pretty much hate going to his house because of it. God what a fucking piece of shit that dog is.

I have provided you some tiny bear mock ups caught on film, i'm sure you'll agree with me they beat the fuck out of some dachshund/chihuahua hybrid.

Now you just think about that the next time you starting thinking "maybe small dog's aren't so bad" Because it's attitudes like that that keep us from having nice things.

feather-throttle-not-hair > Krieger (@FSKrieger22) 02/20/2014 at 12:30

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I totally disagree. When the original Need for Speed came out (yes i'm old) it was quite literally the most realistic driving game that had ever been created. NFS II got away from this by having cars that were too fast.

But Porsche Unleashed was a simulator that was roughly in the same league as gran turismo when it came to realism. It was a truly good game.

SRSvictor > oldestyoungn 02/20/2014 at 13:21

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I did play Carbon but it felt like a much shorter sequel to Most Wanted.It was a good game but Most Wanted was better.Still,I miss that autosculpt feature in it.I finished it and played it on my old trusty pc that's still running after 7 years.Good times.

SRSvictor > oldestyoungn 02/20/2014 at 13:27

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I had Hot Pursuit 2010 on pc and it was a total screwjob.First of all,you can enable anti-asliasing,but only by forcing it and it never worked for me.And yes you're right,it's easy to slide but that's just the core of the problem.I want a challenge with my racing games,easy ones are no fun and give me no sense of achievement.Combine that with the lack of realism and customization and you have a game that's just dull and boring for me though there was a tune in the soundtrack that was great.

sp1nz1 > feather-throttle-not-hair 02/20/2014 at 14:03

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Damn... That was pretty ridiculous. In the future you might not want to be such a humongous b7tch to people by bringing up inane and unrelated topics.

Steve Zissou > feather-throttle-not-hair 02/20/2014 at 14:18

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Stale gram cracker? Better than a cat. Iron man lunchbox with a broken handle that's duct taped so it still works? Better than a cat.

I agree 100%...these things are better than a cat.

All just to breed smaller dogs. This to me is a tragedy when those people could've spent their lives on something actually useful.

Dachshunds were actually bred to hunt badgers and other vermin . The same is true for many other small breed dogs.

I also prefer large dogs to small dogs, but small dogs are not yippy because they are small, they are yippy because their owners have coddled them because they are small. If you train a small dog properly he can be a perfectly capable and tough S.O.B.

feather-throttle-not-hair > sp1nz1 02/20/2014 at 15:36

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Just jokes man. The internet's main purpose for existing is the dissemination of information, followed closely by being a forum to talk about fuzzy animals. Sometimes at 5AM people go off on tangents.

Krieger (@FSKrieger22) > SRSvictor 02/21/2014 at 02:47

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The AI in Hot Pursuit 2010 isn't exactly hard, true. But that's why they pushed Autolog so hard - beating friend times can be very, very hard. I literally have some of the fastest NFS players around in my friends list. To say it's a challenge to take top spot is probably an understatement.

seoultrain > SRSvictor 02/24/2014 at 20:44

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To me, Underground 2 was the last good NFS (Bonus: you could beat the whole game with a Miata!). After that one, they started screwing around with space-time that made for a really wonky experience. Arbitrary slow motion and camera rotations just felt annoying and unnatural. Things like braking points used to be important, but not anymore. You felt like you were just along for the ride, rather than having to work to win.

Oddly enough, I did enjoy NFS Shift on my phone.

Renaud Tignol > mattoverdrive 02/25/2014 at 03:53

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best need for speed game : NFS Carbon
drift+cops+city race=profit