Faster is a revenge tale, plain and simple, fitting snugly into the archetypal plot of 'man seeking vengeance on those that murdered his close family relative'. However, in any avenue of storytelling, whether it be novels, TV, movies or comic strips, it's not the story you tell but the way that you tell it. The revenge drama stretches between the two extremes of movies with crap like Marked For Death and Law Abiding Citizen at one end of the spectrum and Kill Bill and Oldboy at the other.
Fortunately Faster leans towards the more sophisticated end of the spectrum thanks to a script which examines the effects of addiction and obsession (to revenge, to work, to drugs and to family) on a trio of characters whom the plot revolves around. There's Dwayne Johnson's just-released-from-prison getaway driver out to murder the group that set him and his bother up, Billy Bob Thornton's drug addicted cop longing to return to the family home he's been kicked out of, and Oliver Cohen-Jackson's assassin torn between his love of killing and his new wife Maggie Grace.
George Tillman Jr is the other factor this works so well giving it a gritty, hip edge in the vein of Rodriguez and Tarantino but without the self referential tone and humour. Dwayne barely says much through the whole film, becoming an unstoppable force of nature and the film has a cool vibe supplied by a moody Clint Mansell score and some great tunes.
Not a classic by any means, but a thriller that deftly walks the thin line between bullshit action movie and sophisticated thriller.
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