Faster is the new film starring Dwayne Johnson also known to many as the Rock. It is a philosophical analysis of murder dressed up as an action drama. The verdict is - It's actually half way decent. Dwayne Johnson is a recently released felon who goes on a killing spree to avenge those who murdered his brother and almost killed him. With little planning and a lot of action Johnson goes after and kills the men responsible for his brother's death. Billy Bob Thornton and Carla Gugino are the cops trying to stop him and Oliver Jackson Cohen is the hired gun paid to stop Johnson. The man who hires Cohen is the one who set up the the original murder that started it all.
The film plot flows like your general run of the mill revenge saga. Man wants revenge for the murder of his brother, cops try to solve the crime and in doing so fill in the blanks for the plot, while the "bad guys" try to stop our "hero" before they get there comeuppance. It's also nice (at least to my recollection) that word or notion of "justice" is never used to describe Johnson's attempt at revenge.
There is action, some fighting, some gun play and a car chase or two but the film uses all of this to explore the philosophy of murder. Johnson is not a violent man but was driven to crime by circumstance and driven to murder by the consequences of such violence. He only takes out his violence on those who had done him wrong. Even Cohen who is sent to kill Johnson is not considered a threat or worthy of the violence inflicted upon his (Johnson) brother's murders. An interesting twist to the film is Cohen's killer. He is a self made millionaire who through hard work and surgery overcame polio or some other medical illness. He is an assassin for hire at the cost of $1. He does it for the thrill. Cohen character is an interesting one as Johnson's foil. His motives are not as passionate as revenge but are as selfish as thrill seeking.
The action is a bit slow at times. The murders come quick and the build up of whether or not Johnson's Driver character will kill his enemies or those who get in his way creates a fair amount of tension. The growth of the character occurs as he meets his victims. The man who sliced his brother's throat has been waiting for the time he would come face to face with past. During his attack he asks Johnson to call his son and ask for forgiveness. Johnson calls his victim's son and passes along the message. Eventually the two will talk again with the son declaring to Johnson that he will face a similar fate he inflicted upon his father. As Johnson confesses his crime to the son he warns him of the dark road he will travel if he pursues his own course of vengeance. Driver (Johnson) also chooses not to kill one of his targets because of how after the crime he changed the course of his life.
The film also takes a fun if not loose exploration of American vs. European violence. Johnson's Driver character wears a t-shirt and jeans, drives a classic American muscle car, uses a no muss no fuss 6 shooter and is tattooed and scarred. Cohen's Killer is sleek, wealthy, could easily be confused for a Banana Republic model. A witness at a shooting one word to describe the second shooter is, "beautiful." Killer drives a fancy European sports car which is also made to look feminine.
It is also interesting to see the role women play in the film. There are only a few woman that have any relevance to the plot. Driver's girlfriend who not only lost her man when he went to jail but aborted their child after his incarceration. Driver's mother who could not protect a young Driver from his adopted father's beatings. A snitch who cleans up her act only to deny a junkie cop his high to satisfy her own urges. A by the book female cop that breaks one rule to let a crooked cop get benefits for his family after his death. And finally, Killer's girlfriend who is just as bad ass as Killer but becomes soft and homely after their marriage. It might be nothing that all of these female characters are not overly positive characters because the film lacks positive characters in general. The one positive character is one of Driver's targets. A former criminal and junkie who never wanted to kill Driver or his brother but during his stint in prison found religion, became a pastor and adopted lost boys in an attempt to shield them from the mistakes he had made in life.
Faster is more than meets the eye. It really isn't an action film but an examination on murder; the effects of those who not only are the victim of the crime but those who commit and witness such an egregious offense. Dwayne Johnson is solid as Driver. His size and athleticism do much of the work but he is, at times surprisingly convincing during certain tender moments in the film. Billy Bob Thornton and the rest of the supporting cast is reliable. The film doesn't rely on flash or special effects which is a refreshing thing this day and age in Hollywood cinema. The script might spread itself too thin and the ending is very predictable. In the end, Faster is a film with tremendous upside and the harshest criticism for it might be that it came up short on depth and the actual amount of action. Not bad at all.
