Faster

With a marketing campaign relying completely on the draw of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, very few movies have looked as generic as Faster. Though it is better in execution. Johnson plays Driver who, after being released from prison, goes on a calculated rampage to take revenge on the group of men involved in killing his brother after a bank robbery. The film has long stretches of mindless action with instances of conspiracy type adventure mixed in, the latter being much more entertaining the former.

Johnson gives a consistent performance, but it is by no means a complex one. With the occasional action cliché thrown in, I can’t help but think he could have done better. The same could be said for Billy Bob Thorton’s strung out cop character. The most interesting player of the bunch is Killer played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen. The hit man is shown as a rich daredevil facing an internal struggle between retirement and the thrill of the job. Most other characters in the film are played by a who’s who of “what are they from” actors.

The confused script proves to be the main problem from which all others form. The three intertwining storylines, focused on the previously mentioned characters, are not of similar strength, which makes for some variation in pacing that is not always desirable. Though Johnson and Jackson-Cohen’s pieces of the puzzle are gripping most of the time.

There is something to be said for a movie that can use basic action and keep an audience entertained, as is the case with Faster. Even a cookie cutter resolution that is eye roll inducing doesn’t compromise it. In the future, I can only hope that Johnson expands his horizons, but it’s nice seeing him back on screen with a gun because as charming as he is, the Tooth Fairy was a bit soft for “The Rock.” (6.3 out of 10)