MY Review of the New Riddick
Trailer.
OMG is all I can say. Those of
you that know me... Know how much I freaked for the first one and that
one had barely ANY Riddick in it at all and it left me wanting to see
the movie right then and there. After seeing the 2nd and now 3rd
trailer I'd not only push my mother out of the way to get into the
theatre quicker. Id run over top of her... LMAO I'd pretty much kill to
go to the premiere just to get to see it a few days earlier *grinz* .
Anyways to me it looks epic and mind blowing. I plan on
dragging everbody out to see this.
TNMC Review
Okay people, listen up because this will shock the
hell out of you. I get a lot of emails that infer I'm a soulless
bastard who wouldn't know a good movie if it was shoved up his ass. To
those folks I have to suggest trying a little harder. I enjoy hate mail
as much as the next guy but it really needs to be more creative. But
the shocking statement I have to make is that the Pitch Black sequel is
going to seriously rock.
That's right, I'm not going to bash this movie at
all. I'll get back to the abuse with my next review probably. I got an
opportunity to take in a screening of this movie and let me tell you,
it is nowhere near finished. I've been to a lot of early screenings but
rarely do the movies look this incomplete. Based on that I'm not going
to call this a true review as so much will be different by the time it
gets a wide release. Many of the special effects were not in place, the
score was temporary and the editing obviously needs a lot of
tightening. But what is there shows a hell of a lot of promise. Let's
get one thing straight. While this is a sequel to Pitch Black, you
should not expect it to be in any way a similar flick. Pitch Black was
a varient on the Alien theme and a very effective one at that.
Chronicles is nothing like that. This is not another movie in which
Riddick deals with some creepy aliens crawling around in the dark. No,
Chronicles aims much higher, attempting to be a sci-fi epic.
Following his escape in the first film,
Riddick has now holed up on a remote planet where no one will bother
him. Unfortunately, someone does bother him, trying to capture him for
the bounty. Riddick escapes and hide out blown, moves on to another
planet, one called New Mecca. Here he meets up with Imam (Keith David
from the first film). He also meets an elemental called Areon (Judie
Dench) who informs him that he is the last of a race called the
Furians. They were apparently great ass kickers. Dench goes on about a
prophecy that would seem to relate to Riddick and a group called the
Necromongers. In fact it was these two who put the bounty on Riddick to
get him out of hiding. Riddick is now officially in charge of saving
the universe from the evil invading Necromongers. He doesn't want the
job.
Now here is where the first film worked so well for
me. Riddick is a bad man but not evil. He is a ruthless killer but
still has a moral code. He cares nothing for authority but can't stand
by and let people be killed or abused. This movie again puts him in a
situation where he can't walk away because it will mean death to people
he in some way cares for. It just raises the stacks a teensy smidgeon.
The Necromongers launch an assault on New Mecca,
with the intention of taking it over and converting the residents to
the Necromonger belief system. It's as if the Borg were Jehovah's
Witnesses. Riddick is captured and the Necromonger leader scans his
brain to learn that Riddick is prophecied to kill him. Riddick manages
to escape, only to be nabbed by bounty hunters who deposit him on a
prison planet.
Also returning from the first film is the character
known as Jack. This was the young girl who emulated Riddick and
pretended to be a boy. Five years later she now goes by Kira and has
continued to mimic her hero by turning into a cold blooded killer. He
isn't exactly thrilled by this. But it continues the theme of shading
Riddick so he isn't simply a generic butt kicker. Also, I don't think
I've ever seen someone taken out with fine china before. Kira is stuck
in the same prison and the pair attempt an escape. From there it's off
to take out the head bad guy without being killed.
It's clear from the ending that more is planned. I
know I read somewhere that director David Twohy wanted this to be a
trilogy. Everyone's doing it these days. It's all the rage. You aren't
anyone as a director if you haven't done a trilogy. Sorry, off on a
tangent there. Twohy does deserve a lot of credit though. He could have
done the easy thing and rehashed the original movie and moved on. But
instead he slugged it out with the studio execs and went for something
completely different and a lot more daring. By daring I mean expensive.
Even though the special effects weren't in place yet, the sets were
lavishly designed and the costumes are real attention getters. No
expense has been spared on this movie.
It's been the cool thing to kick Vin Diesel around
lately but this movie should restore his luster. This is a character he
makes work very well. I'm sure he'd like to move on to more serious
stuff but Riddick should make him a true star. He handles the action
well, and shows some good comedic timing. He gets the benefit of a
solid cast that includes Judi Dench, Keith David, Colm Feore, Karl
Urban and Thandie Newton.
