Escape to the Movies: Riddick

[Slash2x]

Most of the time(80-90%) I am like "wow Bob is right on target with what I think about movies games etc"..... Then he throws this at me.... Sorry I from a personal perspective LIKE ALL of the Riddick movies and I think that Vin Diesel is a good actor, who has more range than half the overpaid idiots we see to shill in mainstream media... *sigh* See you next week Bob hopefully we agree again.

 

[Metalrocks]

lol, here in australia the movie is rated MA15.
it sure looks like pitch black but im still gonna watch it. i enjoyed both movies that you cna watch them several times and this new one looks pretty much the same.

 

[cricket chirps]

So, I am beginning to disagree with Bob more and more.

Riddick: Entertaining/good. Just saw it with four other people. Two guys, two girls, a variety of different tastes. All of whom thought it was good, not perfect, but worth our time. It was certainly not "B movie" classified.

Robocop remake: YES, at least something is being done with the idea and it is not just being left to age and be forgotten.

Transformers 4: Really Bob? "...maybe" coming from the biggest Michal Bay hater I've ever heard? NO. I would underline that if I knew how. NO! Transformers is and should be done. No one wants more.

 

[Summerstorm]

Hm, well... i am one of the few people who didn't like "Pitch Black" that much (It's Ok) but LOVED Chronicles or Riddick. It is a crazy inventice story. It's more like the 80ies fantasy b-movies whre you get the sense that someone wanted to tell you a cool and entertaining story and not just someone who got a script approved for an attempt audience money-drainage with "optimized appeal".

The difference was: It was well funded and directed and had a great cast. It is just absolutely entertaining. (I gave it an 8/10 and still can't believe the IMdB weighted average is only 6.6)

Now, when i saw the trailers for "Riddick" and saw it was basicely a Pitch Black-Sequel and not a Chronicles-Sequel... i was disappointed. Perhaps i will watch it... but likely i won't (At least not in cinema) Man, i wanted some crazy half-mystical crap happening. (Also Toombs trying to get revenge *g*)

 

[IndieGinge]

If by 'harmless fantasy' you mean: 'something that not only bellitles the life choices of a group of people who still face extreme persecution in parts of the world, but makes their sexuality seem like something that can be fucked out,' it is indeed a 'harmless fantasy.'

Everyone faces different types of persecution in different parts of the world. I have had sex with women who claimed they were lesbian and then they said they were bisexual. I guess I am a horrible man.

If group of people still faces hatred, persecution, and violence based on some childish notion of morality or tradition, which gay and lesbian people do, it's just crass and insensitive to have a 2013 movie with the 'screw you straight' trope. It's homophobic and basically implies that a woman can't not be totally uninterested in sex with a man. 'Lesbians? Pah, those don't exist! All women want "The D" at the end of the day.

I'm not here to debate your life experiences, I'm talking about how a particular narrative element looks in a 2013 film. In this case, dated and inappropriate.

To be fair to the movie, though I've not seen it yet, from what Bob was saying, I don't think that Riddick actually does this, more that he threatens to do so as part of his "morally ambiguous barbarian badass asshole" shtick. I feel like Bob would be up in arms if he actually did change her sexuality through sheer machismo. Instead he was just disappointed by the film's use of the idea. If I'm wrong then let me know, but it alters whether or not the movie just makes a somewhat clumsy use of a trope, or actually is a little repugnant.

 

[Callate]

Saw it tonight. It's not at all a bad flick; the over-the-top superheroics of "Chronicles" have been toned way down, the creature effects are all pretty well done, and if you come in in the mood to enjoy this kind of movie you will probably indeed do so.

And the "fucked straight" thing is a big misnomer. Riddick does say some sexually forward things, largely in the same manner that he goes about trying to rattle everyone's cage, but there's no particular suggestion that Dahl (Sackhoff's character) actually responds with anything much more than amusement. And, frankly, Dahl is one of the few characters who receives that much time for development, and the movie seems to have far more respect for her than anyone should feel was undermined by what amounts to a small amount of banter.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I really liked Pitch Black and Chronicles. Pitch Black > Chronicles though.

I haven't had any exposure to the games or anime though.

I always thought it would be cool if Riddick had a crossover with Aliens, Predators, The Fifth Element, or Metroid.

Imagine Samus being the bounty hunter after Riddick. That sadly, is probably at the top of the list on things that will NEVER in any pandimensional alternate Earth ever happen.

 

[WiseBass]

I mostly just feel indifferent towards this film. Pitch Black worked . . . once. Even then, I wouldn't oversell it - it's a good Space Horror movie with some exceptionally good cinematography (particularly the lighting), and some surprising character development hidden in there.

Why is Vin Diesel pushing the character now? I remember an interview with him a while back where he expressed surprise that someone was pushing for a sequel to Pitch Black, since the movie itself wasn't a major box office success.

