George Tillman Jr.'s revenge thriller is difficult to watch, but not because of the gratuitous, insipid scenes of violence — though the sound effects did have me feeling as if I were on the receiving end of a couple of the Rock's lethal head shots. No, what sends Faster into headache-inducing territory long before the uninspired-twist climax are the nauseatingly edited chase scenes and plot holes large enough to drive a Mustang through. Dwayne Johnson plays a fresh-out-of-the-slammer bank robber hell bent on tracking down the creeps responsible for killing his brother. For some reason, the crooks videotaped the deed, and now the police have the tape. Billy Bob Thornton turns in a lethargic performance as the renegade cop and one of the most quick-witted heroin addicts in film history; Johnson relinquishes his trademark wink and teeth in favor of hard-ass sound bites and a scene where he bludgeons a man to death with an ice pick.