I'm not willing to state decisively how this movie
will turn out because it will look so much different when finished. It
could be a lot worse or a lot better. What I can tell you is that it
has the core of something pretty damn good and you should be keeping a
close eye on this one this summer. -
FILM
The Chronicles of Riddick
By Mark Ames
THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK
OPENS FRI., JUNE 11
THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK might very well be shit,
but the preview is so cool that it'll be worth risking a Hamilton and
change. A dead desert planet, an eerie witch-woman's
voiceover—reminiscent of Lynch's greatly underappreciated Dune—and
giant, stone-head ruins, like the Buddhist figures in the Bamiyan
valley that the Talibs blew up.
"Necromonger—it is the name that will convert or
kill every last human life."
Forced conversion—every Baptist's greatest fear,
worse than rearing a homosexual.
"Convert now or fall forever."
Trade in our 2000-year-old sand-zombie for your
1300-year-old sand-zombie?! Over our disemboweled bodies!
"The more you resist them, the greater the damage
will be."
This last line is spoken by a taunting, hot,
menacing black chick. She looks believable, contentedly zombified,
confident of the metaphorical-Muslims' victory.
And then that thumbhead Vin Diesel appears and fucks
the whole thing up.
Where's the drama? Of course Vin Diesel will
prevail. If you're American, you delude yourself—"suspend belief" they
call it—into believing that Diesel is the underdog even though he's the
star, just as Americans imagine themselves as the world's underdog.
This, of course, is one of the many lies that
Americans cling to. Fact is, America has never entered a military
campaign it wasn't 101 percent assured of winning. So why can't we
identify with who we really are? Are we really so horrible that we must
imagine ourselves as our opposite in order to sympathize with ourselves?
Glossy-magazine pinheads were gloating about
America's unsurpassed imperial power until right around the time those
Blackwater mercenaries took a wrong turn in Albuquerque. America is a
paper empire, and movies like Riddick prove it. We like underdogs,
therefore we are underdogs.
Problem is, we don't realize how dangerous our
underdog fetish is. The real underdogs, today, by any objective
measure, are the keffiyeh-and-polyester-wrapped guerrillas in Fallujah
with their RPGs and dusty Toyotas. Or they're the death-rocker Mehdi
Army irregulars, all of whom face certain death against our
multi-trillion-dollar-financed Death Star.
We're Lord Marshall's army, sending legions of
evangelical missionaries and USAID free-market crusaders into Iraq,
converting or killing all the "dead-enders" who oppose us. It's too bad
Riddick won't be about how the aliens capture and vivisect Vin Diesel
in the first 15 minutes, then spend the rest of the movie issuing
positive press releases about the progress Earth has made since Lord
Marshall "liberated" it. That would not only be funny, it might produce
the therapeutic "breakthrough" this country needs if it ever wants to
play empire with the big boys.
NY
Press Article Here
Reviews of the Pre-Screening from AICN
Disagree Agree? go let em know at AICN Talkback
Forum!
(click for site)
SPOILER ALERT
Harry-san,
Double T on
THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK!
(click to go to AICN)
Hey folks, Harry here -- I like these reviews we're
getting on CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK -- They're not orgasms, but at the
same time there is an enthusiasm that I dig going on here. That old
trailer still has the look of bad Sci-Fi channel Mini-Series... but I
think that's because it was so early - that hardly any of the
"money-shots" were in the can yet, but it sounds like the film has some
great stuff in it, and that Twohy has done a damn good job. We'll see.
Watch out for Spoilers...
Hairyman,
Just caught 'Riddick' at the Richfield 11! Went with
my partner in crime, Samurai Susan. I like a good sci-fi wannabe epic,
she likes a good Vin Deisel. Worked out for us both.
Saw some other reviews on your site, had a maybe yes
maybe no feel to them, so let me toss my shit into the ring right now.
I come down maybe yes. 'Maybe' cuz the movie ain't done yet, and they
tell you that straight up. Some special fx still have these green
screens back there, and other fx still look black and white and
cheese-a-delic at times. But other fx look dope, and you sit there just
praying that they all turn out that good. Like when the bad guys
conquer this world and park their ships all in a row .and then the
faces on the ships appear and then the ships start *BOWING* to their
Mr. Badassedness. Oh, yeah Gimme more of that shit. Straight into the
veins, please.
But let's back up. First a little about me: Pitch
Black liked a lot. Dune (original) liked a lot. Dune (TV) liked a lot
less. Blade Runner, immortal, baby - own it on tape and DVD. Hellboy,
good if you're stoned. Independence Day, good if you're brain-dead.
