In the trailer for his upcoming action vehicle Need for Speed, Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul delivers a monologue that would definitely have ended up on the AMC drama's cutting-room floor. "They took everything from me. I do not fear, for you are with me," says Paul. "All those who defied me shall be ashamed and disgraced. Those who wage war against me shall perish. I will find strength, find guidance, and I will triumph."
Not exactly a Heisenberg-level speech, is it? It sounds more like the overheated language you'd hear in the introduction video for a bargain-bin Playstation game, and that's for good reason: Need for Speed is based on the long-running video game franchise of the same name, which has seen no less than 20 new releases since its debut in 1994. Though the video game series is less about characters and more about how fast you can race cars, screenwriters John Gatins and George Nolfi have very, very loosely adapted the basic premise into a film about a talented driver who's been framed for a crime he didn't commit — and who escapes from prison to get his revenge.
You can fill in the rest. At best, Need for Speed looks like a Fast & Furious with all the fun parts edited out. It's not fair to judge the film from this brief glimpse, but this trailer indicates that the film is taking itself way, way too seriously. We won't be able to judge Need for Speed until it hits theaters in March of 2014 — but until then, it's hard to see how anyone needs another by-the-numbers action flick.
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