Faster (2010)

I smell what The Rock is cookin'!!!



Faster (2010)
Directed By: George Tillman Jr. (Soul Food)



The Prologue
As a life long wrestling fan I can say that next to Hulk Hogan, my favorite wrestler of all time was none other than The Rock! If you ever watched wrestling when The Rock was wrestling, you knew he could break out and become a star and I think that's just what he has done. Today we get The Rock (aka Dewayne Johnson), going fives shades of bad ass in the revenge flick, Faster. A movie that also stars none other than Billy Bob Thornton. And while the film may at times seem like a lower level Kill Bill, I think there's enough action and fun here to keep you interested.



The Movie
An ex-con sets out to avenge his brother's death after they were double-crossed during a heist years ago. During his campaign, however, he's tracked by a veteran cop and an egocentric hit man. The ex-con is simply known as, Driver (The Rock), the cop is simply known as Cop (Billy Bob Thornton), and our man with the big ego, is known as, Killer (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). As the movie goes on you get stories for all three and you see those stories intertwine with each other on the surface and a little below the surface. It's a pretty kick ass time, that's for sure.

What this movie does better than anything else is it makes you care about the Driver, the Cop, and the Killer. You know something bad will happen and have an uneasy feeling from the start, but you can't turn away because the story is that strong. I also think all three were perfectly casts to play their roles. The Rock is best when he's being...well, The Rock! Billy Bob is probably the best low life loser ever, and I had never seen Oliver Jackson-Cohen before now, but he plays his role really well. Sure there's a lot of violence and that's great but with the wrong cast this film could have went nowhere fast..No pun intended.


Of course if the movie has one fault it's that, while still fun, it's highly predictable. If you've seen one film of this nature you've probably seen them all, so nothing of note happens here that you haven't seen happen a zillion times in other action/revenge films, but it's still tons of fun. I think the suspense at times is built really well and it does offer some nice shootout scenes and a cool fight scene. While you could probably guess any twists coming, you still might find yourself a little unsure how it will go down or what will come from it.

After seeing The Rock play in mostly comedy or more family friendly roles, it's nice to see him back out playing a bad mofo and kicking ass on the screen. Sadly we don't see any Rock Bottoms or People's Elbows, but we do see some head shots and Rock showing off some driving skills, that we will probably see from him again when the new Fast and Furious comes out. Billy Bob is pretty much Billy Bob but that's not a bad thing either. So, when you add in the bad ass bloody thirsty Rock with the down on his luck sleazy Billy Bob you get a film I think you can have fun watching. I know I did.


The Conclusion
FINALLY The Rock has come back to R rated movies!! And I think it's a good thing here with Faster. And if the people I've already named don't make you want to watch this, you also get Tom Berenger, Mike Epps, Maggie Grace, and Jennifer Carpenter around in other roles as well. You see some blood, you see some action. Sadly no real nudity however, but it can't be perfect now can it? Still worth watching.


The Rating (7.5/10)