41/50: Faster

When I first saw the trailer for this film I though, "Finally".

I have been screaming at The Rock for years to stop making the kid-centric films and get back to what you should be doing - making action films.

Since the upper-tier of action stars are getting way up in years (I am looking at Stallone) or having housekeeper babies (insert Schwarzenegger), we need a new breed of action star. Sure, Vin Diesel can do a decent enough job, and Jason Statham can be pretty bad ass - but The Rock has the charisma and the ability to be the next big thing.

Anyway, I finally got around to watching Faster and it really lived up to what I thought it was going to be. Nothing but pure action, shoot 'em up type fun - and a pretty decent twist ending, that I should have figured out, but didn't.

So, Driver (Dwayne Johnson) is in prison for a bank crime he committed with his brother and a bunch of his brother's friends. We find out that he is lucky to be alive after he was shot in the end by a rival crew that stole the money they originally stole - and killed his entire crew, including his brother, in front of him.

While inside, Driver gets pumped and revenge is on his mind. He tracks down a list of all members of the crew and their informants, and plans to hunt them down and kill them for the death of his brother.

The film also stars Billy Bob Thornton as Cop (I know the names in the movie are so generic), one of the people in charge of finding and stopping Driver's killing rampage. Cop is only a few weeks away from retirement - but this case becomes pretty important to him, and will most likely be his last.

As Driver continues to roll through his hit list, he meets up with an unexpected foe - Killer (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), a hitman hired by one of the people on his list to kill Driver.

What I really enjoyed about this film was The Rock's performance with so few lines. He was pissed and we knew it - everything we needed to know came in flashback scenes and his actions. Just a total bad ass role for him - and it was very welcomed.

Of course, Thornton had the role with most of the talking - and he plays the deadbeat cop so well.

So, yes I enjoyed the film. It was everything I was expecting. An action film with car chases, guns blazing and tons of fighting. It's nice to have this type of film in your rotation every so often.

Grade: