Faster

Directed By: George Tillman Jr.
Written By: Tony Gayton and Joe Gayton
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino and Oliver Jackson-Cohen
Rated: R

MY RATING: C+

Vengeance was good but could've been kicked up a notch.

Faster follows an ex-con (Dwayne Johnson) who's newly released from prison and on a mission to avenge his brother's murder.  He receives a list of all of the people responsible and he plans to take them out one by one.  After finding and killing the first person on his list he leaves a trail for police to follow.  At the same time a crazy hit man (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is out to kill him.  So who will be "faster" and reach their goal first? 

I loved seeing Dwayne Johnson in a R rated film and he's good as a bad ass!  In this film it was more about his body language and the intensity in his eyes because he barely had any lines.  Throughout the
majority of the film he was alone in his car and when he did come across other people he didn't have much to say.  Job well done as a menacing figure.  The story that was given to his character was very interesting.  I thought it was nicely developed but I needed more from his dramatic scene when we finally learned how his brother was killed.  For me his reaction wasn't big enough for the moment but it also didn't ruin the film either.  This leads me to my only other issue - for what Dwayne Johnson's character had been through I felt like his victims got off too easily.  I wanted more!  Nevertheless I was entertained and into the whole story.  Billy Bob Thornton brought a nice element to the table as the washed up detective hoping to redeem his reputation before retirement.  I'm not sure the hit man character (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) was necessary for the development of the story but he added suspense so why not.  Faster had plenty of action, lots of blood and even a little twist which all made for a pretty good action movie.  Overall I was pretty pleased but there was nothing super impressive either ... besides Dwayne Johnson of course. 

So I'd say see it but there's no rush.