Need For Speed Opens March 14

By John D. (Elise's lucky husband)

Let me first say that this movie is worth seeing in a theater.  I expected the movie to be OK.  Loaded with cars and racing, mixed in with a shoestring script to tie the racing together.  What I was treated to at the theater was an exciting  roller coaster ride of beautiful cars with rich roaring engines filmed in a way that made me feel like I was there with them.  The script wasn't too bad either.

My wife had accompanied me to the movie. Not being into action movies, she said to me as we entered the theater that she had forgotten her earplugs.  I laughed.  

Fords custom creation for the movie - Wow!

The movie has a little of the style of 60s and 70s car culture movies, and starts out with late-night street racing between 60s  muscle cars.  Fun, fun, fun.  The body of the movie revolves around a classic Shelby Mustang that has been tricked out with state of the art mods including heads-up-display above the dash.  Real pretty.  The Shelby goes from East Coast to West Coast with both police and bad guys in pursuit, ala Cannonball Run.  All of this is done with ground and air support that give it a little Smokey and the Bandit feel.  The final race is a high stakes underground winner-take-all with European super-cars flying at 200+ mph.

The revenge story that enfolds between the high speed car scenes is okay.  The mostly humorous dialogue is good.  I liked the characters and the actors that were along for the ride, and the action seemed non-stop. 

What gives this movie its merit is the realistic feeling that the incredible visuals and audio portray.  I don't know how well it will hold up on my 46" TV at home, but in the theater with the big screen and the multi-speaker sound system that makes your body vibrate with the hum and roar of the engines, this movie kicks ass.  The filming of this movie really was a big step up, with scenes from car interiors that made me excited like I was playing the video game.  I felt like I got off a 2 hour rollercoaster ride after it was over.  And, it was a smooth, tear invoking, good rollercoaster ride.  As for my wife...she told me she liked it too (with the stipulation that it was good for an action movie).  The movie was not in 3D, and I don't know if a 3D version is available, but I would go back to see it.