Chronicles of Riddick

[Rinnhart]

The frequency with which Chronicles of Riddick has been compared to Battlefield Earth is terrifying. Usually mentioning Battlefield Earth in conjunction with another movie means it's horror beyond horror.

Anyone see it yet?

I've been holding out hope that it was good; decent sci-fi's rare at best.

[Bun-Bun]

I haven't seen it yet. There was a positive review or two on Ain't It Cool News, and some semi-negative ones. I can't possibly believe it's as bad as Battlefield Earth. After all, Rastafarian aliens in Kiss boots with terrible dental hygeine defeated by 1000-year-old Harrier jets flown by Iron Age-tech natives just can't be beat for pure cinematic dross. Especially since BE was filmed with every shot tilted.

I swear, they should have given out Dramamine with every ticket.

[degrak]

Erm again...

Pitch Black was awesome. I think I have my review somewhere...ah, here it is:

"A dark, yet lovely, movie. It's dark not only in looks, but because of Richard B. Riddick. This character was very entertaining throughout the whole movie. Bring on the sequel."

Aye, that is somewhat pathetic, but whatever.

The character Riddick was just too groovy. It was an interesting situation, and I just liked that character.

As for the sequel, it seems as if they are trying too hard. This is only based on previews (via television), but it just looks now like they're playing too much off of Riddick.

It was great in the first one because it was original, and it was not like "oh Riddick is so cool" and such.

Interestingly enough, right before I was about to click on this thread, my friend messaged me asking to go see this.

I will be leaving in a few minutes to see it. :)

Edit: Well, I just returned from seeing it. And it was as I suspected. They overplayed Riddick too much.

However, it was still entertaining. There was plenty of action (much more than the first). He was still somewhat spiffy.

[Artega]

I work at a local theater (yeah, I know...), so I get to see damn near every movie that comes out for free. The only good recent releases have been Harry Potter (it's a good bit better than the previous two movies, though the books are still nothing to write home about) and Shrek 2.

Vin Diesel still can't act. The action was pretty cool, but I'd rather they'd have left Vinnie mute for the entire damned movie. I'd save your cash and see it at a cheapo-theater or rent it. Then again, I've had a vendetta against Vinnie-boy since XXX. I still have nightmares from the horrific acting in that movie.

[TaMeOlta]

Vin Diesel still can't act.  The action was pretty cool, but I'd rather they'd have left Vinnie mute for the entire damned movie.  I'd save your cash and see it at a cheapo-theater or rent it.  Then again, I've had a vendetta against Vinnie-boy since XXX.  I still have nightmares from the horrific acting in that movie.

:D Cool , that means I'll like it :D !

[WarLocke]

Well, I saw Chronicles, and it wasn't horrible, but it was no Postman, either.

(Shaddup, The Postman rocked, even if it wasn't as good as the book... :P)

Most of the movie was decently paced, except for (in my opinion) the last few scenes. I only spotted two CGI sequences that really stood out in a bad way (Riddick testing the weight of the knife, and the dog things), and most of the fights were very cool (especially the no-sound one - but I didn't like the Confuso-Flashy-Vision fights).

Also, I thought the bounty hunter (Tombs? Tooms? Something like that) was really cool, and someone really nailed it on another forum when describing him as Ron Perlman-like. :ph34r:

My big beef with the movie is the names. It's like something straight out of a Flash Gordon flick - Necromongers? Elementals? Furians? Crematoria? Ugh.

Overall a decent popcorn movie, much better than some of his other roles (I'm looking at you, xXx). Not really a classic, and maybe not worth buying the DVD, but worth at least 1 watching...

[Attika]

Quote: Anyone see it yet?

I finally rented it from my local library, and here's the scoop ... it's poop.

Warning: some spoilers here, do not read further if you are a big Vin Diesel fan and plan to watch this film. (IS there such a thing as a big Vin Diesel fan?)

That said. . . .

I saw Pitch Black and liked it, it was decent.

Then I saw The Chronicles of Riddick, hoping for similar fare.

There were a TON of things in this movie that drove me up a wall. The whole movie is, quite literally, one flawed scene after another.

