Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, Moon Bloodgood
Directed By: George Tillman, Jr.
Written By: Tony Gayton & Joe Gayton
Produced By: Tony Gayton, Liz Glotzer, Robert Shafer, Robert Teitel
Distributor: CBS Films
Rating: R
Running Time: Approximately 98 minutes
Website: fasterthemovie.com
Budget: $24,000,000
Genre: Action
Release Date: November 24, 2010
Faster is being billed as a return to slam-bang action films of yore, and it’s so intent on getting straight to the squealing tires of muscle cars and bullets to the head that it doesn’t bother to name its characters. Dwayne Johnson, who had segued from being wrestling’s “The Rock” into the star of family fare like “The Tooth Fairy,” returns here to the ass-kicking that made him famous as stoic ex-con “Driver.” Like most of the movie’s characters, Driver doesn’t get a name because it isn’t important. Driver is out of jail and has a list of names, looking to get revenge on the ones who caused his brother’s death and put him in prison after a botched bank robbery. Driver has a fast car, a gun, and a metal plate in his head. This is our movie’s hero.
There’s more to it than that, of course. There’s “Cop” (Billy Bob Thornton), a broken, drug-addled “loose cannon” detective who repeatedly reminds us he only has two weeks until retirement (uh-oh – surely that can’t end well). There’s “Killer” (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), a posh English assassin who’s in it for the challenge, not the money. Along the way there’s assorted ex-wives, strippers, bouncers, perverts, and general bystanders who know Driver is coming – his face is plastered all over the news as his kill spree extends from California to Nevada – but can only hope to get out of his way. The plot maneuvers like a bloody ballet, putting all the major players in place for a brutal finale.
But the details aren’t important, not here. The twists can be seen coming a mile away for anyone paying attention or who has seen a movie before in their life. The characters are typically as broad as their names. Faster makes no bones about what it is: angry, caffeinated, and – if you went into this movie expecting more – not for you. It’s a throwback to an older, not necessarily gentler, action movie, equally at home as a ‘40s crime noir or ‘70s grindhouse action movie. There’s an obvious debt this film owes to vengeance revival fare like Kill Bill (which receives a winking reference or two) and guns-blazing criminal ensembles like Smokin’ Aces, both of which tread the same ground as Faster.
Director George Tillman Jr. doesn’t have the skill of Tarantino or the manic energy of Joe Carnahan, but he does direct Faster with enough stylishness to distinguish its otherwise standard revenge plot. Tillman and screenwriters Tony and Joe Gayton know they’re working with types, not three-dimensional people – ain’t that right, “Cop”? – and they spend the movie working those types with glee and vigor. Driver careens his 1970 Chevelle across bleary desert landscapes and past seedy strip clubs, all while listening to a preacher’s static-strewn sermon on the AM radio. By the time he’s putting a gun to his own mother’s head, you know the filmmakers are cackling with delight. With apologies to “Rowdy” Roddy Piper (They Live! really is excellent), Dwayne Johnson is easily the best actor to come out of the otherwise questionable stable of former WWE wrestlers-turned-movie stars. Driver isn’t a man for a lot of speechifying, and Johnson’s performance is mostly internalized: his thoughts show on his face. It’s a pretty impressive performance for such a thinly drawn character in an even thinner movie.
Faster is not without its charms. For a lot of viewers – okay, probably just men of a certain age range – it’ll scratch an itch for a more visceral kind of action movie that recent, slicker PG-13 action films can’t. It’s harmless, entertaining, and more than a little cheesy. As a whole, though, it’s bound to be less substantial and even less memorable than the popcorn you get at the concession stand.
Grade: 2.5 stars
