Bullet Points: Faster

There are a number of cool-ass Dwayne Johnson starring action films that I could have reviewed for our Wrestlemania Week but I chose to watch one that I hadn’t yet seen, Faster. It was one that I had heard good things about but for one reason or another it just kept ending up on my back burner of movies to watch and I never got around to it. Well, now that has changed and I’m happy to say that I have one more Rocky Maivia film in my viewing backlog!

• The Gist: A getaway driver gets double-crossed and spends 10 years in prison. Upon being released he goes about finding all the people who set him up and killed his brother. Along the way, he is targeted by the Police and a thrill-seeking hit man.
• The Cast: The Rock is a quiet ass-kicking machine hell-bent on avenging his brother’s death. There can never be enough revenge films and Faster turned out to be a very simple, yet effective revenge flick. Johnson is jacked as always and probably could have handled a little more development but it works for the “kill all the bad” guys movie that it is. Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, Maggie Grace, Moon Bloodgood, and a few other notable actors round out the cast of police detectives and baddies. The weight of the film rests on Johnson and his journey but he doesn’t really get much of a character arc and I never felt like he was ever in jeopardy of dying.

Billy Bob is always fun to watch and Carla Gugino is as attractive as ever.

• The Villian: There a bunch of bad guys for Johnson to kill but the only one I really cared about seeing get his was the pedophile weirdo old dude. Everyone else had seemed to have moved on and raised families and repented for the mistakes of their past. That was the one bummer I had about the movie. None of the bad guys were really that bad. Hell, even the Assassin who was chasing Johnson the whole movie just did it for the kicks. He didn’t really give a shit in the end and we were never really given a good mano-a-mano finale that this movie needed.

This guy looks like every other actor his age and frankly bored me to death.

• The Action: As I just said, the major flaw of this film was in the main villain, or what I thought was a failure to produce a true villain. Yeah, there were bad guys and they did a bad thing when they killed The Rock’s brother but he was a bad guy too. Who is worse, the guy who robs the bank or the guys who rob the robbers? The car chase scene with The Rock driving getaway was probably the most unrealistic chase scene in history. If this movie were real, I would be extremely disappointed in the police. They had his picture, his vehicle, a list of people he killed and couldn’t find him or connect the dots to the people he might be targeting next. They really make Carla Gugino’s character appear to be absolutely worthless.

No one ever mentions how jacked The Rock is?!? I think that is kind of weird seeing how he is so massive and pissed off the entire movie. 

Take it Home:

• Of course: It came as no surprise when Johnson got out of prison and found his Chevelle and a leather jacket waiting for him. Everyone knows that you look 10Xs more badass with a leather jacket on.
• Extended: There was an extended scene of Johnson and the Assassin having a final showdown at the end but it was cut.
• Stinky: The Rock doesn’t change his clothes the entire movie. That means he was wearing the same undies for five days. Pee-yew!
• The Rocks says: Most guys who are being chased by the cops would try to change their appearance but not The Rock. Screw that shit! He looks too badass to change. 

Rating: 3.25/5