Faster, starring Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson, is a pretty straight forward revenge picture that is a solid effort with very little to say and very little we haven’t seen before. Striking direction and solid performances save it from falling into ‘bad’ territory but a weak twist and general lack of originality keep it from being truly good either.

Faster jumps right in with the main character, known only as Driver (Johnson), being released from prison. No one is there to pick it up and he is forced to make his way to a waiting car on foot. In the car he finds a gun, a leather jacket and a name and address. Driver goes to the address, finds the man and shoots him in the head. He then goes to see a contact to get more names on a list of people who need some killing. Next we meet Cop (Billy Bob Thornton), a heroin addicted detective just days from retirement  who is trying to put things back together with his wife and son when he is assigned the murder case of Driver’s first victim. His assignment ruffles the feathers of Cicero (Carla Gugino), the primary detective on the case who feels like Cop is a burnt out fuck up unfit to work a case. Driver keeps killing scumbags and the detectives try to put together some explanation for it. Things get more complicated when Killer (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) shows up to kill Driver, apparently hired by one of the intended victims.

Befitting of a film called Faster, the pace moves quickly and development is handed out sparingly as Driver hunts his prey. He is intense and generally silent, most of who he was having been killed along with his brother years earlier. There are flashes of emotion and character for him but mostly he is a relentless killing machine who lives only to take revenge. Cop and Killer offer a bit more development. Cop tries to juggle doing his job with spending time with his son and his wife and does both badly. His past is a bit murky and he hasn’t always been such a burn out. Killer is a man who required extensive surgery as a child to be able to walk and has dedicated his life to adventure and achievement. He is only killing professionally because he seems to have done everything else. He tries to juggle his job with his relationship as well but his girlfriend is turned on by what he does so it makes things a little easier on him.

The shots here are very stylized with quick cuts, severe angles and strange close ups. The style keeps things visually interesting and shots are never dull. This makes up for the trade off in action. There are some cool action scenes here for sure but a lot of what Driver does is show up, shoot the guy and leave. When Killer shows up there are some cool chases and gunplay but the action isn’t high octane excitement. That isn’t really a negative because that isn’t really what the movie is about but if you are going in expecting intricate and breathtaking action you will be disappointed. So given the sort of action that we have here, the way it is shot is very important to its effectiveness. Thankfully the direction and cinematography is very strong and keeps things engaging and interesting.

On the negative side, the plot developments, including the ending twist, are obvious and telegraphed. Unless you aren’t paying any attention at all, you are going to have the movie figured out almost immediately as soon as the plot starts cooking. The lack of character names is further irritating and keeps you from really caring that much about who the characters are. If they are just generic ciphers then who gives a shit who hired Killer or why Driver is hell bent on revenge. I get that the plot is intentionally streamlined and excess details aren’t necessary for it to work but letting us connect in even the most basic way would have been nice.

The writing is a bit uneven as well particularly in the dialogue department. A lot of the lines in the film come off corny and make it a little harder to take seriously. Given it feels like a 70’s throwback film, this is to be expected I suppose but it could have been elevated to something better and instead settled on just being mediocre.

I am a pretty big fan of revenge stories and that may be why so much of this feels too formula. I have seen several movies with this exact structure and development. It does this sort of story well but it doesn’t really add much to the conversation. If you are a fan of revenge movies then you will find things to like here but they are probably things you have liked in the past and done better.

Conclusion [7.0 out of 10]

Faster is a competent movie and a well made movie but it is never going to be great or even achieve cult status. It is best suited for a rental or an early bird showing on a day when you just want something light that isn’t going to make you think or challenge you too much. Make sure you get a big bag of popcorn.