By now we've all seen or at least heard of one of the ever growing library of Fast & Furious movies and while comparisons between the F&F franchise and NfS (as I shall now call it) are inevitable, apart from being 'A Movie About Cars' there's little else the two movies share. Well, maybe ludicrous plot points. And minimal characterisation. And an over reliance on dumb action.
But to break it down so simply is to do it a disservice, and distracts from the whole point of the film - fast cars equals Fun. NfS understands something that certainly the early F&F movies failed to grasp, and that's an ironic sense of its own ridiculousness, and that hey, maybe fast car chases down windy country roads and canyons could actually be a Fun way to spend two hours. And it is Fun, it rips along at a royal pace, the dialogue, while pure cheese-on-toast, at least attempts to cross the line at witty banter, like a drunk dad with a Christmas cracker, and the action is certainly impressive. During publicity for the film both cast and crew consistently extolled the virtues of their non-CGI, in-camera, pure for-reals honest-to-goodness car chases and it certainly shows, and during the two thirds of the movie set in vehicular motion you really do feel the need: the need for speed.
Despite this it would be remiss to not say it is a stupid film. Dialogue and story seem an afterthought, the actors doing the best with what they have. (Aaron Paul is a standout, if less engaging than when playing Jesse in BreakingBad, and his car-crew are fun. Only Dominic Cooper seems to have been left out of the joke, his underwhelmed snarling coming across as annoyed that he even has to be there.) As for the female characters, they seem to be playing the worlds most boring game of charades. "Now do sad...now confused...now step away from the cars..." This is by far and away the films biggest flaw, and it leaves the two female lead characters cardboard thin and maddeningly passive. Imogen Poots is likeable and gives good gusto but is largely ignored, and Dakota Johnson could've been replaced by a maniquin she's so uninvolved. The single plus point in this is the ommittance of the traditional Michael Bay Camera Lear (TM) which instead soaks up the gasoline glory of the main stars - the cars.
Which is surely why these types of films are so popular. As someone who was weaned on the original NfS games, and cheered as NfS2 introduced AI police cars and gawped in wonder as NfS 3 pioneered smash and burn engines, this film perfectly captures the thrill of the mountain chase, the dusk drives through woodland tracks and the disaster of driving too fast too close to the edge. Stupid? Yes. Ridiculous? Definitely. A great film? Not even close. Worth watching? Without doubt.
Director: Scott Waugh
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Featuring: Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Imogen Poots, Michael Keaton
