David O'ConnellFaster
February 3rd 2011 02:10
A man is released from jail after ten years, tracks down the men who were responsible for putting him there and kills them one by one. That’s it right there: the plot of Faster, directed, for the record, by George Tillman Jr.
Dwayne Johnson, shrugging off The Rock tag, is just the man-mountain to step into the shoes of his B-grade predecessors, adopting the mindset of an automaton in a quest for justice that will not be foolishly derailed by logic, reasoning or concept pertaining to any known reality. This is vengeance reduced to a slippery trigger-finger whilst staring bullets from a hundred yards. And stealth be damned, for our hero, known as Driver, who just walks right into the homes of his targets in broad daylight.
Short and swift are the scenes of murder, not always to the film's advantage. A showdown with another wooly mammoth in a nightclub’s bathroom had such potential: who wasn’t hoping for a scene to match that infamous setpiece in David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises (2007)? Sadly, it ends far too quickly, though a ludicrous coda when Driver realises his inefficiency and walks right back into the hospital operating theatre to nail down the coffin is a small but sweet consolation.
While all this is playing out, a charming British assassin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) has been employed to dispatch Driver, whilst two cops, Cicero (Carla Gugino) and an almost retired, ostracised, drug-taking flunky (Billy Bob Thornton) are trying to put together a portrait of Driver and the motivation behind his slayings. The hired killer is a seriously conflicted man, unsure whether to trade in his life of exotic murder for marriage to a gorgeous girlfriend (Maggie Grace) who has been given full disclosure of her man’s amoral lifestyle and yet chooses to hang around - no doubt for its kinky sidelights, like constantly polishing guns to an unnatural high sheen.
Faster feels like a throwback to a bygone era of cinema in which actions spoke louder than words; when people forked out money to see guys like Charles Bronson and Chuck Norris bring down hell upon gangs of scum-sucking criminals. Certainly one glance at Billy Bob Thornton’s wardrobe will have you all nostalgic for a kind of shabby, retrograde, decidedly uncool attire that may once have passed as fashionable in the seediest, dimly-lit warrens of the 1970’s.
Here’s a film exhibiting zero pretensions, buzzing along from one scene to the next with a highly entertaining kineticism. It can't be denied: revenge is a tasty topic on which to construct a flimsy foundation of low-grade drama – a lazy choice, certainly, and one that forgoes niceties for that dish served best with plenty of raw gristle and bone on the plate. A few flashbacks fill in the back-story as Driver’s strong connection to his murdered brother is sketched out but the emotions are enclosed and hardly felt by an audience yearning for the next pulse-pounding confrontation.
Johnson has a certain screen presence and even if his dialogue could be squeezed onto a single scrap of foolscap here, he still commands your attention.
Within her first four scenes, the always watchable Gugino is seen with as many hairstyles. Still, each is flattering in its way and her natural feistiness provides enough armour to repel the boy’s club atmosphere that clearly surrounds her.
Thornton allows a multitude of sleazy qualities to ooze out of him, each one as convincing as the next; every close-up of his bristly face enough to persuade us of his corruptibility too. And yet, a couple of nice scenes with his son provide a mildly convincing contrast.
Ultimately Faster is about raw intensity with nothing beneath the surface other than a directive followed as remotely as that hardwired into the ‘brain’ of a Terminator. It’s also about the Karma Police coming to get you: those whose motivations revolve around a barely justifiable sense of retribution or who have a hot girlfriend deserve to live. On the other hand, bad people who get hooked on drugs, creating their own hell in the process, deserve to die.
Faster is old-school mayhem. You’ll feel just a little bit soiled afterwards but you’ll love it all the same.
Faster has now entered Australian cinemas.
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Is this the most enjoyable action movie in a while then?
Can I wait until the DVD is released? I don't fancy spending much money on it.
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Matt Shea