I'll be right back, I've gotta go Dwayne The Rock Johnson

Faster (2010, d. George Tillman, Jr).

NOT GEEK
This was marketed as an action movie last December. It's isn't one. I can't tell if that was accidental or not: I can see where action scenes are SUPPOSED to take place, but then none do. The lead character, named Driver (Dwayne Johnson), will walk into a room, shoot a person, and then walk out. Occasionally he meets resistance, and in that case we get several bullets instead of just one.

What I cannot figure out was, are such sequences (a) attempted action sequences, just done really horrifically badly, or (b) not supposed to be action sequences at all, but rather emotionally tense dramatic moments?

If it's (a) then the director should cash his paycheck quickly, go home, and never embarrass himself again. If it's (b) then this was a spectacularly bad decision, again on the part of the director, because the characters aren't interesting or deep enough to invest in emotionally. Without emotional investment, there can be no drama. Only shit blowing up.

The story is interesting enough (Driver gets out of prison, after ten years... we find out in short order he has nothing else on his mind than killing the people who, ten years before, had killed his brother right in front of him). Actual thought WAS put into how things would be revealed and when.

But not any into the execution.

GEEK
"Faster" was directed by George Tillman Jr., director of the critically acclaimed but dramatically generic "Men of Honor," which starred Cuba Gooding Jr. when he was still getting work. More interestingly, it was written by Tony Gayton and his brother Joe, the former of which wrote "The Salton Sea" starring Val Kilmer (before he was fat) and "Murder by Numbers" starring Sandra Bullock (before she won an Oscar). Both of those films are spectacularly written and featuring compelling stories and characters. The latter was marketed poorly when it first came out. The former wasn't marketed at all.

There's not a large percentage people who will say, "I want to see that movie because of the screenwriter," but that, I suppose, is what makes me a geek. I waited patiently for the DVD, because "Faster" didn't seem like it would be worth a full-priced movie ticket... and it wasn't. But it was an interesting failure nonetheless.

George Tilliman Jr. isn't a particularly good director, but he was a last minute replacement for Phil Joanou (who is a decent director of actors, but every film he's ever made feels like it's four hours long). He wanted to direct something more mainstream, I guess, and he did. He failed and probably won't get much more film work, but failed film directors get TV work all the time.

Carla Gugino is in the movie, one of the two cops on Driver's trail (the other is Billy Bob Thornton). She was a last-minute replacement for Salma Hayek. As this isn't a soap opera, Carla Gugino was the better choice, but ultimately it doesn't matter either way. That characters role isn't given much to do. None of the characters are given much to do, at all, except Driver.

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This is why the "Five-Star" system on Netflix doesn't work: because two stars is "didn't like it" and three stars is "liked it." In this case, for me anyway, neither is accurate. I found the movie engaging enough, and unfolding at a fast enough pace, to remain interesting, but I cannot recommend it to anyone. The action is non-existent, but the drama is the shallow sort usually reserved for action movies. There's no reason for this movie to exist.

Skip it.