After 10 years in prison, Driver has a singular focus - to avenge the murder of his brother during the botched bank robbery that led to his imprisonment. Now a free man with a deadly to-do list in hand, he's finally on his mission... but with two men on his trail - a veteran cop just days from retirement, and a young egocentric hitman with a flair for the art of killing and a newfound worthy opponent. The hunter is also the hunted. It's a do or die race to the list's finish as they myster surrounding his brother's murder deepens, and new details emerge along the way hinting that Driver's list may be incomplete.
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Thriller and Crime/Gangster Running Time: 1 hr. 38 min. Release Date: November 24th, 2010 (wide) MPAA Rating: R for strong violence, some drug use and language. Distributor: CBS Films
Cast And Credits
Starring:
Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Maggie Grace, Oliver Jackson Cohen, Moon
Directed by:
George Tillman Jr
Produced by:
Joe Gayton, Dara Weintraub, Martin Shafer
Faster,” a turgid, ultraviolent parable of revenge and forgiveness, is as muscle-bound as its monosyllabic antihero, Driver (Dwayne Johnson), an indestructible human Superman with a metal plate in his head. Released from prison after serving time for a bank robbery, this high-speed tank runs over anything in his path or shoots it on the spot. Befitting his name, he has a knack for driving a car in reverse into oncoming traffic and at the last second spinning the vehicle 180 degrees and rocketing forward.
Directed by George Tillman Jr. (“Notorious”), “Faster” is a three-way chase in which Driver is stalked by Killer (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), a contract assassin who does it mostly for sport, and by Cop (Billy Bob Thornton), a gaunt, chain-smoking policeman with a history of heroin addiction who is days away from retirement.
Released from prison, where he spent 10 hellish years but made a pile dealing contraband, Driver sets out to avenge the death of his brother because they were double-crossed during the bank heist. Driver had been shot in the head and presumed dead, so when he suddenly reappears with a gun in his hand, you should see the looks on his victims’ faces when they recognize him.
Faster,” which is set in and around Bakersfield, would like to think of itself as a contemporary spaghetti western (“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”) in the California desert. For Mr. Johnson (a k a the Rock) it is a total about-face after the family-friendly baby food of “The Tooth Fairy.” Mr. Johnson, with his Mount Rushmore head and a body so pumped his arms dangle at almost 45-degree angles as he lumbers along, doesn’t exactly act, although at one point, what looks like a tear dribbles down his granite face. A more appropriate word than acting might be embodying. Driver is a walking, talking incarnation of the steroidal dream.
Killer is the movie’s one truly bizarre element. Mr. Jackson-Cohen, who speaks with a strange British accent and flashes a weirdly toothy smile, lacks the gravity to inhabit a role that doesn’t fit with the rest of the movie. Women and children appear in “Faster,” but they add only a smidgen of humanity.
Structurally “Faster” is as blocky as its star. Fancy camera angles and changes in hue cannot camouflage its stumbling, blunt-force narrative style, in which plot turns are dropped like bricks. When Driver confronts the last man on his death list, a blubbering tent-show evangelist and former criminal (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) who has turned his life around, the tone of “Faster” turns ludicrously histrionic. As the preacher grovels on his knees, clutching a Bible, babbling prayers and pleading with Driver not to kill him, our Superman thunders, “God can’t save you from me.” Faster” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has extreme violence, drug use and strong language.
Faster,” a turgid, ultraviolent parable of revenge and forgiveness, is as muscle-bound as its monosyllabic antihero, Driver (Dwayne Johnson), an indestructible human Superman with a metal plate in his head. Released from prison after serving time for a bank robbery, this high-speed tank runs over anything in his path or shoots it on the spot. Befitting his name, he has a knack for driving a car in reverse into oncoming traffic and at the last second spinning the vehicle 180 degrees and rocketing forward.
Directed by George Tillman Jr. (“Notorious”), “Faster” is a three-way chase in which Driver is stalked by Killer (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), a contract assassin who does it mostly for sport, and by Cop (Billy Bob Thornton), a gaunt, chain-smoking policeman with a history of heroin addiction who is days away from retirement. 
Faster,” which is set in and around Bakersfield, would like to think of itself as a contemporary spaghetti western (“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”) in the California desert. For Mr. Johnson (a k a the Rock) it is a total about-face after the family-friendly baby food of “The Tooth Fairy.” Mr. Johnson, with his Mount Rushmore head and a body so pumped his arms dangle at almost 45-degree angles as he lumbers along, doesn’t exactly act, although at one point, what looks like a tear dribbles down his granite face. A more appropriate word than acting might be embodying. Driver is a walking, talking incarnation of the steroidal dream. 
Structurally “Faster” is as blocky as its star. Fancy camera angles and changes in hue cannot camouflage its stumbling, blunt-force narrative style, in which plot turns are dropped like bricks. When Driver confronts the last man on his death list, a blubbering tent-show evangelist and former criminal (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) who has turned his life around, the tone of “Faster” turns ludicrously histrionic. As the preacher grovels on his knees, clutching a Bible, babbling prayers and pleading with Driver not to kill him, our Superman thunders, “God can’t save you from me.” Faster” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has extreme violence, drug use and strong language.
