Movie Review: Faster

Fasteris an action thriller movie starring Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, MoonBloodgood, Tom Berenger, and Carla Gugino. When Jimmy Cullen leaves prisonafter serving his time for armed robbery, he locates three things: his 1970 ChevroletChevelle, a gun, and a list of names. The people involved in their betrayal aftertheir last heist, and responsible for the death of his brother. Soon those namesstart getting ticked off as the body count rises. But a hitman has been hiredto eliminate Jimmy and so a game of cat and mouse begins. The story is a lotmore complex than expected with nice twists and turns and some spectaculardouble and triple cross.

DwayneJohnson as Jimmy is what we all expect of The Rock – he’s big and brawny, canknock down anyone, and is definitely the go-to guy when you need help in a barfight. Although typecast, Johnson always manages to imbue his roles with asense of integrity and realism so that you believe he is the character, in thiscase Jimmy avenging his brother’s death. Even when he plays the ‘bad guy,’ Johnsonis always somehow a ‘good guy.’ Playing off Johnson is Billy Bob Thornton,always a superb actor. Anyone who likes little guy versus big corporationscenarios should watch him in Goliath. Here he plays Det. Slade Humphries whois a not-so-squeaky clean cop with a fervent desire to bring Jimmy Cullen inand put him back behind bars, where he surely belongs. He is partnered withDet. Cicero played by Carla Gugino. I haven’t seen much of this actress, buther performances are always solid and, as a supporting character, she iswatchable and steady.

Ithought this would be a nice mindless action movie to while away a few hours, withnot too much thought required and a simple open and shut plot. Faster isanything but that and really surprised me. Yes, there is a lot of driving veryfast, much bloodshed, bad guys getting their come-uppance, and Jimmy Cullen isn’tin a forgiving mood. But there are several unexpected moments, and this drivesthe often-surprising plot twists. The final revelation, when Jimmy realizes whoset them up, who betrayed them, and who shot him in the head all those years agoand left him for dead, is jaw-dropping. The resolution with the hired killer isalso quite intriguing as the killer’s subplot unfolds. Overall, not your averagewham-bam-kill-’em-all movie. Very well worth watching. Make popcorn. Lots ofit.