Review of Faster (2010) by Christopher T — 19 Nov 2011

While it's true "Faster" is far from a masterpiece, it does represent a refreshing change of pace. In the last 20-odd years, when genre film fanatics-turned-genre filmmakers began crafting their own homages of widely varying quality to the "classics" and grindhouse and B-movies became -- for better or worse -- ground zero for a wide swath of burgeoning professionals, it's rare for filmmakers to adopt the pace of the newly idolized forebears that inspired them without gimmicky callbacks to the style of prior eras. Though "Faster" allows its genetic material to show, there's nothing cheeky, twee, or overly referential in the presentation.

A hard-hitting convict simply called Driver (Dwayne Johnson) is released from prison and immediately sets out on a revenge plot, killing several people, we later learn, involved in a double-cross that sent him first to the hospital with a bullet in his head and later jail and left his brother (Matt Gerald) six feet under. On the case of the brutal, direct killings is Slade Humpheries, a bent cop on the verge of retirement whose questionable former ties with local CIs give him particular insight into the case -- and might compromise his involvement.

Director George Tillman Jr. makes "Faster" a quick, straightforward actioner that doesn't suffer from the usual tangents and blind-alley trips most modern action movies indulge in (think the oeuvre of Michael Bay and pictures produced by Jerry Bruckheimer). Though it lacks the apparent subtext that has endeared some of the better low-budget genre flicks to a variety of contemporary filmmakers, that's not necessarily a bad thing: Tillman comes off more as a craftsman than an artist -- never a bad thing for an action film -- and he makes, tight, efficient use of his actors and setpieces.

"Faster" isn't a thrillride, but it's a perfectly enjoyable trip to a known destination without regrettable detours or frustrating roadblocks along the way.