With Paul Walker Gone, Do You Have a Need for Speed?

By Steel Trap on February 5, 2014

With FF7 not coming out until April 2015, Need for Speed will be THE car movie this summer.

Thanks to the Polar Vortex, throughout most of the country it’s incredibly cold outside. Staying in sounds more ideal than venturing outdoors, or worse yet, on the icy roads to work and school. However, the new movie, Need for Speed, is here to remind those of us with octane in our veins that car-cruising convertible season will be here soon enough.

We have to admit, after seeing the previews a few times, this venture looked like a typical Hollywood attempt to cash-in on a level of success it could never have predicted with the Fast and Furious franchise. In fact, one movie-goer was overheard after seeing the preview, saying, “I suppose it was only a matter of time.”

Certainly, the business model was already in place, and with two year gaps between FF films, they could simply slot another car racing movie in the alternate summers. Additionally, the game Need for Speed has been around for eons, and except for a couple of early hiccups has remained a strong seller for its developers. Racing video games cater to a special breed of gamer, and they are in the minority. However, the Need for Speed games are so intense, they almost dispel the staid notion of more proper racing games such as Gran Turismo and Forza, and a lot of conventional gamers will play it.

Couple all this with the recent tragic death of actor Paul Walker, and the gamble may have actually paid off. Producers ran a real risk of isolating fans of Fast and Furious by offering up an obvious also-ran. Now, however, maybe even more audiences will take a chance on seeing this film, if only because the world, and Fast and Furious will not be the same without Walker. Additionally, the two other cast members killed-off in Fast and Furious 6 really cut into the aspect of family so well-portrayed in the last three installments. And then we have Aaron Paul, a conveniently-named actor fresh from completing what is deemed by most as the greatest television show of all time (sorry, Mary Tyler Moore). That quiet, inner storm is conveyed solely through his eyes. He looks like someone highly capable of road rage, for sure, but only because it doesn’t look like he could kick all that much ass when he steps out of the car. Outwardly, if you haven’t seen Breaking Bad, he’s the least likely guy to play this role, if only because there are 6 films in place with muscle-bound leads already defining the genre. Imagine Aaron Paul standing alongside Vin Diesel for some overly-macho dialogue. But, this isn’t a Vin Diesel vehicle (pun intended), and without his film this summer, viewers now have something else to stoke their lust for speed.