Everything about “Faster” tells you it’s Dwayne Johnson’s return to his roots, from his no-nonsense glare to the expanse of dead bodies littering the screen.
But the erstwhile Rock understands a bare-bones action vehicle won’t cut it, at least for an actor who sees himself hanging around for a while longer.
So “Faster” defies expectations whenever it hits an action movie sand trap.
It’s a tad smarter than one expects, giving us a vigilante capable of growth and two accomplished actors in supporting roles of consequence.
Oh, and Johnson remains the most physically intimidating actor around. He could twitch his shoulder blade and send manly men scurrying to hide behind their mamas’ aprons.
In “Faster,” Johnson plays the Driver, a nameless avenger about to be released from prison. His back story is as murky as his name, and the film doles out morsels of his past in just the right increments to keep us engaged.
Meanwhile, the Driver wastes no time settling scores. He walks into an office building and deposits a bullet in the brain of a slack-jawed worker.
He clearly doesn’t care about being caught. It’s all about getting even.
Meanwhile, a comely cop (Carla Gugino) is forced to team up with the proverbial detective biding his days before retirement. But Billy Bob Thornton draws this assignment, so it’s far from your average cop cliche.
But can anyone stop the Driver from killing again … and again?
“Faster” begins like your boiler plate vengeance flick, but the Thornton subplot prevents it from following that predictable path. Thornton is aging into the character actor he was destined to become, his face a tragedy mask made human by his crooked grin. He plays beautifully against Gugino, and there’s a hint of either sexual chemistry or mutual admiration that flickers early on and grows into something substantial.
Meanwhile, the Driver finds that his laundry list of enemies isn’t quite what he expected. One man has a son and another has turned to Christ in a legitimate way. They still must pay for their crimes, but what will the Driver give up in return?
“Faster” fails completely with a subplot involving a Brit assassin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) hired to stop 0he Driver from checking off every name on his hit list.
Johnson is a bullet-headed avenger stalking his prey. But he draws out the Driver’s pain in a way that sparks the film’s final reel. When he looks in the eyes of the people he’s waited years to kill he feels his own humanity ebbing away.
Johnson captures these fleeting emotions with little more than a glance, proving anew he’s more than just a mountain of muscle.
Credit director George Tillman, Jr. for realizing the revenge aspects start to lose their steam midway through. The movie demands the Driver examine what’s left of his soul.
“Faster” wraps with a twist that rips the emotional rug right out from under us, but it’s not so far-fetched that it shatters the narrative spell.
Johnson’s latest delivers the head-stomping, heart-pumping action, but it’s the moments when the motion slows to a crawl that leave a bruise.
(Photo: Dwayne Johnson plays a man bent on revenge in “Faster.”/CBS Films)
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