I went expecting a basic action film. I did not get it.

What we got was a man's movie - and in this reviewer's opinion one of the best in recent memory.

This it is not yet another film about revenge - it is a film about vengeance, and that's another animal entirely. If the true essence of great story-telling and myth is that it takes us on a journey that is on the surface almost simplistic, but leaves the audience more by the end; then Faster succeeds and succeeds way beyond expectations.

In side-stepping the current vogue for mindless action it does hark back to the 70s - and the look and feel are very true to those roots. Finally, we might be leaving aside the lowbrow sarcastic sadism that has ruled action films for a decade now and getting to action film that engages rather than kills to entertain.

Director George Tillman keeps the speech sparse and the direction too. While the film overhypes the testosterone levels through the hardware and the subplots there is an overall spareness to this that lifts the film. Finally, it doesn't establish that there may be a world beyond vengeance too soon. In the dialog between a truly excellent Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Johnson the film goes from one level to another entirely. For this reviewer, the Gaytons have written in that exchange one of the most iconic scenes on film in recent memory. And if this sounds like raving, then it is because it deserves it: brilliant writing and stone-hard action combine to give the audience an experience to remember.

This is a film that needed a star to really work, and in Dwayne Johnson it has found one. He creates a character that is the closest I've seen to the uncompromising spirit of Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven and Dirty Harry in quite a while. Here, there is genuine steel in the eye. This is tough without the token quips and ironic smiles. This is tough, mean tough, gutsy, down to business, get the job done, film-making for men, tough.

Without a doubt a man's film - and one of the best in recent memory - and while Johnson's clowning may have been a strength in some previous films the uncompromising hardness he shows here has the potential to make him a real A-lister.

Go be surprised as we were.

FASTER sees Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson returning to the fold of action cinema after wasting his time in dumb comedies and kiddie movies. This is a straightforward revenge saga about a man betrayed by a criminal gang who finally leaves prison and sets out on a path of vengeance. None of it is remotely surprising, but the story is handled with a certain amount of finesse and there's nary a dull moment along the way.

I've been a fan of The Rock since his days in THE MUMMY RETURNS and he acquits himself well with the material here, playing basically a brooding character who isn't much given to humour or dialogue. Supporting him is a typically kooky Billy Bob Thornton as a drug-addicted cop and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (WORLD WITHOUT END) as a dedicated hit-man. More briefly-seen cast members include Tom Berenger, Moon Bloodgood and Jennifer Carpenter, all of whom do well with the brief screen time they're allowed. Watch out for the opening song, a nice little shout out to the 1970s polizia sub-genre.

The problem with FASTER is that the material is rather light and there's not enough of it to fill out the running time; as a result, we get a lengthy and uninteresting sub-plot about the British hit-man and his relationship with TAKEN actress Maggie Grace. Jackson-Cohen is miscast and in any case the character is a waste of time who drags down the enjoyment factor whenever he appears. I had no idea what he was doing here but this sub-plot alone is enough to knock a couple of stars off the rating. Other than that, FASTER is enjoyable enough and has plenty of twists and action to keep you watching if not entirely satisfied.

Driver (Dwayne Johnson) is a feared man released from prison. His tattoo denotes a mythical ghost-like quality. He was a bank robber but his crew gets jumped by another group. They shot him in the head but he came back from the dead. Now he's out for revenge. Cop (Billy Bob Thornton) is a former addict and a divorced dad on the verge of retirement. He gets the case with detective Cicero (Carla Gugino). Killer (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) has beaten yoga. He is a self-made man with girlfriend Lily (Maggie Grace) and looking to conquer life. He is an assassin for the challenge and he get hired in a mysterious phone call to kill Driver.

This is a hard-boiled stripped-down revenge story. It does need something more to put it over the top. I really appreciate the idea of stripping these characters to their base essentials. Killer does need somebody with more gravitas. He is too much of the Silicon Valley hipster. He needs to be cooler than that. The best way to push the stylistic vision is to bring on more violence. It needs to be harder and more brutal. Overall, the Rock is awesome and there are plenty of solid actors here. However, this needs to be a little faster.