Need For Speed

Need For Speed is a 2014 action film directed by Scott Waugh and starring Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Dominic Cooper (Captain America, The Devil’s Double) and Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later)

The film follows Tobey Marshall (Paul), who was a former race car driver who owns a tuning garage in New York.  He and his friends tune cars and sell them on, however, they also have to participate in illegal street races to make ends meet with rent.  Following an argument with a former, bitter rival (Cooper), Tobey agrees to a race, in this race, one of Tobey’s very close friends is killed by Cooper, who flees the scene.  Due to this, Paul is sentenced to 2 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.  Tobey is now hellbent on revenge and the story picks up from there.

The acting in the film is good throughout, especially from Paul, who’s experience and dedication to the role really shines through, especially when the film gets emotional, he also works very well with Poots, who’s acting is also great.  Cooper is also brilliant at playing the villain everyone loves to hate, pulling the role off very well.  The stunts and racing are the main highlight of the film though, and they are brilliant, with explosions, crashes, high speed chases and drifting happening left, right and centre.  The film also throws in clever references to all of the games too, which is a nice touch, especially since I noticed all of them.

I would recommend that if you are a fan of the games, racing films, or even want to see how Aaron Paul is outside of Breaking Bad, then give it a watch. 8/10

Rush

Rush is a 2013 Biographical Racing film directed by Ron Howard which stars Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt and Daniel Bruhl as Nicki Lauda.  It follows their fierce rivalry from 1970 when they raced in Formula Three up until the end of the 1976 Formula One racing season.  Hemsworth plays James Hunt, an arrogant, brash British racer who is very unpredictable, Bruhl is his polar opposite, a calm, calculating technical genius who relies on precision and mechanical knowledge, rather than just raw talent.  The film is brilliantly acted until the very end and shows the price fame can have on normal life which keeps the film realistic, the racing sequences are also fantastically intense, with cars millimetres apart and photo finishes left, right and centre.  The only criticism that I would have is that the film is a tad long and some of the scenes just feel like they were put in purely to add minutes to the running time.  Overall a good film though, it’s fast paced, has an excellent story, and one thing’s for certain, it’s definitely a rush.

Pain and Gain

Pain and Gain is a Dark Comedy/Drama film starring Mark Whalberg (Ted, The Departed), Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson (The Scorpion King, Fast Five, Fast Six) and Anthony Mackie (8 Mile, The Hurt Locker.  It is based on a true story which was published in the Miami New Times in 1999 which details the violent (and hilarious) exploits of three men, Daniel Lugo, a released scheming ex – con who begins working as a fitness instructor.  (Whalberg), Paul Doyle (Johnson) a recently released Cocaine addicted ex – con who’s turned to religion,  and Adrian Doorbal (Mackie) a bodybuilding steroid junkie who’s a close friend of Whalberg.  Although Whalberg is happy with his physique, he is depressed by his standard of living and jealous of Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub), a rich guy who he trains.  Convinced that he’s a crook and inspired by Johnny Wu (Ken Jeong), a motivational speaker, Lugo decides to change his attitude and become a “doer”, in doing so he hatches a plan to extort Kershaw of everything he has via kidnap and torture.  He convinces Mackie easily, however Johnson, who plays a born again, religious Christian takes some convincing, however once it is done, the plan is in motion, as is the film.  The acting from all characters is excellent and all are believable and have individual jokes and quips throughout so the film is always entertaining.  The story (which is 100% true) is as you can imagine crazy and fantastic, the soundtrack is great, but most of all the way it’s all filmed is brilliant (V.O.’s from Whalberg and many other characters fill in bits of the story as the end of the film happens first before it flashes back to the start) Just see this film.  10/10

2 Guns

2 Guns is a typical Summer action film.  Loud, over the top, violent and filled with plot twists. The story is about two cops, Mark Whalberg (The Departed, Ted) and Denzel Washington (Man On Fire, American Gangster) who are arrested at U.S. Customs after meeting with a Mexican drug lord. Unknown to Whalberg, Washington is undercover for the DEA and reports to his superior that he failed in getting the cocaine to have the drug lord convicted.  Against his superior’s orders, Washington and Whalberg team up and decide to rob the drug lord of 3 million dollars so they can have him convicted of money laundering too, however, when the robbery takes place, they find far more than 3 million dollars.  This leads to a game of catch up between the cartel and James Marsden who has been sent to kill both Washington and Whalberg.  The acting all around is good and filled with great humour from both main characters, however it’s the story that drags the film down, sometimes it feels like nothing is happening and the film simply goes on for too long, which leads to you wondering when it’ll end, which is unfortunate.  However,there are some redeeming qualities such as crazy car chases, hand to hand combat and action sequences.  Oh yeah, and explosions, which let’s face it, makes everything better.  Overall, I’d give the film a 6.5 out of then, it’s nothing special, but it’s definitely worth seeing.

Kick Ass 2

At first I went into the cinema thinking I would be disappointed with the sequel to the original Kick Ass, fortunately I can say now that I wasn’t; it’s bigger, better and more badass than the original.  The story revolves around three main characters, Kick Ass (Aaron Taylor Johnson) who is trying to team up with other vigilantes to form a team whist keeping his alter ego separate from his friends and family, Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) who is trying to juggle being a superhero and a normal teen girl at the same time along with not having a father, as well as trying to keep difficult promises and Christopher Mintz Plasse who’s trying to take down Kick Ass with an evil army of super villains due to the murder of his father at the hands of Kick Ass.  You’ll notice I’ve kept Plasse’s name hidden, trust me, it’ll be much funnier when you hear it for yourself in the cinema.  The acting from all three main characters in fantastic, funny and convincing, with Moretz and Plasse stealing the show with their constant stream of swearing and in your face humour as well as some genuinely emotional, believable scenes.  Kick Ass 2 is funny, bloody, brutal, and a huge improvement over the original, and one thing is for sure, it could be comedy of the year and it definitely kicks ass.  10/10, favourite movie of the year so far.