Faster review

Before I jump into what "Faster" does have let me tell what it doesn't. Often times scenes shown on the trailers aren't in the final product. Sometimes it's simply because the scene was a nice trailer shot and nothing more or because in the grand scheme it doesn't work. 98% of these scenes are random shots or diologue. However "Faster" is probably the second film (the first being Michael Mann's "Miami Vice") that actually cuts a key piece of action. The scene is nearing the end of the trailer in which you see Driver (Dwayne Johnson) and Killer (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) play chicken in the desert and collide; sending Driver's car through the air and landing top down. Spoiler as this is that scene has been cut and basically the finale is a big "The End" on screen. Let's just say that spoiled a GREAT deal of cheesy, lead-headed fun. But thanks to the internet I have an idea of why that is the ending.

Now for what we DO get from "Faster". This is the return of Dwayne Johnson: action star. After exiting the WWF he did a number of action pictures some lame ('The Mummy Returns', 'The Scorpion King', 'Walking Tall', 'Doom') and some pretty good (like 'The Rundown' and... well he had 'The Rundown'). Anyways despite some of the movies sucking he was quite impressive. Easily he looked like someone who could and was interested in taking the reigns as a classic action heroes and maybe starting a collection of explosive work himself. Then he went all Brendan Fraser and Jackie Chan on all are asses and found out he could make boat loads of cash doing half-assed kids films. I find it absurd that people would pay more to see Chan in something like "The Spy Next Door" as opposed to "Thunderbolt". "Faster" reminds us that Johnson still can be the badass and look like a badass the same way the old boys did it. Sadly the movie doesn't match his skills.

Not that it doesn't try. Billy Bob Thornton plays Cop, in all his nasty, scruffy glory. His entrance brought a smile to my face as he shoots up heroin in an ally while Kenny Rogers and the First Edition flairs up in the background. Carla Gugino as a lady cop is more that always excepted. And "Notorious" director George Tillman Jr. displays that he could very well have a future in the action genre. Which is nice considering how many of late have tried it and failed (lookin' at you Haggis). The violence is... workable, the lighting and angles are moody and interesting; and mixed with Clint Mansell's music, quite cool. BUT within this very direct story of revenge there lay three back stories. One is of course of Driver. The second and most interesting is that of the Cop. And finally the one that is completely and utterly boring and pointless... The Killer. He is eye candy for the female viewers which is fine, except that he's dull. He's a computer genius that wants the ultimate rush so he got into contract killing. He has a beautiful girlfriend (Maggie Grace) and some slight mental issues. But neither him nor his backstory are interesting. In fact his character has pretty much NO POINT AT ALL. I think he was placed within this story simply to give Driver something else to deal with between hits instead of just having him deal with people along the way. You know like "Vanishing Point", a film they referenced during the making.

Okay... I'm sounding harsher than I want. "Faster" isn't utter shit. It's dumb, but never boring. It is at heart a throwback film that given the right set of circumstances COULD work as a true, blue grindhouse picture. Not in the tongue-in-cheek way like "Machete", but in the real way. The way where ridiculous shit happens and everyone is pretty dead pan serious about it. That's not a bad thing either. Most genre pictures do this, but aren't willing to embrace it as much as this did. But removing extra character pieces and the original ending do tend to fuck up the mojo. And now back to my original point. Why it ends the way it does.

At first I thought that CBS Films wanted to pick up where FOX left off and start snipping the gibbets off of otherwise decent pictures. Anyone who knows anything about revenge movies... more so road revenge movies knows how it must play out. Anyone watching "Faster" who is privy to this knows as well. It is what makes it work in the end. It's why "Vanishing Point" isn't just a fun movie, but goddamn great picture. No matter how the hero wants to change... in the end he must face the music too. According to sources Tillman and Johnson would like to make this a series. CBS Films announced a sequel due out in spring 2012. Despite my feelings about this film however... I can't deny that a sequel couldn't hurt. Even with the 'they all die' ending to the film wouldn't have been perfect. It's flawed, but it's fun. It keeps you fairly entertained and even more so in the events leading up to the ending. It's predictable, but then again it was never that complex so why shouldn't be? If they are actually serious about a franchise or what have you then do it. These aren't 100 million dollar movies and if you work out these characters and a fully formed story then you might have something totally fun to watch. It's rare that I think that a sequel to a film I disliked is a good idea, but for "Faster"... well... maybe it can work.