Dwayne Johnson’s Faster is Streaming on Netflix from December 1

Dwayne Johnson’s mostly forgotten 2010 action-thriller Faster is set to make its debut on Netflix on December 1. The film may not feature the jovial Johnson who has drawn in huge audiences with family-friendly titles like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, or his larger-than-life Fast & Furious character, but a darker, grittier Johnson seems to be just as popular. For those who aren’t interested in Johnson’s return as the voice of Maui in Moana 2, or his loud and boisterous Christmas movie Red One, then Faster’s story of revenge could be just the thing to usher in the final weeks of the year.

In Faster, Johnson’s character Jimmy Cullen aka Driver is released from prison with only one thing on his mind: to hunt down and eliminate everyone involved in his brother’s murder. While his killing spree attracts the attention of Billy Bob Thornton’s Detective Slade, Driver also becomes hunted by hitman, Killer, who has been hired to take him out. The three characters play cat and mouse in a blaze of violent action sequences, and while everything plays out pretty much as expected, the thrills come thick and fast for those who like their action brutal and R-rated.

Johnson has appeared in many movies since making his movie debut in the often ridiculed The Mummy Returns,as the horrifying CGI Scorpion King, and he has built up a dedicated following over the years. The former WWE star had already landed a string of successes by the time he starred in Faster, but that did not mean that everything he touched turned to box office gold – perhaps times haven’t changed that much following some of his more recent disappointments.

Dwayne Johnson’s Faster Even Managed to Draw Some Praise from Roger Ebert

At the box office, Faster fell a long way short of being a Johnson-led blockbuster. Considering its $24 million budget, the film only managed to pull in a $35 million worldwide gross, and while that was not seen as a huge failure, it certainly left a lot to be desired. Audiences also had a hard time deciding whether they loved the movie or hated it, landing it with a middle of the road 52% Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes, which, as it turns out, was still better than the 41% Tomatometer score from critics.

However, it was not all bad news on the review front. Renowned critic Roger Ebert scored the movie 2.5/4, and had some fairly positive takes on the movie, Johnson, and his potential career growth based on the film. His 2010 review opens by stating:

“Faster is a pure thriller, all blood, no frills, in which a lot of people get shot, mostly in the head. Rotate the plot, change the period, spruce up the dialogue, and this could have been a hard-boiled 1940s noir. But it doesn’t pause for fine touches and efficiently delivers action for an audience that likes one-course meals.”

About Johnson himself, Ebert delivers a study of the man that had not been too far off the mark. To be taken as complementary, the lauded critic had enough vision to foresee how Johnson could find a place in Hollywood as an action hero. He said:

“It’s a melancholy fact of Hollywood today that Faster could be a good career move, sending him on the trail blazed by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. Johnson has very broad shoulders and wicked tattoos, and a gun seems to grow from his hand.”

Faster’s arrival on Netflix this December will likely provide The Rock with another streaming hit which could go some way to making up for the somewhat disappointing box office performance of his new festive offering, Red One.

Having gathered together a stellar cast including Chris Evans and J.K. Simmons, the Amazon MGM-produced movie arrived in cinemas earlier this month to some pretty scathing reviews. Projections for Red One suggest that the film will just about tip $200 million during its box office run, which is incredibly disappointing based on its $250 million budget. Although the movie was originally planned as a Prime Video exclusive before it pivoted to full theatrical release, and it will no doubt do the business when it finally arrives on the platform, the problem of mega-budget movies struggling to justify their costs has been emphasized once again by the poor performance of what should have been an easy win for Johnson and co.