Faster Blu-ray Review

• 26th Jul 2011

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has had an off year. Both this film and Fast Five hit conema’s in the spring, and while he was quite badly over the top (but in a very entertaining way) in Fast Five – the film was a smash hit. In fact it’s still raking in dollars now. Faster is a more serious affair and her performance is totally in tune with the type of revenge road flick movies guys love from both the 70’s and 80’s. And yet the film was not a hit.

Faster isn’t even a hard rated film. It’s a 15. And perhaps that is the problem. It went seeking for a wide audience and lowered its standards to do so. But Fatser may still have enough about it to bring it back for a bit of cult appeal if it can survive the video market. Johnson puts in a very committed performance and performs with minimal dialogue. His sum of rage is evident right from the get go as he takes off on foot, running, from the prison he has just been let out of and directly into his mission of revenge. Oh yes, must pick up that beautiful motor first on the way though!

Billy Bob Thornton has a trickier role, but he’s used to making more out of little on a page, and the actor works compassionately with his tired grizzled look and soft eyes.

Harder to swallow is the killer sent on Driver’s trail. When I first saw this film I couldn’t believe what a ridiculous character was doing here. But as the film cops out in places where it should be smacking the teeth down the throat of the screen like it does with Driver’s first kill, perhaps this odd addition to the ensemble is just what its cult appeal needs. A character so far out of whack that it just makes the viewing experience bizarre. A nod should go out to Adwale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (that’s Mr Eko from Lost to us nerds) for his strong cameo towards the end and helping to bring salvation to the film in more than one way.

The Blu-ray comes with a few featurettes on some of the work on hand, a handful of deleted material including an extended ending which offers a bit of relief to the likes of me who threw his arms in the air in disbelief at the way the film originally resolved the strand involving the killer. There is also the Movie IQ mode for those who like to learn as they watch.

As for picture quality and sound, well it manages to pick up every grain of sand, every prickle of stubble and every bead of sweat on Johnson’s face. Enough said.

Steven Hurst