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"FASTER" (2010) (Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton) (R) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Extreme Extreme Extreme Heavy Extreme Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Extreme Moderate Heavy Mild Heavy Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Heavy Extreme Extreme Heavy Extreme QUICK TAKE: Action: An ex-con is paroled from prison and immediately seeks revenge on the men who killed his brother. PLOT: Driver (DWAYNE JOHNSON) is newly paroled from prison, and he immediately goes searching for the men who killed his brother years earlier and stole their loot from a bank heist. Among those who ambushed the siblings and their cohorts is a homicidal telemarketer (COURTNEY GAINS), an amateur videographer who makes snuff films (JOHN CIRIGLIANO), a crook-turned-club owner (LESTER SPEIGHT), and a reformed minister (ADEWALE AKINNUOYE-AGBAJE). On Driver's tail are the grizzled Cop (BILLY BOB THORNTON) and Killer (OLIVER JACKSON-COHEN), an assassin hired by the enigmatic man who masterminded the ambush years earlier. Each man has his issues. Cop is a drug addict who quarrels constantly with his partner Cicero (CARLA CUGINO), is estranged from his ex-wife Marina (MOON BLOODGOOD) and son, and is just a week away from retirement. Killer, meanwhile, grew up handicapped, became a self-made millionaire, and now does thrill kills on the side while under the care of a psychiatrist. He is also engaged to be married to Lily (MAGGIE GRACE), who wants him to give up his side job as a contract assassin. Driver, Cop, and Killer are on a collision course that will test each man's resolve to give in to his baser instincts or realize some measure of enlightenment before it is too late. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? Older teens might be drawn to the film's action elements and the presence of action star and former pro wrestler Dwayne Johnson. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R For strong violence, some drug use, and language. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: DWAYNE JOHNSON plays a recently paroled criminal, jailed for being the getaway driver in a failed bank heist a decade earlier. He is consumed with revenge, eager to kill each of the men who were responsible for stealing the crew's stolen loot and murdering his brother. He is an extremely violent man who became that way in prison. At the same time, he only kills those who specifically took part in the ambush, going out of his way not to harm anyone else. BILLY BOB THORNTON plays a homicide detective a week away from retirement who begs onto the Driver murders. He is a heroin addict, a chain smoker, and is a divorced father of one. There are also hints throughout the film that he may have been involved in some sort of corrupt activity earlier in his career. He uses frequent profanity. CARLA CUGINO plays his partner, a straight-laced cop who believes in following procedure. She uses profanity. OLIVER JACKSON-COHEN plays a young British man who overcame serious childhood handicaps to become a self-made millionaire. Eager for new challenges, he spends his spare time as a contract assassin and keeps an arsenal of weapons in his home that he shares with his girlfriend. He is under the care of a psychiatrist and is being treated with pills for some sort of condition, likely depression or bipolar. MAGGIE GRACE plays his supportive live-in girlfriend, who knows about his side profession and doesn't mind it until the two become engaged and he vows to give it up. She is also a thrill seeker and likes to drive fast cars and shoot guns. MOON BLOODGOOD plays Cop's ex-wife, who it is learned was also involved in criminal activity earlier in her life but has since gone straight in raising their child. But when she demands that her ex-husband hand over the heroin he has in his pocket, she herself injects it and nearly overdoses. ADEWALE AKINNUOTE-AGBAJE plays a former criminal who wasted his stolen bank-heist money on drugs and women and was eventually jailed. In prison, he turned his life over to Jesus Christ and has since become an evangelical preacher. He tries to convince Driver that they both have souls worth saving. COURTNEY GAINS, LESTER SPEIGHT, and JOHN CIRIGLIANO all play criminals who took part in the ambush and murder of Driver's brother years earlier and live to feel his wrath. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this action movie that has been rated R. Profanity consists of at least 1 "f" word, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also uttered. Some sexually related dialogue is present, and one fairly major sequence takes place in a strip club where women are shown dancing, gyrating, and charming customers in various stages of undress (but no overt nudity). Violence consists of people being wounded or killed by gunfire, knives, and an ice pick, while others are manhandled or threatened with weapons. Some of this has fairly bloody results, and those scenes and moments of potential peril will likely be unsettling and/or suspenseful for various viewers. Bad attitudes are present, as is some potentially imitative behavior, tense family material, and various thematic elements. Much high-speed driving is depicted in the film, including a sequence where the main character is the getaway driver following a bank heist who evades multiple pursuing police cars. Some drinking is present, along with both prescription and illegal drug use. One of the two main characters is a chain smoker. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, all sorts of camera movement occurs throughout the film. There is also a shootout in a hospital basement hallway in which some lights are shot out creating an extended strobe light effect. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE An old Kenny Rogers and The First Edition song called "I Just Dropped in" is heard when Cop arrives at his first crime scene. It's basically about getting high with such lyrics as "I tripped on a cloud and fell eight miles high." Cop buys heroin from a man in a public restroom. We then see him injecting himself in the front seat of his car and briefly enjoying the high. Rogers poses as an old crippled man to get a pretty young teenage girl to carry his groceries up to his apartment. He then serves her a drug-laced drink and prepares to abuse, then kill her on camera. But Driver intervenes. Killer is under the care of a psychiatrist who has him on a prescription drug, which he stops taking when on assignment. At one point, we see him jam numerous pills in his mouth -- presumably his prescription -- then discard the bottle with pills still in it. Cop hands over his stash of heroin to his ex-wife, who promptly injects it (off-screen) and nearly dies of an overdose. A radio evangelist preaches about the evils of alcohol and cocaine. Numerous patrons of a strip club are shown enjoying beer and various alcoholic beverages. Lily and Killer celebrate their new marriage by shooting empty bottles of alcohol. The Evangelist confesses to blowing a lot of the money he earned from his life of crime on drugs and women. BLOOD/GORE A shirtless Driver is shown in his prison cell and scars are clearly visible on his torso, back, and face. The Warden looks through a series of graphic infirmary photos depicting various prison inmates Driver has beaten up, bloodied, and otherwise maimed. Driver shoots a man in the head and we see an entry wound form and the back of his head spray blood on the office wall behind him. Cop, Cicero, and numerous other cops and crime-scene investigators work around the bloody corpse of a man Driver has just shot in the head and killed. Killer bears some fairly graphic surgical scars on his legs as a result of a childhood handicap. On a videotape, blood sprays are seen briefly when Driver's two cohorts are shot to death. We get an extreme close-up of the throat of Driver's brother being slowly slit with a knife. Driver is shown bleeding from his face and head after being shot in the head. Driver awakens suddenly in a hospital and we see a bloody bandage on his left cheek. Driver shoots Rogers the videographer, who participated in his brother's killing a decade earlier, in the forehead. The murder happens in slow-motion and we get a two- or three-second slo-mo blood spray after the bullet enters the man's skull. Rogers' bloody corpse is visible as Cicero and Cop work the crime scene. One character tells another, "I gotta take a leak." A character lies bleeding on the floor after Driver jabs him several times in the chest and abdomen with an ice pick. The same character is shown still bloody on an operating table being operated on. He is then shot multiple times by Driver, with blood sprays very briefly seen. We then get a brief glimpse of his bloody corpse. Killer shoots Driver in the side of neck causing blood loss. We get a brief close-up of Driver sewing up the neck wound caused by Killer shooting him. The Evangelist has a fairly pronounced eyebrow scar. SPOILER ALERT: A puddle of blood slowly forms from underneath Cop after Driver shoots him. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Driver is razzed and screamed at by other prisoners on his way to seeing the Warden and being paroled. Drive ignores the Warden who tries to tell him to live a good life and obey the law once paroled. We see him staring at a clock on the wall and hearing the various second ticks as the Warden's voice is but a distant muffle. He then sets out to kill those who killed his brother. Driver throws away a calling card the Warden gave him that contained the phone number of a help line should he need someone to talk to. Driver walks across several lanes of oncoming traffic on his way into an office building. Driver barges into a crowded office in mid-day despite the protests of several staffers who try to stop him. It is revealed that Driver ran his own one-man black market in prison and was able to smuggle thousands of dollars out of the prison, which he uses to fun his revenge spree. A flashback sequence shows Driver evading police cars by driving very recklessly in reverse down crowded city streets. A criminal convinces Driver to tell him where the stolen money is and he won't shoot his brother. When Driver tells him what he wants to know, the man then slits his brother's throat and cackles, "See, I told you I wouldn't shoot him!" Rogers poses as an old crippled man to get a pretty young teenage girl to carry his groceries up to his apartment. He then serves her a drug-laced drink and prepares to abuse, then kill her on camera. But Driver intervenes. At the crime scene afterwards, cops find a whole collection of "snuff" films the man has made over the years. Driver's ex-girlfriend admits to aborting their child while Driver was serving a 10-year prison sentence. As Driver leaves his ex-girlfriend's house, she calls out to him: "I hope you kill them all!" Cop hangs up on Cicero while she is still talking. Driver puts a gun to his own mother's head and demands to know where his stepfather is. We learn that Driver was physically abused by his stepfather, who never considered him his real son. His mother did very little to stop the abuse. SPOILER ALERT: It is revealed late in the film that Cop is really the crooked mastermind behind the original ambush a decade earlier and is the man who has hired Killer to track down and silence Driver before he can kill him. