Blu-ray Movie Reviews

After 10 years in prison, Driver has a singular focus - to avenge the murder of his brother during the botched bank robbery that led to his imprisonment. Now a free man with a deadly to-do list in hand, he's finally on his mission... but with two men on his trail - a veteran cop just days from retirement, and a young egocentric hitman with a flair for the art of killing and a newfound worthy opponent. The hunter is also the hunted. It's a do or die race to the list's finish as the mystery surrounding his brother's murder deepens, and new details emerge along the way hinting that Driver's list may be incomplete.

Action movies these days seem to be a bit cut and paste when it comes to their visual style. High contrast, high gloss and LOTS of teal and orange. Thankfully Faster doesn’t fall into the trend and delivers a darker look that really adds to the mood of the film. Deep, deep blacks are on display here and the film overall has a darker cast to it. Colors are on the muted side but have a natural tonal quality. Fine object detail is excellent throughout and even longer shots have plenty of detail to work with. The DTS-HD Master Audio mix is very aggressive with plenty of great surround effects and deep bass. Gunfire is punctuated nicely in the low end and the action scenes really deliver in sonic force. Subtle ambiance is always present making for an engaging soundstage that never sounds gimmicky.

I was disappointed that Sony didn’t include at least a digital copy of this film for the Blu-ray package. Extras do include an alternate ending plus some deleted scenes and making of features. Some trailers are also included.

Overall this was a good action film, but nothing overly memorable. Dwayne Johnson is formidable as the anti-hero in this one, but lacks almost any personality throughout the film. The hitman character almost seems unnecessary and even Billy Bob phones it in. While I did like the style of the film it just didn’t resonate with me overall.