Take the start of the movie -- Riddick, on foot, alone, in a frigid wasteland with nothing but his wits and his knives -- running while being tracked by a spaceship! They close in -- the commander yells fire! -- and they almost get him with . . . . a net???? Riddick meantime lures the ship into a cavern where its high-tec devices and firepower are rendered useless and proceeds to slaughter 3 of the 4 crewmembers (the captain lives to bounty-hunt another day). Now wait a minute -- this is supposed to show what a great fighter Riddick is? They are trying to CAPTURE him, and he’s playing for keeps? Who’s actually the brave person(s) in this little scenario? And who’s the coward?

Flash forward, next cool fight. Riddick has made it to the holy man’s house on Helion Prime and the City government has sent out troops to conduct house-to-house searches for him, thinking he’s a Necromonger spy sent preceeding their invasion fleet. Eight of these dudes burst into the room where Riddick is, and he puts out the lights (candles) and then proceeds to put out theirs, permanently. Awesome fight, right?

Um, wrong. These eight dudes are obviously City Militia, probably not even as well-trained as policemen (remember, there’s the one downstairs who just cuts and runs when Riddick shows up for him). And Riddick is the last(?) in a race of genetically engineered super-warriors (the Furians) who is superbly trained. And then he’s gonna put out the lights, effectively blinding all the militiamen. 8 blind armed militiamen versus 1 trained and armed assasin at close quarters -- and he’s armed with close quarters weapons? You call that a fair fight? Riddick, that’s not brave, that’s COWARDLY.

‘Course it doesn’t help that good is so dumb -- a la Mel Brook’s Space Balls. I mean, you send out your entire militia to do a house to house search AT NIGHT and don’t issue anyone a cheap pair of night-vision goggles? Gimme a break!

But -- and this is the kicker -- it really IS the good guys that are dumb, because the Necromongers DO land and attack the planet in the next two minutes of the film, and the rest of the City Militia Troops run out and fight the Necromongers! They kill a bunch and get slaughtered in return. But think of this: those Militiamen are fighting to protect/save the inhabitants of that city, INCLUDING RIDDICK! And what has Riddick done in return? Just slaughtered eight of their comrades.
Maybe he’ll send an apology, explaining it was all just a terrible mistake?

Next major “whatthe?” scene. Riddick has been captured and is being taken to be
“reprogrammed” by the necromongers. They put him in a chamber where his mind gets assaulted by some combination machine/ghost apparatus which a.) completely immobilizes him, forcing him down on all fours while it “interrogates” him and strips him of all his metal weapons and b.) has about a twenty yard diameter area around it where everyone else -- including about 12
necromonger guards with projectile weapons and axes -- are all watching the interrogation. When the machine determines and announces that Riddick is a long lost Furian and must be killed, what is the first thing the bad-guy-leader does? Why, turns off the machine holding him immobile, of course! Whoa, and I thought good was dumb..... Assuming that they either don’t want to damage the machines
or they can’t use projectile weapons while the machines are on, why not have just four or five of the guards train projectile weapons on Riddick and then tell them that you’re going to count to three, and then turn off the machine at which point the guards are to fire one shot apiece. From an “on all fours” position, I don’t think Riddick will be able to outdodge the bullets at 12 yards distance. Instead, they leap into the chamber and try to axe him to death. But eh, the show must go on.. . . and *sigh* it does.

Which leads into the next question -- how come a civilization that can cross lightyears of space and has such incredible technology (something more destructive than even nuclear bombs), how come like 1/3 of all their footsoldiers are armed with . . . halberds? And what’s with the “dubbed footsteps” soundtrack and all the dudes marching about in unison? I was ready for a chorus of “O - eee - o, eyooo - E!” to break out and for the faces on the upright spacecraft to shout “I am the great and powerful OZ!” Maybe the next flight of fighters from the spacecraft could have been flying monkeys! Funky, guys. Very funky.

Next up: Riddick is captured by bounty-hunters and sent to the XXX maximum security facility on planet Crematoria. What was the deal with the chick (Kira?) when they let loose the “animals” for feeding time? Did she make it into a “safe” area or no? Then why did those four dudes (other prisoners) accost her? She’s been there years, and now suddenly they “capture” her? What for? They can’t be wanting to turn her in to the warden or authorities because she isn’t worth anything and she’s already been there for YEARS. So they have rape on their minds? Suddenly NOW they've got the hots for her? Yet they KNOW (as they’ve stated) “she’s always got a knife on her somewhere”. And they choose to FRISK her? Oh come on! You know she’s armed! You saw her kill a guy with her bare hands and a piece of chain within 20 seconds of Riddick’s setting foot on your prison floor. Yet now you’re going to FRISK her? And you expect THAT’S going to make her give up her knives?!?! Good=dumb, bad =dumb, movie = ???