Vin Diesel's been up and down lately, but he's large
here. Samurai Susan never lost faith though I was iffy for a while. But
if you dug him in Pitch Black, you'll dig him here, even if it is a
very different movie. Is it a big monster mash? Nope but we do get some
new creatures. In 'slam' there's some dog/hyenna/porcuepine critters
that work like guard dogs, chowing down on any prisoner who gets caught
out. They're cool, but not what the movie is about.
So what IS 'Riddick' about?
Well, Riddick's a bad mother, of course, but seems
theere's some WORSE bad mothers out there, and they're called
Nekromongers. They're doing the crusade thing through the universe,
picking up converts along the way and bumping off planets behind them.
Not the most original there, but the STYLE that the movie does it in is
what makes it watchable very watchable.
Kinda like in Matrix, sometimes you didn't
understand what it was you were watching but it was cool to watch
anyway. The scene where Riddick gets his mind can-opened up by some
twitching corpses comes to mind. The invasion of the bad guys about a
half an hour into the movie is a little confusing, too whose doing what
to who? but it's kinda spooky that way, like what you'd could really
experience in an invasion. And then there's the creepy dudes in purple
facemasks. SS's best guess is that they're like Nekro hound-dogs,
sniffing out the enemy. If you figure it out, call me, okay? Anytime
after noon will be fine.
David Keith from the first Pitch Black is back for
awhile. They bring back 'Jack' too, but it's four or five years later,
you see, and now she's named 'Kira'. All I can say is, she grew up
good. Real good. The relationship between her and Riddick works because
she's turned into kinda the Mini-Me version of Riddick, and she blames
him for how messed up her life turned out.
Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking. 'Fuck
relationships. Does it kick some butt-age?'
Thumbs up on that count. Some other review mentioned
the tea cup + kill. Got cheers from the crowd tonight. But that's just
one moment. Better scene is the prison breakout when Riddick has to
chop his way through a small army of Nekromongers as he's trying to
reach a getaway ship as this Death Sun is coming up fast on his ass.
Many more thoughts, no time to pass them all along,
gotta get up early and fill out a tax return. Pathetic, I know. But
short answer possibly Deisel's best flick to date. Some weird-ass shit
goin' on, but it's a GOOD weird. If they got more planned, count me in.
Double T out.
Tonight I was in the test screening of The Chronicles of Riddick or Pitch Black
2: Diesel Power. I haven’t seen too much about the movie
except for the trailer so I thought that I’d weigh in on how it was.
I know that this is supposed to be a follow-up to
Pitch Black, but it’s so completely different. I liked that
movie. Thought it was completely fine… nothing that I’ve really
thought about everyday of my life, but fine - and I'll definitely check
it out again now. But what was cool about it was, well, Riddick -
which they wisely built up in this movie. Riddick is still a
fucking cool badass and he’s a character that Vin Diesel should just
stick with.
I just wrote a bunch about the story of the movie
but I erased it. Its pretty fuckin’ dense when you get into the
details – much more going on than what I even realized while watching
the movie. But that’s why it’s so different than Pitch Black –
that was a pretty straight ahead story. This… well… this had all sorts
of shit going on. Necromongers, Furians, Elementals – all new
races/breeds of people who are conspiring against one another.
Lemme just say this: I don’t know what the hell is going on in
the writer/ director's minds, but its pretty intense. I’m
probably going to catch shit for this, but the movie reminded me a lit!
tle of Empire Strikes Back without any of the romance. It’s just
kinda cool to see a big, original space movie with a little bit of
fantasy stuff thrown in. I can’t remember the last time I saw one
of those (I don’t count Star Trek – never got into those movies/TV
shows – and I don’t count the new Star Wars movies – ‘cuz they were
just a giant CGI let-down).
I guess the best way to do this is I’ll do a little
break-down of the movie by character:
Riddick – Still a badass. Doesn’t want to deal
with anyone… just kinda wants to be alone. He secluded himself on
a far-off planet which looked cold as shit and decided to grow some
dreads. He’s brought out of hiding by a merc named Tooms. He
escapes the capture, goes to New Mecca to see old friend Imam (who told
the mercs how to find Riddick), meets Areon (Judie Dench) who tells him
about a prophecy, so he gets wrapped up in a whole lotta shit with
these invaders called necromongers. Basically, he’s the only one
who can stop them because he’s one of the last Furians alive. So,
yeah, he’s supposed to save the universe. His response to that
was exactly what I wanted to hear -- “It’s not my fight.” But out
of survival and loyalty to Imam and Kira (who was Jack in Pitch Black),
he gets involved. Shit – I was trying to make this about
characters… basically, he is why we’re watching the movie. Yeah,
it’s Vin Diesel and I’ve kinda given up on him… but I found myself
waiting to see him kill someone else… waiting to see him kick a little
more ass… and waiting for him to piss off more people… just so he could
be left alone. And he’s the probably the only person who could
pull off killing a guy with a teacup. Note to Vin – stick with
this guy.
