"The Chronicles Of Riddick"

[Fearless Freep]

I just saw TCOR this weekend.  OK, I'm a bit behind the times since I rarely see movies in the theater so I wait until things hit DVD.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this movie, as so far I've liked all David Twohy stuff I've seen (Pitch Black, Imposter, Below)  It's definately *not* Pitch Black but if you take the charaters for who they are ad allow them to breath in the wider space of a galaxy  that Pitch Black only hinted at, I think it works.

I did think that Riddick constantly taking his goggles on and off for dramatic effect got a little overdone.

The pacing and the story arc definately had me relaizing that ths was the first act in a 3 act story, and I'm hoping that they can do the other two.  Pitch Black was a redemntion story for both Riddick and Fry and worked against the stereotypes of who the good guys and the bad guys were and who would survive.  This story is now about a Riddick who tries to honor that, but doesn't know how to, and ends up being the reluctant savior for reasons out of his control and choice.  I'd be very interested to see where this story would continue.

I liked the acting, and in particulr I was impressed how well Alex Davalos picked up the mannerisms of Jack.

[dean]

Chronicles of Riddick was ok in my opinion.  Some great ideas, but some bad follow throughs.  Part of what bugged me most was how the dynamic had changed so much compared to Pitch Black.  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for growth of characters and all that, but Riddick became a bit too soft.  They needed to be a bit more subtle I think.

Effects were great overall as well, but with a budget as big as they had, they darn well should have been.

Also I've heard the Chronicles of Riddick game was actually pretty good, so if you're looking for some more of that universe, go for it.  Haven't played it myself though!

Also the animated short cartoon was average.  Not bad, but not too good either.  From memory it bridges the gap between Pitch Black and TCOR.

[Ash]

dean Wrote:
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Also I've heard the Chronicles of Riddick game was
> actually pretty good, so if you're looking for
> some more of that universe, go for it.  Haven't
> played it myself though!

I've played "The Chronicles of Ridick: Escape From Butcher Bay" on the Xbox.
I borrowed it from a friend and managed to make it almost all the way through the game before I had to return it.
It is in my opinion, one of the best games out there for the Xbox.
I had a blast playing it!

[Yaddo 42]

Lots of people say the "Riddick" game is better than the movie, making it the rare exception since most film based video games half-assed cash-in/cross-promotional merchandising hack jobs.

I was so let down by the "Chronicles" movie. Great looks, sets, costumes, ship designs, and it didn't add up to anything for me. The true nature of Riddick was just the same old "last one of a special race" trope. I liked the character so much more when he was just a common criminal and stone killer with his own moral code and all consuming survival instinct. Like a wolverine crossed with a sewer rat, always cunning and vicious and never to be entirely trusted. I liked the idea that he was the way he was because he made himself that way to survive, not to find out in this film he was "born" to it. He reminded me of a scifi version of Conan before, now he was just the male version of the female warrior character from the first "Heavy Metal" film. And they killed off the two supporting characters from the first film who had inspired any compassion or humanity in him.

The way this filmed ended, left me with a "now what" feeling, he was head of an (evil) empire. While he could expand it, he really had nowhere to go but down in this universe or existence. Were they planning to make him into an interglactic Caeser, Alexander, or Ghengis Khan?

I wouldn't hold out much hope for the series continuing on film anyway, despite Diesel and Twohy reprotedly having both scripts already done (and under lock and key) when they pitched this one. Maybe as video games or comics, or animation even. But the film set Diesel's career back a great deal when it underperformed at the box office. He's still in a rebuilding phase with a lite kid friendly action comedy hit (The Pacifier) showing he's not box office poison and a critically lauded role in a small mob trial film (Find Me Guilty) directed by Sydney Lumet that shows he can still be taken seriously as an actor.

[Scott]

I really enjoyed PITCH BLACK much more.

THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK was just plain too much.

[Ash]

I must disagree with you all.
I found "Chronicles" to be much better than "Pitch Black".

If you watch the special features on the Chronicles disc...you'll find out that there's a whole universe of planets and characters to be discovered.

I personally think that Chronicles was by far the superior chapter in Riddick's life thus far.

[dean]

ASHTHECAT Wrote:
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> If you watch the special features on the
> Chronicles disc...you'll find out that there's a
> whole universe of planets and characters to be
> discovered.
>

I think that's part of the problem for me, as well as Yaddo's comment.  If there is such a breadth of universe to explore and discover, it certainly would have been nice to see more of that in the film.  Despite it's broad focus effects-wise, it was fairly closed off plot wise.  And like Yaddo said, making Riddick to be 'born' into being a badass was just annoying.  

That being said I still did enjoy the film.  I guess I started with such low expectations I thought I'd watch a pile of crap, and was pleased that I was entertained by it enough to not say it's a terrible film.

[Ash]

dean Wrote:
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there is such a breadth of
> universe to explore and discover, it certainly
> would have been nice to see more of that in the
> film.

Ah...but that is uncharted territory in the Chronicles of Riddick that we all have yet to discover.
Remember, it's all part of a chronicle

More adventure is in store for us!

[Gerry]

I had much the same initial reaction.  The change to Riddick's character bothered me quite a bit on my initial viewing, but the movie has grown on me quite a bit over repeated viewings.  It's really one of the better sci-fi movies of the last 5 years IMO.  Here's the review I wrote when the DVD came out:

Chronicles of Riddick Review

[Scott]

It had some good ideas, but the focus on action, the character of Riddick was meaningless to me, and the CGI was a draw back.

[Yaddo 42]

I watched the extras, which I only vaguely remember but I love any type of dossier of a storytelling universe/world/realm (it gives me a better idea of the scope and imagination of the creators), and thought it would make good material for a series of novels, comics, or even a TV series. The ship's log before encountering Riddick was interesting on it own but didn't add to the story of the film as far as I was concerned.

But it all seemed too much detail for too little scope (you can include Pitch Black, the animated film, and the video game if you want, but one's a prequel technically and the other two are tangents to me), since action was the emphasis over . And since Chronicles was more epic in look than story I was just underwhelmed. I wasn't excited enough by the movie to look forward to the rest of the story.

[Neon Noodle]

I actually liked Pitch Black better than Chronicles. I couldn't put my finger on it when I first saw Chronicles, but it hit me a few weeks ago...

Chronicles felt a lot like DUNE.

The whole fight sequence with the Necromonger boss capped it for me.