Let's be realistic.

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Perfect movie for a Saturday evening. Plot is simple, Driver gets out of 10 years prison with a single thought in his mind: REVENGE! Dwayne Johnson at his best and simply faster. If you are in for an action, adrenaline movie, this is a great choice.

Enjoy rewatching this movie every year or so. Great acting, great directing, great score, great characters, great cinematography, great settings, great storytelling. Should be reviewed higher. This movie is smarter than it looks (not smart per se, but smarter than it looks).

Faster (2010): Dir: George Tillman Jr. / Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Carla Gugino, Maggie Grace: What the title represents is unknown to me unless it indicates the completion of the task at hand. Whatever the case this is still a better than average action film than at first predicted. Dwayne Johnson plays an ex-con released from prison and is in search of the people who set him up and murdered his brother. Director George Tillman Jr. makes good use of locations while Johnson says little yet through him we are given the depths of the victims and where they all currently stand on the issue. This becomes an issue for Johnson who is full tilt on his mission yet battles reluctance when faced with whom they have become. Unfortunately a revenge finale seems to be in the question thus leaving more questions than answers in terms of the film's merits. Billy Bob Thornton steals scenes as a cop in a custody battle and dealing with addiction. He ultimately renders the film better than it might have been without him. Oliver Jackson-Cohen plays a hired hit-man involved in a relationship thus becoming another interesting subplot. His fiancée is into his lifestyle until settling down becomes a serious issue. Carla Gugino plays Thornton's partner who is given a somewhat straight forward role yet she is given the answers needed that provide a plot turn. Tillman previously made such films as Soul Food and Men of Honor, so this is a stretch in terms of genres. Despite its violence and revenge theme it is far faster on entertainment than on message. Score: 5 ½ / 10

This movie premise is not original and that alone wouldn't be a problem because at least it's gripping just to hear about it: man is released from prison and seeks revenge on a group of people who were responsible for his imprisonment. That story was told a thousand times before. And with The Rock starring in it, you're already hooked and trust this will be good, entertaining at best. However, his first action flick since "Doom" (oh boy!), doesn't go nowhere, misses a lot of marks and delivers almost nothing. And the fault lies not only with the lazy screenwriters, or the poor direction but also comes from the casting director. I'll return to that later.I don't know if the blame should be put on the director since he selected as main focus the drama story rather than the thrills and the excitement for the action; or the writer for writing this exact script. Something was strangely wrong with this picture. Neither of those people and their choices worked for the better development of this wreck. Too slow, too uninteresting, with minor accomplishments and even those managed to be overlooked by audiences. And since both workers opted for odd choices why picking Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson as the leading man? Hear me out: his character is a real menace for every one he meets not because of his towering height and dangerous looks but simply because of a tattoo, code to something dangerous that gets people killed when they cross this guy's path. Not to mention, The Rock barely makes use of his muscles, he's always carrying a gun. Hold that idea. If the tattoo is the great threat why not choosing Danny DeVito for the role? We would get something meaningful, dramatic and the action is just a tool to make the story move. In any case, everything moves with no interest, sloppy and carelessly. Some of the twists and the revelations were intense and good to see but almost everything else was silly or not great enough to make you care about this movie. OK, I liked the dirty detective played by Billy Bob Thornton, dividing his time between investigating the murders of many folks (all killed by the main character) and trying to find some quality time for his kid; his partner the honest detective in charge of the case, played by Carla Gugino; and the methodic killer played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen, easily the best part of the movie, in my opinion. People complain about his acting abilities, so-and-so, but his character was really something (and hot as hell, let's face it!). You keep the whole movie trying to figure out what's the real deal with his pursuit to the "hero". Not a complete waste of time and manageable in some ways, "Faster" is just a distraction and sometimes we can use that - but it's so much better if you devote yourself to something else. 5/10