Moviegoers got their first taste of Dwayne Johnson with a brief role in THE MUMMY RETURNS back in 2001. At the time we called him “The Rock”, carrying over his wrestling persona from the WWF days. He reprised his big screen role in THE SCORPION KING in 2002, proving he could potentially be this generation’s answer to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s CONAN THE BARBARIAN. In the 2003 action-adventure THE RUNDOWN, The Rock even got an on-screen passing of the torch when Arnold made a cameo in the first few minutes of the film, telling him to “Have fun.” I for one particularly enjoyed that film, and the wrestler showed he had effective acting chops in the roughest of scenes, all under the intense direction of Peter Berg. Sadly, since then many of the big man’s movies have either failed to perform well at the box office, or just come across as pandering kiddie fare that many of his hardcore fans were repulsed by. A few years ago he started officially going by “Dwayne Johnson” in the credits, which is a choice that has apparently stuck. But many have wondered if we’d ever truly see the tough guy we all fell in love with back in a serious tough guy role. The new movie FASTER is just that. Dwayne Johnson takes the lead in this dark and gritty revenge flick, which would make Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin proud.
Our story opens with a man simply called “Driver” (Johnson) getting out of prison after a 10-year stint. He wastes no time picking up a car, and using requested paperwork to track down a group of men. The first one is found within a modest cubicle-filled office building, and Driver quickly disposes of him with a shot to the head. We meet another man simply called “Cop” (Billy Bob Thornton playing a detective with a drug addiction) and an Officer Cicero (the always stunning Carla Gugino), who end up working together on the murdered victim’s case, trying to establish why someone would kill a man so brutally and in such a quick fashion. As the story unfolds we learn that Driver is getting revenge on the men responsible for his brother’s death… the same men who though they had killed him too. We also meet a British thrill-seeking hitman simply referred to as “Killer” (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and his rather understanding girlfriend Lily (Maggie Grace). Killer made millions early in life, and now constantly looks for the next big thrill, which may be getting married and leading a somewhat normal life with Lily. But he must first hunt down his latest target, which happens to be Driver. Both Cop and Killer begin to get closer to Driver, as the man continues exacting his revenge. But with this many volatile people in the same space, can any of this possibly end peacefully?
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