Imam – eh.
Whatever. This is the only character who kinda bugged me in Pitch
Black. He’s the same here, except with a family. Not the
biggest part of the movie… at all.
Areon –
Judie Dench! I mean who thought we’d see the day when Vin Diesel
is in a movie with a Dame? She’s perfect. She plays Ms.
Explanation – aka Areon who is of the elemental race. And,
really, if you’re going to have anyone to help explain what the hell is
going on with the story, it might as well be Judie Dench. Never
thought I’d say this about a Dame, but she’s pretty fuckin’ cool… very
conniving, manipulative, intelligent, and just cool.
Kira (the
artist formerly known as Jack) – I don’t know who the actress is who
plays her… but she was sexy in that “don’t touch me or I’ll kill you…
no, really, I’ll kill you” sort of way. She has a sort of
mentor/student relationship with Riddick – which it seems Riddick kinda
resents. But she keeps up with him in a pretty awesome escape
from a prison – the escape/chase is probably the closest moment to
Pitch Black. So, anyway, she’s a killer and yet still an insecure
girl who makes bad decisions… it was interesting to see what happened
to the little girl from the other movie.
Tooms –
Dunno who played him, but he’s got charisma. Think of a dirtier,
less heroic Han Solo with the career of Boba Fett. Thinking of
this and Pitch Black, the mercs make for some cool characters.
Lord Marshall
– The head of the necromongers. I know that I’ve seen the actor
who plays him a million times, but I can’t think of his name. Really
good villain, though. He is determined to take over the universe
so that he can convert everyone to the necromonger beliefs and so they
could go to the “underverse.” I don’t know where that is, but I’m
sure it’s a lovely place. And, kinda like Vader’s death grip
thing, Lord Marshall has his own power – he can see behind him and he
can kinda separate his soul and his body. To be honest, I don’t
know how to explain it… but its a damn good trick. And he looks
fucking cool. Rockin’ costume (I can’t be! lieve I just wrote
that).
Dame Vako –
Speaking of rockin’ costume, Thandie Newton fills hers out
perfectly. She’s just fuckin’ hot. Perfectly bitchy and
ruthless, too. If my memory of lit class serves me right, there’s
a bit of a Lady Macbeth in here (or if my memory of Throne of Blood
serves me right, there’s a bit of… well… shit, I don’t know her name…
but the female character… nevermind). Just hot. Really,
really hot. Moving on….
Vako – The
actor looked vaguely familiar and I spoke to someone who said he was in
Lord of the Rings. So, there you have it – I guess the Mohawk
threw me off. He’s the necromonger second-in-command and he’s
torn between loyalty to Lord Marshall and his ruthless ambition driven
by his Dame. I thought he was pretty good – could have seen a bit
more of him though.
Fuck… I’m blanking on all the other characters and
I’m tired…
Action –
Awesome. When Riddick kick ass, he kicks ass properly. Like
I said before, that’s what I wanted to see… and I most definitely got
it. And it’s not just him – just about every character got a chance to
whup a little ass. And a big battle between the meccan and
necromonger armies was pretty fuckin’ solid. Which I guess brings
us to...
CGI – Lots
of effects, many of which weren’t done for the screening… but what we
did see looked pretty good. There are a few decent spaceship
shots and battles, but it seemed like most of the CGI was used to
create all of the different planets (which there are about 4 or 5 of
them).
Design –
This is what I noticed first about the trailer and is probably one of
the most memorable parts of the movie. It really looks awesome.
The sets and the costumes and the look… all appropriately killer.
Pitch Black was so barren, this is totally… uhh… lush? Or
ornate? Or fancy? You know what I mean.
Music – I
wasn’t listening to the guy who introduced the movie, but I’m pretty
sure it was all temp score. It sounded a bit familiar.
Skip to the endddd….
Here’s the deal: I was pretty surprised to
like the movie as much as I did (and I think that other people in the
audience were too). It’s a bit too long, but it just felt kinda
different and fresh. It was BIG. There aren’t too many
movies which have the balls to introduce so many new types of people,
so many new planets, and to have everybody be a bit of a
badguy/girl. That’s one thing, there’s no… uhh… Frodo here.