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence," "Blood/Gore" and "Jump Scenes" may be unsettling, suspenseful or scary to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material. Driver and his brother are held at gunpoint and forced to disclose where they have hidden money they recently stole from a bank. After helping who she believes is an elderly man carry his groceries to his apartment, a teenage girl is drugged and her life threatened. A little girl is briefly all that stands between the gun-toting Driver and Killer prior to a hallway shootout. Driver pushes the girl out of the way just before the bullets starting to fly. Cop walks into his ex-wife's bathroom and finds her sprawled out on the floor in the throes of a possible heroin overdose. Driver holds a gun to the head of The Evangelist, a man who has clearly turned his life around, started a ministry, gotten married, and is raising a family. Driver debates long and hard whether or not to pull the trigger or spare this now-decent man his life. GUNS/WEAPONS Once out of prison, Driver takes possession of a car that has a gun hidden inside of it. Driver draws his gun and shoots a homicidal telemarketer in the head. Cops at a crime scene are shown with holstered firearms. Killer keeps a large arsenal of guns, assault rifles, and knives in his home. Killer draws his gun as he walks up to an apartment complex where he knows Driver is inside. Driver pulls a gun and shoots Rogers dead. A videotape shows the ambush in which Driver's brother was killed. The attackers all have shotguns and handguns. One pulls out a large knife, which he uses to slit the brother's throat. Lily and Killer celebrate their new marriage by target shooting in the woods with guns. Cops walk around a squad room with various firearms visible in their holsters. Killer lays out a number of guns and proceeds to feverishly clean them and load them. A fight in a strip-club bathroom entails Driver using an ice pick and his opponent using a large knife. Killer and Driver shoot at each other during a car chase. Driver puts a gun to the head of The Evangelist. A climactic standoff involves Cop, Driver, and Killer all aiming guns at each other. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "F*ck your ass up," "Sh*t!" "Oh, sh*tty," "Get your fat ass back here!" "Go with the flow my ass!" "G*ddamn it!" "Put the G*ddamn gun down," "I'm driving him to his damn ballgame," "You didn't seen a damn thing," "Son of a bitch!" "No one would screw with him," "Screw you!" "I gotta take a leak," "I know I suck at baseball," "I suck at baseball, too" and "That's one hell of a pea-shooter." The actions, stunts and other such behavior might be enticing for some kids to try to imitate. Driver sports large tattoos on both his arms and shoulders, including one on his left forearm that lists the number of men in prison who crossed him and ended up in the infirmary. Cop also sports an arm tattoo that features the symbol of an elite police unit he once served on. Once out of jail, Driver gets behind the wheel of a restored Chevelle and drives at an extremely high rate of speed. Driver walks across several lanes of oncoming traffic on his way into an office building. Driver barges into a crowded office in mid-day despite the protests of several staffers who try to stop him. Killer has secret compartments in his home that include multiple license plates that he can take off and put on his various cars. He also has multiple drivers' licenses and other forms of ID with different aliases and addresses. Killer ignores the advice of his psychiatrist and stops taking his prescription medication. Rogers poses as an old crippled man to get a pretty young teenage girl to carry his groceries up to his apartment. He then drugs her so that he can commit criminal acts against her person. Cop agrees to forego his son's baseball game and head to a crime scene, but he shirks his duty and goes to the game instead. Cop lies to Cicero about being clean ever since his son was born. Driver's ex-girlfriend admits to aborting their child while Driver was serving a 10-year prison sentence. One of the men who participated in the ambush of Driver and his brother has an easily identifiable hand tattoo. A flashback sequence shows Driver evading police cars by driving very recklessly in reverse down crowded city streets. Various male customers are shown ogling women in a strip club. Lily and Killer race sports cars on their way to their wedding. After they get married, they celebrate by having a target shooting contest. Off-camera, Driver steals an ice pick from a strip club bar to use as a weapon to kill his next target. Killer and Driver engage in a dangerous high-speed car chase at night, resulting in an 18-wheeler truck jackknifing. Cop rips an article out of a magazine that does not belong to him. Cop smokes while driving. JUMP SCENES Driver walks into a crowded office and shoots a man in the head without any hesitation. After being shot in the head, Driver lurches awake in a hospital bed, startling health-care personnel assigned to evaluate him. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A heavy amount of tense music occurs throughout the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) An old Kenny Rogers and The First Edition song called "I Just Dropped in" is heard when Cop arrives at his first crime scene. It's basically about getting high with such lyrics as "I tripped on a cloud and fell eight miles high." PROFANITY At least 1 "f" word, 5 "s" words, 3 asses, 3 hells, 2 damns, 1 S.O.B., 3 uses of "G-damn," and 1 use of "Oh my God." SEX/NUDITY A shirtless Driver is first seen in his prison cell. We first see Killer exercising and doing elaborate yoga moves shirtless. We first see Lily lying naked in bed with sheets strategically covering her private parts. We later see her talking to Killer in a bra, panties, and open robe. Before heading off to an assignment, Killer and Lily kiss passionately. He then drives off a short distance, puts his car