And who can forget this memorable scene: Riddick and Kira are about to take on a slew of Necromongers prior to storming the bounty-hunter’s spacecraft, and Riddick says “Remember that game your talked about? Who can kill the fastest? Let’s play.” Man, if Kira had said “Let’s not but say we did” I would have gotten up and applauded. Instead we get treated to about ten minutes of gratuitous violence during which we KNOW that Riddick and Kira will both emerge relatively unscathed -- there are, after all, twenty minutes left in the movie.

Cut to the final scene. As in so many other movies, in the climactic fight between Riddick and the Ultimate Bad Guy (UBG) it’s obvious that Riddick is horribly outmatched. But for whatever reason, the bad guy drops his weapon (the knife Riddick threw into his shoulder) and agrees to go hand-to-hand barehanded with Riddick! Maaaaaan! Give it a rest! Then at so many times in the fight the UBG could just have grabbed a weapon, whoosed behind Riddick and blat! -- knife in the head! Game over! But noooooo, not gonna do that. Gonna fight him to total exhaustion, then give a long-winded speech while someone else sneaks up and gets me from behind. Arrrrrrrgh! Can’t we skip this tedious simplistic ending! We’ve seen this over and over again since the1960’s Batman cartoons with Adam West! Puh-leez!

I liked the dark atmosphere of the movie. The acting was actually quite good (um, Vin’s was ok, I’m talking more about the supporting cast). The special effects were great! There was -- gasp! -- a plot that made sense! But the whole movie was made up of these scenes where, one after the other, you’re asked to suspend credulity and say, “oh yeah, that makes perfect sense”.

Trouble is, it doesn’t.

So, as far as a science fiction movie, it’s a cut above the rest with it’s acting, atmosphere, plot, and special effects.

But can you "lose" yourself in it and enjoy it? Not really, unless you are just in it for the ride and the special effects eye-candy.

It's not so bad that I wish I had that hour and a half back (or whatever it was) but I'm certainly glad I didn't hit it in the theaters. Renting it from my library I can truely say it was worth every penny I paid to see it.

[jahcs]

All other funny business aside, my only question is:

How the heck could there be a breathable atmosphere on the prison planet! Did these guys even look at their storyboard pictures? It was a pretty neat effect though :P

[DeeBye]

Meh, I liked Chronicles of Riddick. I don't watch films like that for the story anyways. It's all about the action and effects, of which there was aplenty.

My favourite part:

[Xanthix]

Please, Please. Say what you will about Chronicles of Riddick. Vin Diesel can't act, there were plot holes you could drive a truck through, the names were corny, the lines were cliche, et cetera. All well and good, everyone can voice their opinion.

But let's not go throwing out comparisons to Battlefield Earth like it's no big deal. To even bring up the idea of a comparison to Battlefield Earth, a movie must already be widely acknowledged as spectacularly bad. And not just your ordinary run-of-the-mill bad. Not just flat, or dry, or lame, or unenjoyable. No, we're talking about agonizingly, excruciatingly, mind-destroyingly bad. The kind of movie that not only makes you wish you had your two hours back, but that actually causes you to lament the fact that your entire life is now in some way stained by the movie, no, the atrocity, you have just witnessed. And that's just to merit a possible comparison with Battlefield Earth; I don't want to go into the kinds of crimes a film must commit to be ranked against Battlefield Earth itself.

Disparage Chronicles as you will, but please, let's not lose all sense of proportion.

[Alrin]

If you go into the theatre expecting a movie to be something that it isn't, you are sure to be disappointed. I expected Chronicles to be entertaining, filled with action and a Riddick that did his usual goggle-wearing, throat-slashing thing. And he did. And all the "cheesy" situations were excuses for the director to remind us of Riddick's affinity for fighting in the dark as that would have gotten lost in the rest of the movie. Remember, in Pitch Black it was his eyes and (to a smaller degree) his furian side that set him apart from the run of the mill antihero.

Chronicles of Riddick was fun, enjoyable and a money well spent I think.
Like a roller-coaster, quick thrill unless you analyze it to death and start to state that the degrees of the curves were not optimal for maximum coaster-pleasure factor etc.

*shrugs* I liked it. Then again, I liked Johhny Mnemonic as well. Go figure.