No one you’re hoping stays out of harm’s way. You’re actually
waiting to see who gets into trouble and who dies… which was what I
also liked about Pitch Black – the people you were getting attached to,
died.
Oh, and the ending is kind of a twist which
definitely leaves this open to more Riddick movies.
And that’s that.
--Otis D.
Here's Magic-Bee
Hey all,
First time reviewer on your site - you can call me
Magic-Bee if you post this.
I just got out of the Chronicles of Riddick preview
shown here in Roseville, CA. According to the presenters, our
audience was the first in the country to see it. It was a rough
draft, so not all the effect shots were polished.
Overall Chronicles of Riddick (CoR) was packed with
action and special effects. However the story had alot of
questions left open unintentionally; I left very confused.
Perhaps some of those plot holes I experienced were answered in "Pitch
Black", which was the precursor to this movie. Based on what I
saw here, I probably won't invest another 2 hrs. to find out.
The actor performances delved into overacting at
times and the movie took itself too serious. I think the worst
culprits were the bad guys of the film, known as the necromongers, more
on them in a minute - think of campy bad guys from the old adam west
batman series.
The story begins in a council chamber where Julie
Dench, is consulting with black man dressed in a muslim wardrobe,
played by Keith David (starred in Men at Work - best known for saying
"someone threw out a perfectly good white boy"). Julie Dench
plays a seer that predicts the future based on calculated probabilities
and Keith David is an intergalactic imam. They are discussing how
to deal with a threat to the universe known as the
necromongers.
The necromongers are an intergalactic religious cult
which thrives by wiping out other civilizations. They assimilate
the people from these planets into their own ranks by force - think
star trek borg. Their costumes look like cheezy halloween gear -
little skull beenies and helmets with theatrical faces on them.
The leader of the warmongers is called the lord marshal or something to
that effect. He has the special power of phase shifting between
two points, as well as pulling the souls from peoples' bodies - think
Mola Ram from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. In the
shadows of the necromongers lies the seed of a power struggle - an up
and coming captain, played by Karl Urban (Eomer) and his wife (the love
interest from Mission Impossible 2) conspire to take the lord
Marshall's place as leader of the 'mongers.
Keith David must have been in the last movie, since
he knew where Riddick was living in exile. Dench puts a bounty on
his head and the story is off and running.
The scene switches to Riddick with some rasta dreds
- he has been living a Robinson Carusoe lifestyle. He is on an
ice planet and is quickly discovered by mercenaries hired from Julie
Dench's bounty. Needless to say, Riddick kicks butt, steals the
merc's ship and heads to the planet where the bounty originated.
He shaves his head, flips on his swim goggles, and gets ready to kick
some ass.
Riddick is reunited with Keith David and that is
when the necromongers arrive to take over Keith's planet. During
the encounter, Keith D. dies, Riddick vows revenge as he is taken into
monger custody. On board the necro-ship, the lord marshal
subjects Riddick to a mind probe. This was confusing to decipher,
but the lord of the necromongers discovers that Riddick is the chosen
one who will kill him, based on what the seer (Julie Dench) has
prophesized. Another battle ensues, Riddick escapes, and is
caught by some of the same mercenaries that tried to capture him on the
ice planet. Meanwhile the necromongers send Karl Urban to follow,
find, and kill Riddick.
This time the mercs succeed and deposit Riddick into
a subterrainian jail on a desolate planet(think one of the star trek
movies) There Riddick comes across a girl he knew from the "Pitch
Black" movie. She tried her hand as a merc and was betrayed,
resulting in her prison stay.
The rest of the movie focuses on Riddick escape and
his final destiny of destroying the lord marshal. I won't spoil
the rest of the movie, but I will say the final act was kind of campy
(someone laughed in the theater when the bad guy was put down).
On a more positive note though, the ending did have some irony
though. All I will say is remember the motto of the necromongers
- it becomes important later.
The good:
+Vin Diesel's comedic scenes were great! Death
by a tea-cup cracked everyone up.
+The camera angles and shots were very stylized -
Vin had alot of angle shots with him looking like a baddass sporting
his swim goggles. Alot of the starship shots were spectacular as
well.
+Escape from the prison planet - the surface of the
planet during the day gets to 700C - there was a scene where Riddick
was trying to run ahead of the sunrise to prevent from becoming talcum
powder. It was a very novel idea.
The bad:
-the plot holes - for example, Riddick kept dreaming
of this woman who had a blue-handed touch. Later she saves him
when the necromongers are about to shoot him - someone please tell me
who she was and how she caused blue energy to shoot from Riddick's
body?!? Also, what was the lord of the necromongers referring to
when he talked of the "underverse" - it sounded like a generic term for
heaven in their religion, but it was inferred - no one talked about
it.
