Faster – Blu-ray Review

The Film:

Like a long, empty highway road leading to something further on and not seen in the distance, is the sweet, one-track minded emotion of revenge. It’s cinema’s best friend; countless films, countless tales of anger and vengeance. It never tires. Faster isn’t reinventing the revenge wheel, and at times, it’s stuck in neutral between the amped-up sweetness of the act (and action), and the mournful blindness of the emotion. Director George Tillman offers up a slick, well-made action film, that feels like a kissing cousin to better ’70s fare.

Bad-ass action heroes were back in 2010. The Expendables. RED. Machete. And add Faster to that list. Ever since Arnold Schwarzenegger passed Dwayne Johnson in a club scene in The Rundown, “The Rock” (I don’t care if he wants to drop that moniker, that’s what he always will be known as) was prepped and sent out in the action world, yet due to his charisma, he’s sort of avoided those films for family films. Well, welcome back. Faster isn’t a pure action film, although he looks like a real-life Hulk, rampaging around seeking vengeance. A one-man wrecking ball.

Faster‘s script is a bit dodgy. It’s too slow to reveal why “Driver” (Johnson) is seeking revenge and it doesn’t offer up the depth it wants to or needed too. It tries, though, with a neat little Clint Mansell score and some slow-motion action, with 70s soul music. The reasons why are a tad hokey, and the set-up for an assassin, played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen (interview here), doesn’t add to much. Although his “Killer” is a fine juxtaposition to Johnson’s “Driver”. The old immovable object vs. the unstoppable one.

But on a basic level, we don’t ask much from our revenge films, as long as we get our bloody satisfaction. It’s a pass, but all genres have a few basic things to accomplish, and they’re fine. “Driver” just is a cold rock, ahem, sadly, as a great scene of a past wrong-doer who expresses that maybe people are worthy of a redemption. Exploring “Driver” passed the credits would be interesting and the psychological angle the director probably wanted to take. It doesn’t go there, but for this film, that’s okay. Bullets fly, bad guys die.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Sony releases this HD disc and it’s stellar. Close-ups are extremely detailed and sharp, as is night sequences, and features some great colors and textures. The DTS track is a room destroyer. Bass heavy is quite the word, but you get what I’m hinting at. The field is active and alive. This is pitch-perfect.

Criminals and Cops: The Cast of Faster: In HD, this is a quick and decent look at the making-of the film from everyone involved.

Weapons and Wheels: The Guns, Cars, and Stunts of Faster: This is an EPK bit on the titled subjects. Not that much depth.

Rounding out the extras are a Alternative Ending, Deleted Scenes (not that important), Trailers, Animatics, and your typical BD-Live stuff.

The Film: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating: