Faster Review

• 21st Mar 2011

With Fast 5 on its way soon, (also featuring Dwayne Johnson), The Rock returns (at last!) to the world of action. Action and fast cars seems to be what he is actually going for.

Faster is being sold as a bit of a rough edged, hardcore call back to 70s revenge thrillers and whilst it is that, it is also not quite the return to the genre that we had hoped for Johnson. It’s a fairly quiet role for him and whilst he acquits his himself fairly well, it isn’t a character that is going to linger in the mind.

So, Johnson finds himself on a revenge rampage for the death of his brother… literally just walking up to the bad guys and blowing them away in plain daylight, in public view. Of course the police and the bad guys get wise to his plan and it all becomes a race to see who can stop who before things get out of control. There are a couple of nice confrontations that add to the drama; however realistic you may think they are is up to you.

The film is two thirds straight forward and one third just plain bizarre. The two straightforward parts relate to the aforementioned star and Billy Bob Thornton as the copper on his way out trying to track him down. Thornton can play this kind of role in his sleep and he pays the bills here again capably.

The bizarre part is the role of the hit man hired to take out our hero. Half of his time is spent at home wallowing in his out of control ego. This highly paid professional appears to be the most unprofessional hit man on the plant. He lets his emotions rule his life, can’t decide whether he is coming or going and has issues with his girlfriend whom he verbalises all of this too. All of this is before he has even taken the job and left the bloody house! An extreme sports junkie and already rich, he probably worries about his dick not working anymore or some shit like that. Either way the question that occurs is: what is this guy doing in this film?

I don’t have an answer. You could cut this guy from the film and it would not affect the flow of the film as he does not fit into much here except to confront Johnson’s character on a couple of occasions. The film would be better too, as this tonally misjudged character is a real thorn in the film’s side.

Approach Faster with extreme caution and perhaps lower your expectations. For a film with that title it doesn’t go anywhere quickly and has very little in the way of driving to get us there.

Steven Hurst