The ugly:
-the necromongers - they are second rate borg clones
- especially the hound troops - they were these men on leashes,
sporting a glowing porthole on their face. They could see through
walls and far distances. There seemed to be different ranks too -
I am still trying to figure out what the skull beenie guys did.
Yo universal - fire your wardrobe department!!!
Yours truly,
Magic Bee, the roaming Riddick reporter...
And now for SevenStar_3...
Hi all- New to this, but I just wanted to let you
know that they held the first test screening of this film tonight and I
think it went over really well, from what I can tell from the audience
reactions.
I have not seen pitch black, or many other Vin
Diesel films for that matter, but I thought it was a good film with a
great ending. The action scenes were amazing, with some pretty original
death scenes. The score was really good.
Hardly any of the special effects were completed, we saw lots of green
screen, actors on ropes, and completely fake looking backgrounds and
spacecraft. But for me, being a film dork of sorts I loved seeing this
kind of stuff, I have never seen a movie in this state, and it would be
really interesting to see the final effects.
Overall, not being a huge Vin Diesel fan or sci-fi
fan, I thought it was a really original very well paced film.
I'd recommend it and it was good to see Karl Urban
in another movie.
They explain the backround story of Riddick, through
some tiny flashbacks, that I found just a bit confusing I could have
used a little more backround, going in not knowing anything.
The ending was very complete, but surprsing to me at
the same time. It tied things up very nicely, yet left things open at
the same time...... I wasn?t totally satisfied with the ending, though.
There was some pretty standard one liners- i guess
thats maybe part of what i dont like about vin diesel some of his lines
kind of took me out of the movie- they seem like they are just written
to get a laugh. but i have to say they did work in the film, the
audience laughed quite a few times, so i guess thats what they were
going for!
-and yes, i thought the same thing Judi Dench and
vin diesel? What the fuck? but it worked out just fine! they only have
one scene together....i kept wondering how did they think of Judi Dench
for this movie? but she was good in it.
i sound so vague, but hope this helps a little!
I probably would not have seen this film on my own,
but now I am glad I saw it. i am interested to see pitch black, and i
found some love for vin diesel through this film, that i probably would
not have had for him otherwise! I thought it was a good sci fi flick,
and although i would not really consider this my favorite genre, i
would give it a 7.5/10 without the special effects completed, and
probably and 8.5 or 9 out of 10 after they are completed. looks like
they are gonna be so cool!
sevenstar_3
One More RIDDICK Review!!
Hi, everyone.
"Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
And this time, the news isn’t very enthusiastic. I wanted to run the
reaction of someone who sounds like they just plain didn’t like the
film to try and get an idea of what their complaints are. Now that
we’re hearing from both camps, I’m very curious to see just exactly
what it is that David Twohy’s been up to. I like this guy and his
movies, and this sounds ambitious, if nothing else...
Hey Harry and all- first review from me ever, but
read your site daily.
Saw Chronicles of Riddick last night and was reading
the other reviews already posted, and I couldn't believe everyone just
creaming on this thing. For one, the entire time I'm watching this
thing, I couldn't help but be reminded of a bunch of other movies that
had similar themes or ideas and did them better. The actual plot has
been rehashed already, so I won't do the same, but I will mention that
the story is weak. Had a look like a cross between Lynch's Dune and
Flash Gordon until it went into the space prison which then looked like
Temple of Doom and that prison in S.T. Undiscovered Country where Kirk
and Bones were. This whole Riddick will save the universe thing just
wasn't believable at all and had many derivative scenes. At no time was
I ever surprised at any plot developments- in fact it was VERY
predictable.
The fight/ action scenes were nothing new using
harnesses and people flying around all over the place. Some actions
scenes had terrible lighting (which may be fixed by the time the film
opens) with strobes that just hide the poor quality of tension. And
folks, Vin Diesel is NOT a good actor. Maybe a step above Steven Segal
in ability. Maybe. The only decent performance was by Judi Densch, who
must be doing this for the money only. Colm Feore, who I usually
admire, was completely over the top and cartoony as the Necromonger
leader. The only real bright spot is seeing Thandie Newton's breasts in
about 15 different dresses - it was like she was hosting an awards
show, she had so many gown changes. The whole mercenary group that
caught Riddick was same ole, same ole. Tooms was NOT like Han Solo -
more like a poor man's Snake Pliskin. Plot holes galore and ridiculous
behavior by the bad guys (who could have EASILY have killed Riddick a
million times, but decided "he sure to be dead THIS time", bullshit).
