Faster

Directed by George Tillman Jr, Faster follows a nameless ex-con (Dwayne Johnson) as he sets out to avenge the death of his brother – with his efforts complicated by the presence of both a dogged detective (Billy Bob Thornton) and a slick assassin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). It’s a high-octane premise that’s employed to curiously underwhelming (and underplayed) effect, as Tillman Jr has infused the proceedings with a languid sensibility that’s compounded by an ongoing emphasis on less-than-enthralling subplots – with the decision to devote a third of the narrative to Jackson-Cohen’s exploits nothing short of baffling (ie despite an impressive amount of backstory, the character never becomes interesting or compelling enough to warrant this much screen time). Tillman Jr’s refusal to embrace the narrative’s inherently fun, B-movie-type atmosphere ensures that Faster is rarely as exciting as one might’ve anticipated, although, to be fair, the film does boast a handful of admittedly electrifying interludes and sequences (eg Johnson’s character confronts one of the individuals on his list, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, but finds himself unable to take immediate action after discovering that the man has completely turned his life around). The final result is a watchable yet unsatisfying thriller that begins to evaporate from one’s memory minutes after it ends, which is a shame, really, given the infrequency of Johnson’s excursions outside of the family-friendly realm.

**1/2 out of ****