in reverse, gets out and they kiss long and hard again with Lily jumping up and straddling him. Lily is shown in a sexy negligee with cleavage in the scene where Killer tells her he is indeed going to go through with his one last assignment. Strippers are shown in various states of undress (mostly bras, panties, and G-strings) dancing, gyrating, and charming male customers in a strip club. No overt nudity is shown, however. Lily wears a very sexy wedding dress that reveals a lot of cleavage. The Evangelist confesses to blowing a lot of the money he earned from his life of crime on drugs and sex with women. Cop reads a sex-help magazine article titled "5 Steps to Rekindle Your Passion." SMOKING Cop is a chain smoker and is seen lighting up cigarettes and puffing on them in at least 15 scenes. Roy is shown smoking a cigar while watching the news. TENSE FAMILY SCENES Driver and his brother are captured by a rival gang of criminals and are threatened at gunpoint to disclose where they have hidden the money from a recent bank heist. A frightened Driver tells them where the cash is, and one of the crew still slits his brother's throat. Driver spends the entire movie seeking revenge against those ambushed him that night, often looking at a photo of himself and his brother as motivation. We learn that Driver's girlfriend aborted their child soon after he was sentenced to prison years earlier. He reunites with her briefly, but finds that she has moved and married another man and they have two kids. Driver holds a gun to the head of his mother and demands to know the whereabouts of his stepfather, who he believes set him up. She tells him that the man died several years earlier. We learn that Driver was physically abused by his stepfather, who never considered him his real son. His mother did very little to stop the abuse. Cop is divorced and has a contentious relationship with his ex-wife and their son, Tommy. He has frequently forgotten dates and not always been there when the boy needs him. Tommy becomes sad when Cop is summoned to a crime scene even though he had promised to spend the afternoon watching him play Little League baseball. Cop sees the boy's sadness and fakes like he is telling his police superiors that someone else will have to handle it. Cop then shirks his duties. Driver fulfills the last wish of a man he kills by calling his son and telling the young man that his father "is sorry." The son later calls Driver back on the same phone and vows to one day kill him for murdering his dad. Driver meets the wife and young son of The Evangelist, who he is about to kill. The preacher sends them away without telling them that this could be the last time they ever see each other. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Revenge and is effects on one's inner self. The potential danger of helping strangers. Drug abuse. Corrupt cops. Abortion. The Christian belief in salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as one's savior. VIOLENCE The Warden looks through a series of graphic infirmary photos depicting various prison inmates Driver has beaten up, bloodied, and otherwise maimed. In the middle of a crowded office, Driver shoots a man in the head at point-blank range, killing him. Cop and Cicero watch the murder via the office's video surveillance footage over and over again searching for visual clues. Driver's brother and two accomplices are briefly shown robbing a bank in which several witnesses are manhandled and forced to the ground. Cop and Cicero later watch a video recording of the ambush in which Driver's brother lost his life. The footage begins with the siblings' two cohorts being shot to death. Later in the tape is footage of Driver's brother having his throat slit, which we also see in the moment as the scene switches back and forth from the crime as it is happening to the tape. It ends with Driver being shot in the back of the head by an unknown assailant. Driver busts into Roger's apartment and shoots him point blank in the forehead. He then engages in a shootout in the apartment building's hallway with Killer, escaping before either man is shot. Upon seeing him for the first time in eight years, Driver's ex-girlfriend slaps him hard across the face. Driver locks himself in a strip-club bathroom with one of the men who ambushed him and his brother a decade earlier. He pulls out an ice pick, and the man pulls out a knife. The man lunges at Driver with the knife, and Driver parries the blow with his forearm and punches him several times in the face. The man lunges again with the knife, Driver catches him by the wrist, and then jabs the man several times in the chest and stomach with the ice pick. Driving away from the crime scene, Driver hears on the radio that the man survived and is in surgery. Driver then drives to the hospital and shoots the man multiple times on the operating table. In a basement hallway, Driver and Cop have a brief shootout. Driver eventually maneuvers and gets the advantage, but spares Cop his life. A car chase between Killer and Driver causes an 18-wheeler to jackknife. Driver then shoots one of Killer's tires. Killer responds by shooting Driver in the neck, resulting in a non-fatal wound. We learn through dialogue that Driver's stepfather beat him often as a child. SPOILER ALERT: Cop walks up behind Driver and shoots him in the back of the head, revealing that he was the mastermind behind the ambush 10 years earlier. SPOILER ALERT: A metal plate in Driver's head has deflected the fatal shot. Driver then walks up behind Cop and shoots him in the back. Unable to move, a still-breathing Cop lies motionless on the ground and looks up just in time to see Driver point the gun at him and deliver the kill shot. Reviewed November 22, 2010 / Posted November 24, 2010

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