Faster is a movie unsure of itself. Does it want to be a simple revenge thriller, or does it want to be a nuanced character piece about the poisoned nature of revenge. It doesn't have to be one or the other, blunt truths can be delivered in an action thriller (Death Sentence, for instance), its just that Faster's muddled execution does it no favors in either side of the equation. It takes a great cast and premise and then gives them a hackneyed script. If it were more exiting that wouldn't matter, or if the drama were better that wouldn't matter. But here it does matter because it doesn't quite work as an action or a dramatic film.
Dwayne Johnson is pretty great it in though. In fact most of the cast is, giving real performances in a movie that only occasionally matches their skill. Its not all bad, but like far too many films in the star's resume, it leaves you wishing the guy could find a better vehicle for his talents.
**
Alien vs. Ninja is so very unlike Faster, with not a wish to edify and only a shameless intent to entertain. Its a cheap movie that looks very cheap, with costumes seemingly left over from a pretty good Halloween costume store and a generous smattering of dime-store gore effects. But just because it looks kinda slapshood doesn't mean it is, there's reams of impressively done mano-a-creature violence and some genuinely good fight choreography, and there's the occasional pretty good practical effects, and the jokey tone of the whole thing works just as it should. Despite being a very low rent pseudo remake of Predator, this movie does have its own, kitschy identity. Its fun to watch and over so quickly that nitpicking its rough edges just seems kinda petty. I certainly liked it more then another, more musclebound movie I saw that same night.
***
