Faster

Review by Anthony Morris

The day of the self-consciously self-aware exploitation movie has passed (unless you're Quentin Tarantino) : today if you're going to venture down the exploitation path you've got to have heart. 

This explains why Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson cries not once but twice in Faster, though at least he has the dignity to keep his tears to the scenes between the scenes where he blows away the scum who killed his brother (and tried to kill him) a decade ago. 

In fact, "Driver" (no-one in this film has actual names) has blown away the first bad guy before the opening credits have even finished, and his speed at getting around to killing - he basically gets out of jail, runs to his car, drives that car to scumbag number one's telemarketing job, and kills him in front of everyone - is as good an explanation as any as to the film's title. 

Unfortunately, Faster sounds like a Fast & Furious knock-off, which this most certainly is not (despite Driver's fondness for doing burn-outs instead of actually driving away from the law). 

Instead, it's a more old-fashioned kind of exploitation cinema, where even as Driver kills his way through his revenge list he begins to realise that revenge might not be the cure for all his ills. 

Meanwhile, he's being tracked down by both a junkie sleazebag cop (a super-scuzzy Billy Bob Thornton) and a super-cool millionaire hitman (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), so there's shoot-outs aplenty inbetween the more execution-style killings. 

Faster isn't a flat-out thrill-ride. The story moves forward in fits and starts, and not all the characters are equally interesting - Killer for one gets dull fairly fast.

Logic doesn't play a big role here either : Driver never hides his face and still lumbers around in the open killing at will (at one stage he shoots a guy during surgery when the police know he's coming back) despite a massive manhunt. But that's just part of its charm, and the other part is Johnson. 

He's excellent as a clearly tormented but totally deadly man, speaking volumes about his pain with a look even as he clumps around like a new-model Terminator. 

He's the one who brings this film to life, even as he's taking it from everyone else.

3 out of 5

Faster
Australian release: 3rd February, 2011
Official Site: Faster
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, Moon Bloodgood
Director: George Tillman Jr.