Faster’s unoriginal and awful title suggests a forgettable experience, and unfortunately the film’s content does nothing to counteract our initial impression. The movie follows ex-convict Driver (Johnson) as he sets out to avenge the death of his brother. Meanwhile, an assassin named Killer (Jackson-Cohen) and a cop (Thornton) are hot on Driver’s heels.
Audiences will find plenty of action packed into this film, but hardly anything in the way of substance. Faster plays out like an endless shooting spree/car chase hybrid, interspersed with poor attempts to display the personal lives of the characters. The shootings are in fact so numerous that viewers will likely become overwhelmed, bored and desensitized.
Despite its efforts to develop a plot and display an emotional edge, Fasterends up drowning in a sea of clichés. It also trivializes violence, abortion and sexual harassment, among other issues. For example, when Driver sets out to kill one of his victims, an elderly man, he finds the senior attempting to sexually assault a teenage girl. However, when Driver immediately starts shooting the severity of the issue is immediately lost in a barrage of bullets. Similar moments that aim to create a context for the action in Fasterare equally fleeting and frivolous. Faster is ultimately a generic popcorn flick that manages to be both dull and over-stimulating at the same time. If you like non-stop action this may be for you, but just don’t expect anything beyond mindless explosions and a display of Dwayne Johnson’s muscles.
Directed By: George Tillman Jr. Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, Oliver Jackson-Cohen Rated R, 98 min
