An ex-con gets on a series of apparently unrelated killings. He gets tracked by a veteran cop with secrets of his own and an egocentric hit man. A lone man, recently released from prison, seeks out the people from his past who he believes betrayed him. While he forces each to atone for their sins, he must also face what meting out vengeance will do to his immortal soul. Meanwhile, he's not the only one looking to settle old scores. Hired by the man responsible for the events which lead him to prison, an eccentric contract killer follows his every move. Scenes of them crossing paths, sometimes violently, are interspersed with the assassin's self-realizations of how to deal with struggles within his own life. As if old enemies & hired guns aren't enough, a young female detective begrudgingly works alongside a veteran investigator looking to simply survive his last two weeks on the force before retirement, as they seek out the brazen ex-con who has been blazing a path of gasoline-powered destruction in his vintage Chevelle. FASTER (2010) **1/2 Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Maggie Grace, Moon Bloodgood, Mike Epps, Tom Berenger, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jennifer Carpenter. Fairly routine vengeance B-movie with muscle-bound Johnson as an ex-con out for blood upon his prison release to get revenge for the murder of his brother after a heist goes wrong. Predictable and ridiculous to a fault (i.e. many of the characters' names are really just descriptions – to wit Johnson is only known as "Driver" & Thornton "Cop" !) no thanks to the pedestrian script by siblings Tony & Joe Gayton and over-the-top direction by George Tillman Jr. the film runs on fumes by its climax. Back in 2003 there was much to do about Arnold Schwarzenegger appearing as an uncredited cameo in the film "The Rundown". People were saying as if he was passing the proverbial action-film baton to Dwayne Johnson. Many people, myself included, bought into that hype. Of course in the intervening years, 'the rock' would fumble this honor time and time again.<br/><br/>That brings us to 2010 and this movie, the first to actually capitalize on such a speculation. Mr. Johnson is truly a badass action movie star in this revenge tale. True it would be way too late, as the main man Schwarzenegger would be back to pick up his mantle a few years later. But still a very valiant effort and a vastly note raining film. If he had just been more focused on these type films as opposed to more kiddie fare his career would be a bit higher regarded than it is now. The archetypal names are pure Walter Hill, the single-minded grudge mission borrowed from Donald Westlake's Hunter books - fine antecedents, though director George Tillman Jr.'s style is anything but terse, indulging rote slo-mo swagger set to secondhand musical cues.
Frigai replied
355 weeks ago