 

[Sean Deli]

The problem with that logic is that Riddick, who wasn't the protagonist in the movie, was a deeply ambiguous character. You didn't know until the very end what he would be willing to do - or even what he'd WANT to do - in that situation. That was the main source of tension within the movie.

Two movies later, do you think they'd be able to recreate that? I haven't seen "Riddick" and probably won't, but I don't hold out much hope. And it's not as though MovieBob has given it a stunning recommendation to convince me otherwise.

This person gets it.
The charm of Pitch Black was that it toyed with the idea of having the protagonist to be a morally questionable character BEFORE stuff like Dexter popped out.

The Chronicles did try to uphold this, but had to revert to idea "I will save my daughter-figure AND accidentally save the whole universe as a by product"

But there is demand for unapologeticcally bad protagonists in action films.
Not "he only brutally murders rapists and nazis, he only steals from the mafia" - the true "he is an immoral f..., he is incapable of empathy and here is his tale"
Like Anton in "No country for old men"

Why? Because world is complex and bad people exist.
And sometimes they win and live happily ever after.
Learning to live with that is important and part of life.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Strange, I thought you'd tear this one to shreds for being an adrenalin remake of an apparently mediocre/silly action film based entirely around a single one-dimensional badass character at the actor's own insistence (which in fact he was talked out of a while back, but tried again).

I remember well Yahtzee's explanation of what made Riddick interesting in Pitch Black but after that merely a cardboard cutout fully interchangeable with Wolverine or Arnold with the exception of that voice... Man, that voice, how does he hit that pitch (the black pitch, you might call it)? That, not seeing in the dark or being a badass, is Riddick's truly unique power.

 

[Seydaman]

Eh. Doesn't look that interesting.

But that ending. That was good.

 

[erbkaiser]

Damn, a retread of Pitch Black, while probably awesome, is not what I was hoping for. I wish Riddick 3 would have been able to find a middle ground between PB and Chronicles, much like the animated Dark Fury managed.

Still, I'm going to see this. It may not be the best movie out there but it does sound like a lot of fun.

 

[talideon]

...so when Bob tells me that the new movie has no explanation of what happened after Chronicles, I'm a little pissed. Sorry but...WHAT? An entire evil galactic empire with gigantic fleets of ships and magic-powered technology wasn't a big enough deal to continue with? What the fuck did Riddick do after the last movie, just grab a ship and fly away with the entire empire's attention on him?

You know what, screw spoilers, I'm going to dig up the plot of Riddick and see if it's even worth my time.

No, there's a bridge at the start of the movie explaining why Riddick went from being in that position to being stranded on the planet. It's a bit terse and could've been handled better, but it's still there. I'm guessing it was as short as it was for budgetary reasons.

 

[ninjaRiv]

I think Bob missed the point here.

Riddick is an emotionless serial killer. So the lack of acting skills for Diesel works. It's what makes Riddick the character he is. As for saying he can fuck a lesbian straight? "Gross" seems like an overreaction. But besides that, he's a serial killer. He spent his life murdering, living on deserted planets, getting into fights all over the galaxy. Pretty sure it's nothing special when he says something like that. So, to be honest, I don't think Bob understands the character. Which is odd, since he's a really simple character with no real complexity.

 

[wildpeaks]

Aww, are there really so few people that liked the second movie ? Sure it's different from Pitch Black but it was great too and I always hoped for a sequel of that one, it opened a interesting backstory & universe

 

[Kelgair]

Okay, The Critic reference at the end genuinely made me laugh.

 

[fractal_butterfly]

There are some buttons that can easily be pushed to make Bob hate or love an entire movie. It's just... I get the feeling recently that he is to much giving into that instead of trying to neutrally criticise the movie. I don't have the same Buttons as you Bob, I don't think your reviews work for me anymore...

BTT: It's a shame that they don't follow, or completely drop, the Necromonger-Storyline. It could have been something like Space-Conan-the-Babarian ;-) Maybe I will enjoy this nontheless, I just like the character and the universe they created in Cronicles of Riddick

 

[AngryPuppy]

I get the feeling from this video that the only reason you dislike Riddick is because of Vin Diesel and the only reason you seem to hate him is because he is a "tough guy". I usually like your stuff but really, get over the High School Wedgies already. Diesel doesn't have a lot of range but he fits perfect for this Character and the Riddick movies are fun.

 

[mrhateful]

chronicles of riddick is one of my favorite movies, and the reason for that is that vin diesel is able to pull off not just another bad ass character but a character that that just look that way but in reality more is going on beneath the surface. It also feels like vin diesel is like the perfect person to play riddick when you watch he you feel like he is riddick and not just some actor paid to play his role.

 

[IceStar100]

Is it bad I want to see it even more for the idea of fuck her strait. It's so backward sexist it's funny. Like lollypop chainsaw. Then again I've been looking forward to this since Vin said he was going to do it.