Faster (***)
Directed by: George Tillman, Jr.
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Oliver Jackson-Cohen,
Carla Gugino, Maggie Grace, Moon Bloodgood, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Seen: December 3rd 2010
*** Out of ****
Faster is not the rumbling action movie it is made out to be in the
trailers. It is a stone cold revenge road trip movie. After 10 years in prison,
Driver (Johnson) is out and gunning for one thing; cold, hard revenge. After
the bank robbery which put him in prison, Driver and his brother were accosted
at home, and both were executed. Driver somehow survived though, the bullet
leaving only scars and thoughts of murderous vengeance.
Driver doesn’t try to cover up his revenge, he doesn’t keep it on the
down-low, he relies on expedient action. For his first victim he simply barges into
an office building, walks up to the man and shoots him in the face, point
blank, no frills, no fuss. This puts two parties on his trail: Cop (Thornton)
and his partner Cicero (Gugino) from the police side, and Killer
(Jackson-Cohen), a millionaire assassin aided by his girlfriend/fiancé Lily
(Grace). Driver is so single minded that he even returns to a high risk
location when he hears he didn’t quite finish one of the persons on his
hit-list off like he intended to.
Dwayne Johnson is perfect for this role, as he is imposing and quietly
menacing all at the same time. Driver doesn’t get to say much during the movie,
but he does kick ass while getting the audience on his side. Billy Bob Thornton
has the big talking role, and he doesn’t disappoint either as the soon to be
retired Cop trying to get past his drug addiction to get back with his wife,
Marina (Bloodgood). The relationship between Killer and Lily is strangely
touching, and the reason for this is strong, yet low-key performances from
Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Maggie Grace. Carla Gugino is her usual underrated
self as the tough and fair detective Cicero.
What lifts Faster out from becoming just another revenge-driven murder
spree is the fact that morality and the concept of forgiveness is also included
into proceedings, and even though it’s short and powerful, it comes at a rather
unexpected time in the movie. The Evangelist (Akinnuoye-Agbaje) is a fully
realised fringe character that assists greatly as the final meeting point for
Driver, Cop, and Killer. Dwayne Johnson doesn’t simply choose rubbish scripts,
there is always something more, whether it turns out to be friendship, family
values, or a little bit of partial salvation in a gritty movie such as this. Faster
postulates on revenge and whether in certain circumstances the crime deserves
the retribution while being punctuated by brief moments of brutal and very
efficient violence, and the fact that it doesn’t shy away from anything it
does, the violence, the revenge, or the forgiveness, makes this movie one that
will stay with you for a while.
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