(Long Island, N.Y.) Faster is the best movie Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has made in years, possibly ever. That’s not to say that it’s perfect, however; we’re talking about a man whose post pro-wrestling film career seems to have been guided by the desire to accept the worst scripts available, consistently generating bomb after bomb at the box office. But not only is Faster, directed by George Tillman, Jr., a return to the action movie roots Johnson first embraced early on (before the kiss of death collectively known as Disney family films), but it’s actually fairly intense and well-made, also. But, alas, it does have a few nagging problems.
The plot is pretty simple…or, rather, I should say “plots.” You see, there are three of them playing out at the same time, and they all come together at the end. Since the characters in Faster are too cool to have real grown-up names, we have “Driver” (Johnson), an ex-con who’s gunning for the gang that killed his brother after a botched bank heist; “Killer” (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), a self-made millionaire and hit-man who’s looking for a new challenge; and “Cop” (Billy Bob Thornton), a sleazy drug-addicted detective who’s days away from retirement.
So, Driver gets sprung from the pen and immediately starts driving around in his hot rod from place to place, publicly killing said gang members and attracting the attention of both Cop (actually, a lot of cops) and Killer, both of whom pursue Driver for their own reasons. There’s more to it than that (not much, however), but I’ll let you find that out on your own.
Overall, Faster does it right. Mostly. It’s got some good, juicy violence and a lean-yet-solid story to back it up. It’s not Shakespeare, but it’s enough to keep the movie moving forward to the next car chase or fight scene while remaining entertaining for the most part. The acting is surprisingly good; Thornton plays his usual bumbling drunk, but with an edge, and Johnson has always had decent skills that he usually sees fit to squander in crap movies like The Tooth Fairy. Faster is the first R-rated, pure action movie Johnson’s made in a while, and he still shows the same potential he used to in this genre. He’s also a real big guy…I mean, he dwarfs every other character in the movie. Seeing him in his former career as a pro-wrestler, play-fighting with 300 pound guys night after night, doesn’t really prepare you for how
huge the dude is next to a normal human being. And he does a great job being really mean and intense in this flick…but then, as per the norm in Johnson’s movies, something always screws it up.
If you’ve read my column for a while (and you know you have!), you’d know of my love for the relic known as the 80’s action movie. The pure, uncompromised ruthlessness of 80’s action stars such as Stallone, Seagal, Van Damme, and, of course, the Austrian Oak himself, Arnold, has been woefully unequaled in our sadly wussified modern era where leading men let enemies live and are in touch with their feminine side. The closest any recent movie has come to evoking the feeling of awe and splendor I would feel when watching a single man brutally tear through hordes of enemies while not showing a shred of mercy was 2008’s Taken, starring the godlike Liam Neeson. Now, here’s an actor, in his 50’s and not at all muscle-bound, and he was kicking more butt than the entire current crop of action-movie wannabes combined. I’m talking Diesel, Johnson, Statham, et al.
I can only pray with all my heart and soul that the rumors of Neeson doing Taken 2 at some point are true.
But as bad-ass as Johnson actually can be in Faster, he still commits some cardinal sins that will forever deny him the action hero torch that he at one point seemed destined to inherit. First, in one scene, he has the drop on Killer, but instead of putting a bullet through his eye like he should, he goes soft and blows out his tire instead. Of course, this stupidity costs him later. Next, he catches up to one of his targets and, seeing that the guy has turned his life
around, DOESN’T KILL HIM. What kind of movie is this, seriously? And to top it off, Johnson CRIES. SEVERAL TIMES. I mean, with tears and everything. Actually, Killer gets all weepy too. It’s disgraceful.
Another problem I had with Johnson’s character in this movie is that he spends an inordinate amount of time staring at a picture of his deceased brother. I mean, like intensely. Now, never having had a brother, maybe I just don’t understand the bond that can develop between them, but Driver’s obsessiveness bordered on weird. I mean, I’m not saying that a character spending about 90% of a movie’s running time gazing longingly at a picture of himself embracing another man is a little gay…or am I? It’s hard to say.
Otherwise, Faster is a pretty good action movie that teases being a throwback to the days of 80’s action, but in the end comes up short, retreating back to the safe, morality-based film-making that has kept action films from having the grapefruits they used to back in Ronald Reagan’s glorious era. But, until Liam Neeson blesses us with Taken 2: Taken To The Cleaners (or whatever they end up calling it), you could do worse by getting your action fix from Faster.
