Forget squiring alien kids, or posing like a hero cop. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is pissed off.
Right from the get-go, he makes this clear, by storming into into an office, heading straight for the cubicle of his intended target, putting a bullet between the hapless subject's eyes and storming off in a Chevy SS, all with nary a word.
Billy Bob Thornton, on the other hand is conflicted. He's days from retirement, but still light years away from kicking his crack habit, not to mention navigating separation from his wife and young son. he happens upon the case of the rampaging Johnson, and finds accommodation in the person of a female detective (the excellent Carla Gugino).
Oliver Jackson-Cohen, the third wheel in this mix, has a lot to prove. He's been hired to "hit" Johnson and he swears its his last job and even proposes to his girlfriend, with promises that he's leaving the hitman life behind.
And so, in trails of exhaust, blood and body parts, this curious revenge tale unfolds. Rock's character, really through no fault of his own (OK well maybe a little), is in the unfortunate position of anti-hero to whom the audience starts out unsympathetic and actually grows to hate even before the film's end. Not even a religiously-charged yet oddly enthralling confrontation between him and Adewale (remember him from HBO's "Oz"?) can redeem him. We feel more sharply for Thonton's unsavoury cop.
Faster is a brutally violent, highly charged, but ultimately tedious and insipid action film - the return of the "strong, silent" anti-hero (whatever that is).
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