Trading on his good will and renown with kids, he eased into a lucrative career as a Disney movie star. However, he didn’t abandon his action movie roots, and now The Rock is back and starring in Faster, which sells itself as a classic 70s-style revenge flick that wouldn’t look out of place in the canon of Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson. Dwayne Johnson plays Driver. None of the characters in Faster have names, they’re simply archetypes. Johnson’s character was the getaway driver for a crew of convicts who were double-crossed, robbed, and executed. Even Driver was left for dead with a bullet wound in the back of the head. However, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and Driver spends his 10 years in prison pacing, working out, and beating the crap out of other prisoners. As the Warden (Tom Berenger in a brief cameo) says, he didn’t start trouble, but he didn’t back down from trouble either. But now, Driver is free, and it’s time to finish what got started 10 years ago. If there’s one thing Johnson should be doing, it’s making action movies. While he’s not a great actor, he’s got a definite charismatic streak that allows him to dominate the screen just how an action hero should. He’s got the look. That’s the most important thing for a lead actor. When he emotes, it’s very restrained, but more effective when he does show emotion, because it’s surprising. He sheds a few tears, and it means more in the context of the film than a complete sobbing breakdown. The other actors in the movie don’t really matter, though Billy Bob Thornton looks like the broken down junkie that is Cop and the movie’s various adversaries are appropriately creepy. One of the movie’s better elements is the car. The film’s director, the very talented George Tillman, must have watched a lot of old Steve McQueen flicks, because they do a wonderful job of shooting the scenes with the car. We’re talking crane shots, tracking shots, follow shots in another car. They do a great job of making the car a character, which is important because the car is as integral to Johnson’s character as the massive revolver he totes throughout the film. When the hotshot Killer (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) in the Ferrari chases the Driver’s Chevy SS, it’s a great sequence reminiscent of Bullitt‘s iconic car chase, but without the length. That’s the best thing about Faster. It’s an old-school action movie. Hence the characters being named by archetype rather than being given names in the script written by Tony and Joe Gayton. Only the victim, Gary, gets a name. Everyone else doesn’t matter, because most of them have to die. The Rock says basically nothing. Instead, he lets his Ruger Super Redhawk (and the detectives) do all of the exposition for him. That’s why the movie works on a sheer, visceral entertainment level. The Rock is like a half-black, half-Samoan Charles Bronson, but without the frightening mustache and helmet hair. Much like the Kill Bill saga merged samurai movies, westerns, and sleazy 70s revenge movies, Faster blends the car porn of the 60s with the vigilante justice movies of the 70s. If you like that sort of thing, Faster is the sort of thing you’ll like. If you don’t like that sort of thing, there are plenty of romantic comedies out there just begging for your film dollar. As for me, I’d take an average, non-CGI action movie over the slick, ultra-modern output of Hollywood any day. Give me a real action movie star for once. Don’t hand me a legitimate actor with some tacked-on muscles and call him an action star. I want a muscular, emotionless death machine, and that’s what Dwayne Johnson gives us in Faster. We know he can do legitimate acting, but who wants to see that? Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.
