Faster
Directed by George Tillman, Jr.
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, and Maggie Grace
Castle Rock Entertainment/CBS Films
Release date: November 24, 2010

The ads for Faster would lead you to believe that the film is a simple action movie with a revenge plot, a concept that has been used since the early days of cinema. However, Faster is a revenge plot with more twists and turns than a NASCAR race. Former WWE wrestler Dwayne Johnson plays the character known only as Driver. We see him being released from prison. During his “exit interview,” the warden shows pictures of wounded inmates that crossed his path. This sequence cleverly establishes Driver’s “badassery” and foreshadows the carnage to come. Driver and his brother pulled a bank robbery, but someone close to them set them up to be robbed by another group of criminals. Driver’s brother is murdered while he survives the robbery and goes to jail. While in prison, Driver has had people keeping tabs on the men involved in his brother’s killing. Almost immediately upon release, Driver begins exacting vengeance on these people. In the beginning, Driver is a remorseless killing machine, drawing the attention of Detective Cicero (Carla Gugino), who reluctantly teams up with Cop (Billy Bob Thornton) to track down Driver and end his killing spree.