Riddick

Television, Movies Games and Books Other Science Fiction
#1

A friend put the Riddick box set in my hand and said, “watch this.” As I had recently let him borrow Firefly and Serenity I felt a slight obligation to watch something he recommended.

I was slightly skeptical about it tho. “Vin Diesel?” I asked. “Yeah, I know.” he replied. “This isn’t art, but it is good eye candy and the plot isn’t half bad.”

So I watched the two movies and the cartoon they created to bridge the two and found myself enjoying it. Vin Diesel cannot act his way out of a paper bag, but when he is not required to act and simply “be” he is ok. The first movie, “Pitch Black” is fairly standard fare. Good moments, some interesting character development and twists, but for the most part it felt very familiar…a retread of other familiar movies where a large group gets picked off one by one by a mysterious entity.

The Chronicles of Riddick is epic in scope. It creates a very real and rich universe with political structures, worlds and deep plots. It is beautifully shot with some truly extraordinary sequences. If I were to choose between watching this and Star Wars Episode 1, I would choose Riddick.

Am I alone on this one? I did a search of the forum and found scant mentions of these movies. It seems to be the black sheep of Scifi, which I find intriguing. Like I said, Vin Diesel is no Shakespearean actor…but action star? That is where he comes into his own.

I’d love to hear some people’s thoughts. I have to imagine that Riddick is a bit of Sean personified and Chronicles of Riddick suits Chuck’s epic Scifi/political side quite well.

#2

I actually bought it a while ago when the box set first came out … when I first saw Pitch Black it was long after it had come out on dvd and was on cable when I saw it and was happy with what I saw. At the time I thought it was well made for what it was and I think the Riddick character is just damn cool. I saw Chronclies in theaters with a few friends and we were kinda eh about it at the time because I was hoping for more of the Pitch Black kinda style but was still happy with what I got from it. The middle Fatal Fury mini-movie is decent … I liked it but hated the art style. I wish it had been done in a more real world way like the characters just felt weird in it. But the story of Fatal Fury wasn’t to bad … overall for 20 bucks (what I paid for the box set) I got my money’s worth.

#3

I haven’t seen the second movie yet, but probably will add it to my Netflix list now based on your recommendation…I saw Pitch Black in the theater, totally was not into going to see it, and I’ll just say that in that setting it was (to me) a very effective thriller. The use of darkness and light seemed to be nice and scary in the moviehouse, it caught me up in the movie. I’ve since watched it a few times at home and it’s not the same…
But I’ll agree with ya that poor Vin has the emotional range of a coconut in that one !

#4

Now, I’m usually the first person to mock the generally narcissistic musclebound set, but I’m gonna have to defend Vin as an exception to that stereotype.

Check out his 20 minute film Multi-Facial (1995) on the DVD Short 5 - Diversity. (“short” is a great series of DVDs featuring both live action and animated short films …you know, all the stuff at the Oscars that you’ve never heard of) Vin wrote, directed, produced and starred in this semi-auto-bio film. It’s okay stuff that played well enough at Cannes to attract the attention of Spielberg, at least enough for Spielberg to create a part for him a month before shooting began on Saving Private Ryan.

Also, Vin’s voice work as the title character of the best animated film of the 90s, Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant is outstanding.

I think Hollywood has tended to pigeon-hole him, and the parts offered him have generally been one-dimensional, with very little opportunity to show off any acting chops. He has, and will write, direct & produce more films, and that’s when I expect him to shine as an actor as well.

#5

These flicks are worth the time. My son got me to watch them and I bought him the boxed set for Christmas. I love Vin! His voice is so smooth. These are well worth having in the collection.

#6

weird i just watched pitch black last night, i think its one of the better sci/fi movies i have ever seen. Now to CoR is not nearly as good but its still very good

and hey look at my current signature
there are some great one liners

“are there others like you?”

“Sister they don’t know what to do with just one of me”

#7

Here I just found a link about the next Riddick movie.
Since Sean took care of the Riddick situation with Chuck tough it might interest some of you. :wink:

#8

You’re right, Pitch Black totally fits a mold. I really enjoy that kind of movie because since I pretty much know what’s going to happen I pay close attention to the details, not just the physiology of the monster du jor but their behaviors. I liked the way the aliens fought over which was going to get to eat the tender, tasty, human flesh.

In Aliens they killed each other only as a means of survival and self preservation, I think it was in the third or fourth movie three aliens killed one so it’s blood-acid would melt the cage so they could get out. Cool, huh?

In addition to other let-downs I think that if Starship Troopers was going to abandon the theme of the book they should have done more with the bugs. I mean, I enjoy co-ed shower-b00bage as much as the next guy, but I’d rather see some creative thinking applied to the nasties instead.

I liked the “X years of sunlight and they only come out during the eclipse” concept too. Don’t remember seeing anything like that before. (Was it 80 years between eclipses? I don’t remember.) And it was also nice to see Riddick show some regret and emotion at the end.

The details of second move blew my mind and I have been waiting way too long for the continuation of the story. Those ships were so gothic, the costumes were so over the top, good flick.

#9

Riddick is one of my Favorite Characters ever! If i had to put the two films in preference order, I would have to say CoR, is more entertaining over mulitple viewings then P.B. . On the other hand Pitch Black has Claudia Black. More Riddick is more Good.