title: “Faster Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-08-24” author: “Peggy Cooper”
My love of Johnson’s film career is based entirely on its own merit as, I confess, I haven’t ever seen him wrestle, after leaving my affinity for that particular sport in my mid-teens. Therefore, when I first saw him appear in The Mummy Returns alongside Brendan Fraser and the gang, I was quite awestruck by his physical presence, in a way that I hadn’t really witnessed since growing up in the eighties, when most of my cinematic heroes seemed to possess inhuman physiques. Physicality will only get you so far in Hollywood, though. Just ask the likes of Olivier Gruner and Ralf Moeller. In order to make the leap from sports star or martial artist to the star of a mainstream blockbuster, there has to be an extra level of appeal and charisma, something that Johnson appears to have by the truck load. A promising start saw him capitalise on The Mummy Returns by starring in The Scorpion King (which still holds a personal record for ‘most drunk I’ve been at the cinema’), The Rundown (aka, Welcome To The Jungle, aka, Helldorado), a film in which he was handed the action star mantle by Arnold Schwarzenegger, in person, before Johnson continued onwards by smashing things up with a big bit of wood in Walking Tall. Now, I don’t know who at Disney decided to steal the big man away from us, but clearly they were completely oblivious to such cinematic delights as Mr Nanny, or Suburban Commando. More impressively, the man himself chose to either ignore or embrace the career missteps that had already been well trodden and lamented by Schwarzenegger, Stallone and even more recently, Vin Diesel. So, after the last few years of appearances in multiple Disney TV shows and films, including Hannah Montana, Dwayne Johnson is finally back to causing GBH in Faster, before he and Vin Diesel have a long overdue punch up in Fast & Furious 5, now mere weeks away. And I couldn’t be happier. In Faster‘s opening scenes we see Johnson’s character, Driver, covered in tattoos and scars, full of burning rage and so focused on a mission of revenge that, when he leaves the prison and no one is there to meet him, he simply runs to his destination. Proceedings then whip along at a brisk pace, with Faster having the common sense to keep the runtime to the ninety minute mark, as Driver systematically sets about executing anyone involved in his over familiar ‘heist gone bad’ set up. What struck me most about the film is how belated it feels, with a similar tone to Diesel’s own A Man Apart, as if the film was a continuation of Johnson’s career straight after Walking Tall. Perhaps it’s an apology of sorts to those of us who’ve missed him kicking ass, but Faster left me wondering about the potential of other projects that never saw the light of day, while valuable career time was absorbed filming The Game Plan. Either way, Faster makes no apologies for its simplistic attitude to the revenge genre, especially with an archetypal naming of the main characters, Driver, Cop and Killer. It suffers, though, from the same titular downfall of Drive Angry 3D, in that there are only two car chases in the film, one of which happens as part of a flashback and the other having nothing to do with a revenge killing. Now, I hate Death Proof and enjoyed Faster, but expectations need to be adjusted, as Johnson only has one quick hand to hand scuffle and spends the rest of the time pointing a gun and brooding. So, there’s no face breaking here, if that’s what you’re looking for. The lack of action means that more time is spent trying to develop the characters, which is an admirable sentiment and does add a little extra to the movie. But there are so many fine actors squeezed in that no one seems to have enough time to shine. The main female cast sees the lovely Maggie Grace wandering around in her underwear for a few minutes, Moon Bloodgood appears as an ex-wife, Dexter‘s awesome Jennifer Carpenter comes and go, while lead actress, Carla Gugino, fares better, but even her excellence seems fleeting. Xander Berkeley was on screen just long enough for me to play the point and shout “You did it!” game, which I do every time he appears in anything. Tom Berenger, likewise. All are most welcome and liven up the film, but would’ve fared better split across two films. Billy Bob Thornton and Oliver Jackson-Cohen, along with Johnson, get the majority of screen time, and they all throw themselves into every ridiculous scenario with gusto. Thornton looks appropriately jagged as a washed out junkie cop with mere days left to retirement, complete with attractive, younger ex-wife and an overweight son (I told you the film was unapologetic). Relative newcomer and Brit, Jackson-Cohen, tries to bring a touch of humanity to his rich, issue-ridden assassin, but can only do so much with the material he’s given, as his character, like most of the others, remains mostly unsympathetic throughout. Faster works best when it focuses on the confrontations, as it seems less preoccupied with appearing to be cool, with some scenes showing a real visual flair and the potential for some much bigger and impressive set pieces than we actually get. Best of all, the action scenes are handled cleanly and visibly, which is an incredible luxury nowadays and one that deserves full recognition. Despite itself, there is still a lot to enjoy in Faster, mostly from the impressive and talented cast, in much the same way as Machete managed. However, both films have been unfairly delayed on their way to UK cinema screens after being released in America months earlier, which will, no doubt, impact on their box office returns. It’s an alarming re-emergence of the trend that I thought had well and truly been relegated to the past. So, if Hollywood could please take note: you’re only shooting yourself in the foot. Regardless, at least Dwayne Johnson has finally returned to a grittier genre movie. Let’s just hope he gets to do more punching and driving in Fast Five and that Disney stays the hell away from him for the foreseeable future. Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here.
