The first thing that strikes you about this film is how different it is from Pitch Black which introduced us to the anti-hero Riddick. Chronicles is much bigger that the original – not only in budget but in scope. Riddick has moved from being a criminal to being a mysterious alien called a Furian who is fated to kill the Lord Marshall of the Necromongers who are rampaging across the galaxy converting or killing everyone who gets in their way. Another change is the character of Jack who (was actually a girl) who is now Kyra who is most definitely a woman. Finally the action takes place on several worlds – some unnamed – particularly Helion Prime and the rather unforgettable prison planet Crematoria.
There is much to recommend this film. Vin Diesel is a great action character who is not only fun to watch but is able to deliver great one-liners. What would a hero be, after all, without a killer quip at the right moment? The SFX are very good as are the action scenes. Even after seeing it at least 4-5 times the battles still get my heart racing. The prison planet was interesting but the set-piece during the escape was very silly and almost ruined the whole film for me. Although very dramatic and nicely shot the whole lot of them would have been toast before they got to the hanger. Only holding on to my sense of disbelief with grim intensity got me through that bit. Then there was the wonderful Judy Dench as the Elemental. Dame Judy is undoubtedly a national treasure and has acted in just about every kind of movie you can imagine. Her range is fantastic. I love her to bits.
Of course one thing you should never do during this film is think too much about things. Once you do that things quickly unravel and you end up chasing your tail in search of logical plot development. However, this film is gloriously entertaining in a bigger than life kind of way. It’s a total popcorn movie which is one reason why I like it so much. Lots of things are left unexplained (probably because the writers had no idea how to explain them) which is fine with me. These people grew up in their particular universe so knew stuff that would need to be explained to outsiders – but of course (apart from the audience) there are no outsiders – and so no silly explanations! So, basically ignore the first film, put your brain into neutral and enjoy the ride.
You’re not afraid of the dark – are you?
5 comments:
I loved Pitch Black and The Chonicles of Riddick. I really like where they took the character. Have you seen the animated short that fills the gap between the two?
I own, but have not played the first Riddick game. Have you played either?
Vin is pretty active on Facebook and really responsive to fans. He's spoken a few times about another film in this series. I'd love to see it happen!
mike said: Have you seen the animated short that fills the gap between the two?
No. Is it available on DVD?
mike said: I own, but have not played the first Riddick game. Have you played either?
Again, no. The game that came out (comparatively) recently looked interesting...
mike said: He's spoken a few times about another film in this series. I'd love to see it happen!
That I'd see...... [grin]
CK said: No. Is it available on DVD?
Yep, at least here in the states it is.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407658/
The middle animation is called Dark Fury - I haz it. Takes up the story from directly after Pitch Black.
Worth seeing.
I believe I may have to watch all 3 again sometime soon :-) Rarely for sci-fi, they get a lot right by keeping it fairly simple.
I've only seen Pitch Black. Looks like I need to add all 3 things to my Netflix queue.
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