Who's In It: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Carla Gugino, Maggie Grace, Oliver Jackson-Cohen
The Basics: They shot his brother dead. So, like he hisses in the trailer, "I'm going to kill all of you!" And by "he" I mean "Driver." That's all The Rock is called in this movie. Other people are called "Cop" and "Killer." Except when they're not. Sometimes the movie gives them names like "Marina" and "Cicero." And why does the movie do that? Who cares, that's why. You think you're so fancy you get to ask questions about logic and how come things are happening the way they do? Just shut up and eat candy and watch The Rock shoot some guys in the face. Why bother caring about anything that does or does not happen in a movie where the title brags about how fast it is but then sort of galumphs along doing not much but gun-blasting each person on "Driver's" hit list. Oh yeah, and you know how he knows it's his hit list? Because it says, "LIST OF NAMES AND LAST KNOWN ADDRESSES" on top of the paper. So sure, go ahead and spend $10 watching it. You won't miss that money at all.
What's The Deal: A key element in the structure of true "camp" occurs when the cultural artifact takes itself very seriously and still provokes laughter. Burlesque or Priscilla, Queen of the Desert are not campy films. They're excessive and they take themselves at face value, but bright colors and lady divas/drag queens don't make something campy. But in the opening moments, when Johnson is released from 10 years in prison and it's all he can do not to snarl and bark at his former residence's guards as he literally runs down a dirt road outside the facility, it's badass-dude drag. And if you're not chuckling then you're not paying attention.
The Up Side And The Down Side: Johnson's character is pure. All he does is kill, grunt and stare angrily. There's very little for him to do or say beyond taking care of his revenge agenda. After a while you start to appreciate that, especially when the movie suddenly decides it wants to get more complicated for no good reason. Especially-especially when it attempts to halfheartedly shoehorn in a trite moral about the darkness inherent in revenge. There are a lot of good examples of films that explore the deeper conflict and hypocrisies surrounding the brutality of getting even and the toll it takes on the soul/psyche of the vengeful person. This ain't one of those movies.
What I Found Myself Paying The Most Attention To: Johnson's sweet vintage Pontiac GTO. It should have been in every scene, possibly talking, maybe playing conscience to Johnson's rage-faced gunman. Anything to divert attention from the dull murder-by-checklist action taking place on screen.