And then the end which I saw coming about 45 minutes beforehand. It
looks like all the money for this movie was spent on costumes and CGI
effects - in this case, it just can't carry a movie by itself. I read
that they're planning two MORE of these?! Jesus wept.
Call me Zigbrew
Ouch. I’m still open for any more reactions from that screening, good
or bad. Universal’s got a lot of money staked on this one and VAN
HELSING this summer, and more than that, a lot of geek hopes. I’d love
for both of them to end up being good, so these reactions fascinate me
so far...
"Moriarty" out.
Hey Harry,
I just back from a test-screening of the Chronicles of Riddick, here in
Tempe, Arizona. I was pleased when I learned that the screening would
be of Riddick, since Pitch Black is one of my favorite sci-fi/horror
movies of the last few years. In fact, I discovered the movie largely
through AICN's ceaseless promotion of it back in 2000. The print that
we saw was far from finished -- it was full of green screen shots,
wires, and an innocuous temporary score.
It certainly helps to have seen the original film, especially at the
beginning, but on the whole, Riddick is supposed to stand apart from
Pitch Black. Unfortunately it stands apart in a negative way. Pitch
Black was an intimate, atmospheric, and (I thought) intelligent horror
movie with a touch of sci-fi. Riddick is overblown, bombastic, and
(mostly) dumb. David Twohy returns as director, but little of the first
film's originality is apparent in the sequel. The story, such as it is,
involves a race, or perhaps more accurately, cult of aliens called the
Necromongers conquering the universe in a messianistic attempt to bring
about the "Underverse," something that is never really explored beyond
the beginning of the movie (unfortunately portending another sequel).
Riddick enters the story as a pawn of Imam, the holy man from the first
film, and Aereon, an "Elemental" being played by a mostly-wasted Judi
Dench. She seeks to convince Riddick that he is the last of a race
called Furions, the only beings feared by the Necromongers. At this
point the Necromongers invade the planet, and this is where the movie
began to lose me.
The Necromongers are supposed to be brutal, they're supposed to be
menacing and vicious. Unfortunately they looked kind of silly to me. I
appreciated the design of their ships (especially the literal cascade
of them that takes off during the invasion) and the menacing and
towering statues they place on the planets they have devastated, but
the actual aliens (technically they're humans converted to the
Necromonger religion/military) look rather like an average Star Trek
race. They come off as clunky and cumbersome and just plain
uninteresting.
I'm not going to summarize any more of the movie, partly because it's
good to go in relatively unawares and partly because the story's
somewhat muddled. I don't want to be too brutal on the movie, it did
have its redeeming qualities, and it was very preliminary. After the
Necromonger attack the film jumps around to a couple different planets,
one of which is Crematoria, a Mercury-like prison planet, with a deadly
solar daybreak that makes for an exciting race-against-time sequence.
There are a couple of very cool escapes that show flashes of the
resourceful Riddick from Pitch Black. Midway through, another character
from the original film makes a welcome return appearance. There were
also some very cool stunts that I could tell will be real showstoppers
when the visual FX are completed.
Diesel himself is adequate. Back when Pitch Black came out he was a
fresh, exciting face, with had a bit part in Saving Private Ryan, and
who voiced the Iron Giant. I thought the guy could do no wrong. Now,
with The Fast and the Furious and the execrable XXX behind him, Diesel
seems overexposed and too one-note. In hindsight, it seems that Pitch
Black was the taut suspense movie it was because Diesel was kept
somewhat in the background -- he was a menacing presence who played off
other characters doing their best to keep him in check, wondering when
this ruthless killer might snap. Now he's unquestionably the main
character, with no filter, and he loses some of his edge (though to be
fair, Pitch Black was a fairly hard R, while Riddick seems to be
striving for a PG-13).
On the whole, the movie is dogged by uninteresting characters and an
overly ambitious scope. Honestly though, with completed visual effects
and judicious editing (there were some jarring moments, where the
camera holds for perhaps twice as long as it should), it could be
redeemed. I'd give it a 5.5 right now; serious tweaking could get it up
to a 7.
If you use this, please call me QuestionMark
Reviews of the Riddick Trailer
(note:I had more reviews but my computer crashed and I lost
everything... these are the ones I compiled in a quick search I don't
feel like getting them all again)
The first trailer
for The Chronicles of
Riddick is now
online and, while it's difficult to tell at this stage, it has a lot of
potential. Diesel's back in the role that made him famous with his
distinctive engine-idling growl and imposing presence reminding us why
we liked him in the first place - before xXx turned him into a
sub-Bond studio star. The look of the film is astonishing and if
nothing else someone should probably give lollipops to the men and
women who handled the set design.
