Dwayne Johnson aka WWE superstar The Rock stars in this ultra-violent, stylish revenge thriller as a man looking for revenge after a long stay in prision. He (and his brother) were set up after a bank robbery and his brother was murdered. The Rock is out for revenge in this homage to the B-movie revenge movies of the 70s. Filled to the brim with film-noir cliches and characters with no names (The Rock is billed only as Driver), Faster is a lot of fun. It is grim and often pretentious but that just makes it even more amusing. Some of the hard-boiled dialogue is really funny and there’s an anti-revenge message and lots of talk of “darkness” and going down the wrong road. It’s hard to take any of this seriously as the movie is one violent killing after the next. The over the top (and even novel) storyline involving an ultra-rich and smarmy hitman (he was hired to kill The Rock) and his sexy wife is also amusing. The blu ray has more extras than the DVD but the DVD does include an alternate ending with the director’s introduction and some deleted scenes.
The cast is quite good and includes Billy Bob Thornton as a drug-addicted detective who is just billed as “cop” and The Rock may not be much of an actor, but he’s definitely a physical and engaging persona onscreen. This role of a violent man of few words is perfectly suited to a man who appears made of granite. As Faster heads towards its violent conclusion and final plot twist, viewers will admire how well-made the movie was, while also basically thinking the entire thing was a bit ridiculous. Call it a guilty pleasure if you want, but the low-rent jolts are always welcome to fans of revenge movies.
DVD Grade: B
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