Faster

Faster has a pretty decent spread of targets,from the oily to the slimy and the repentant. The fact that Thornton is in the role of a drug-addict cop is also full of promise.

A dark place is quite the favourite expression with the characters of Faster. You were in a dark place, the prison warden tells the Driver (Johnson),shaking his head grimly at the grisly photos of all he suffered inside the jail. I am in a dark place, the cop tells his estranged girlfriend,seeking to be taken back. We were in a dark place, one of the Drivers targets tells him,begging for mercy.

The only person not in any sort of dark place,apparently,is the Killer (a hitman,software genius,car-racer and mountain-climber rolled into one).

So as the Driver and the Cop (Thornton) encounter the depths of their dark places,the Killer (Cohen) executes some pretty cool yoga manoeuvres in a sun-filled room,its glass doors opening onto a mountain; gets a contract to kill the Driver; schmoozes with pretty girlfriend Lily (Grace),who hands out a kiss and a suitcase load of guns with equal warmth and on his way to the job,has a session with his therapist,whom he consults about the stress of my work over an earpiece all in the course of half a day.

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Over the course of another,he proposes,and Lily and Killer get married and then shoot some rounds at targets as celebration,and discuss a family.

But we are digressing,for the Killer obsessed with perfection is just window-dressing for the real deal in Faster. And thats Dwayne Johnson.

Over the course of this vendetta story in which a Driver learns the power of forgiveness and a Killer the strength of charm,Johnson aka the Rock gets to flex his muscles and furrow his brows in equal measure. The fact that he does them in unison is another matter altogether.

As far as movies such as this go,Faster has a reasonable story. Ten years ago,Driver,his Brother and a gang robbed a bank together,and Driver made the perfect getaway after some pretty crazy driving,in reverse for some reason. However,at their hideout,they are ambushed by another gang,which robs them and slits the throat of Drivers brother. Driver too is shot at the back of his head but rises literally from his death-bed,with a metal plate in his skull and steel in his resolve: he will kill all those who killed his brother.

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Killer gets in the picture after he is hired by one of Drivers targets. It also makes for a better picture to have two men in fast cars with guns on the draw. Faster has a pretty decent spread of targets,from the oily to the slimy and the repentant. The fact that Thornton is in the role of a drug-addict cop is also full of promise.

However,there is a reason this film is called Faster there are plenty more why you would struggle to call it anything else.

shalini.langer@expressindia.com

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