But with the
expensively constructed burnished
metallic backdrops
and
the pleasing presence of Judi Dench, the sequel is a very different
affair to its predecessor. Abandoning one of the two clever concepts
(the alien planet is now but a distant memory) and ramping up the
production scale considerably, The Chronicles of Riddick
seems likely to become everything the first film avoided and, while we
hate to say it, may be suffering from delusions of grandeur.
From
Empire Online
"The Chronicles
of
Riddick" with Vin Diesel. Today the first details have emerged on right
here on the content of that last one's preview.
The teaser piece is said to include some sweet FX
shots like Judi Dench
walking down a large desert temple stairs (though from the back she
seems almost transparent), giant alien statues, lots of combat
fighting, women in elaborate dresses, some great epic army shots and
silhouettes/close-ups of Vin Diesel reprising his role of the
mirror-eyed Riddick.
Other great standout 'fantasy' shots include someone
in an almost old
diving bell style design suit but the inside is filled with transparent
purple light. The Necromanger ships are glimpsed, and the doozy of a
final moment where a giant falling elaborate stone coffin/statue
crushes everything in its path.
Dark Horizon's
Article Here
Ah, it's arrived.
Our first
long-awaited look at the expansion of the PITCH BLACK universe
is finally here in the form of the trailer for THE CHRONICLES OF
RIDDICK.
We finally get to see our first look at Dame Judi Dench's Elemental
character, Colm Feore's Lord Marshal and the return of Vin Diesel's
Riddick. It looks gothic, a little creepy, and seems to be filled with
loads of action including a promising shot of Riddick trying to outrace
a crashing spaceship.
Article from cinescape
We've been blessed; everyone this is 'Pitch Black 2',
potentially one of the coolest films to look forward to in 2004!
If
there was any movie that was released which has real high potential to
spell the word 'success' by producing a sequel in the movie industry,
it has to be 'Pitch Black'. I'm sure many PCS readers have seen or
heard of this movie in one form or another, but now the sequel (or is
that prequel?) is coming...
Due to be released
in
TBA
June 2004, 'The Chronicles of Riddick' (AKA Pitch Black 2) is going to
be big and I'm personally can't wait to see it. Starring Vin Diesel,
this popular man from the movie xXx and the original Pitch Black is
going to rock everyone�s world next
summer.
Popculture shock Review
I have to admit I felt
some skepticism about the Chronicles of Riddick movies
upon their announcement. I mean, I liked Pitch Black a
fair bit, but Vin Diesel hasn't exactly approached his potential with
recent cinematic decisions.
Still, this looks pretty
zazzy, with production design that appears to smash Dune and
Stargate together with some leftover Temple of
Doom sets. Epic and intriguing. And I'm a mark for Thandie
Newton and Gwen Raiden.
Review
from
Chud.com
The Riddick trailer
gives me hope for the film. They have expanded the scale vastly from
the first film with large scale battles and fantastic CG visuals. The
preview doesn't give to much away, and is surprisingly almost Diesel
free. Its great to see Dame Judi Dench in something other than an art
house or indie film. We'll see...
Film
Rotation Review
Vin Diesel returns in this sequel to the surprising hit "Pitch Black."
This teaser trailer does a great job of promoting the film while not
giving away too much.
Romantic
movies.com review
12/23/03
- The trailer did indeed
premiere online over at Apple.com
soon after I posted that last bit about the teaser site. It doesn't
make much more sense in a lay sense than the teaser site, and I'm not
sure how many people get that the movie even stars Vin Diesel, because
he is barely in it. Many people who are fans of the first movie
probably caught on that Riddick is from 'Pitch Black,' but for many
people, that connection might not be readily apparent (but since they
don't mention it, maybe it's not entirely intended to be?). Anyway,
this is obviously a very big, ambitious space opera; but I'm not
entirely sold yet on whether or not there will be a corresponding big
audience for it. As usual, Vin Diesel certainly gets points for
ambition though.
12/16/03 - While we wait for the trailer to
appear online (and
in theaters with The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) later
today (and/or tomorrow), the official series site
has a spooky monologue for you to listen to, in which Dame Judi Dench's
character introduces you to the concept of the Necromongers, while
spooky imagery with a distinct HR Giger feel floats, vibrates and
flashes by. All in all, it establishes an even creepier sense of dread
than the first movie did... the trailer probably will too.
From
Yahoo Movies.com