Escape to the Movies: Riddick

[Zac Smith]

The only real problem I found was the line which was something along the lines of "I'm gonna kill these guys then go balls deep in you" to which a majority of the audience laughed. My initial reaction was, did people just laugh at someone threatening to rape someone? Since when was that an ok subject?

 

[Farther than stars]

So essentially this film's approach to sex can be summarized as both misogynistic AND homophobic. Yeah... like I needed more of a reason NOT to go and see this.
Also, stone-faced meat golem would be a really cool band name. I just needed to say that.

I still havent seen it but I highly doubt its like that, he probably hits on her, she says she is a lesbian and he being Riddick probably keeps hitting on her because he is just that good. Not going after the "fuck you straight" but after the "I am so good that for me its worth it, the other guys just dont know how to pleasure you", the idea isnt that after he fucks her she is no longer lesbian, the idea is that he is the exception because he is that good.

That's what's misogynistic about it though. Essentially that's him saying: "Don't you worry your pretty little head about your sexual orientation. Let 'the man' figure out what you really want." On top of being incredibly chauvinistic, it's also just plainly arrogant. Never trust a man who touts his abilities more than his actions prove them.

Plain arrogant, yeah! Thats Riddick alright, but about this whole situation thats probably all he is and its not about man being superior to woman, its about him being superior to everyone. The guy isnt just talk though, he really is superior to everyone else (he isnt exactly human)

I mean, the guy basicly fights and wins against the most powerfull enemies out there and becomes like, king of the universe or some shit.

Being a good fighter doesn't mean you're superior to everyone else. Intelligence matters far more, for one thing. Besides, I'd never consider an arrogant man to be superior to anyone. Arrogance makes people learn poorly, so they don't develop their skills very well, which means that they're quickly and easily overtaken by better people.

 

[josemlopes]

Being a good fighter doesn't mean you're superior to everyone else. Intelligence matters far more, for one thing. Besides, I'd never consider an arrogant man to be superior to anyone. Arrogance makes people learn poorly, so they don't develop their skills very well, which means that they're quickly and easily overtaken by better people.

You havent seen the other movies/games, havent you? You would understand that he isnt all that two dimensional.

That statement was really left field from what we are talking about.

 

[mbarker]

I loved Pitch Black if they wanted to revisit that idea then great. Grweat idea but bad production. I liked the videogames too.

 

[Farther than stars]

Being a good fighter doesn't mean you're superior to everyone else. Intelligence matters far more, for one thing. Besides, I'd never consider an arrogant man to be superior to anyone. Arrogance makes people learn poorly, so they don't develop their skills very well, which means that they're quickly and easily overtaken by better people.

You havent seen the other movies/games, havent you? You would understand that he isnt all that two dimensional.

That statement was really left field from what we are talking about.

Yeah, I've seen them, but that's not the point. I just think that talk about "turning lesbians" is offensive. And I don't care who or what the hell you are; that kind of stuff shouldn't be allowed to fly in a civilized society, much less in a mainstream movie.

 

[Farther than stars]

Also if your a straight male who hasn't thought about turning a lesbian straight then obviously you should just leave your man card at the door. All it is, is a harmless fantasy and people should just get over taking sexuality so damn serious.

It becomes a little more serious when you consider that the real world does have a history of trying to force gay people to be straight, from camps where they're indoctrinated and encouraged to "pray the gay away" to straight-up raping them, there's also a difference between having a ridiculous fantasy and shouting it to the world through mass-media, potentially influencing people into thinking that sort of thing is okay.

Also, for using the term "man card" you're automatically kind of a douche.

Amen.

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.

Correction: 'little repugnant' should be 'totally repugnant'.

Unless the film actually has the lesbian start falling for him, there's no real implications that Riddick can fuck the gay out of women or that he's some "exception" to everyone's sexuality.

The question isn't whether he can do it, the problem is that it would even be implied.

Is it bad I want to see it even more for the idea of fuck her strait-

Yes, never question that. Next!

The only real problem I found was the line which was something along the lines of "I'm gonna kill these guys then go balls deep in you" to which a majority of the audience laughed. My initial reaction was, did people just laugh at someone threatening to rape someone? Since when was that an ok subject?

Never was. And yes, I did just answer your rhetorical question, because sometimes things just need to be said, regardless of rhetoric.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

At least they got rid of the shitty baggage from Chronicles. Why didn't they just make a Butcher Bay movie instead?

 

[Dogstile]

Heh, I always knew gay women would turn straight if only they had sex with a real man. Thanks, Vin Diesel! This movie sounds great! *rolls eyes*

I don't actually think she was a lesbian, the only time she said it was when she was surrounded by dudes. They also never actually fuck, so there's that too.

Edit: In fact, he never say's that he'll fuck her straight and she never mentions that she's a lesbian in front of him. Seems like some people are grasping at straws.

 

[theApoc]

The only thing I completely agree with in regards to Bob's review is the whole lesbian thing, mainly because there was no point in mentioning it OTHER than to have Riddick be crass about it. Her character would have worked just as well without mentioning it and the bit at the end would have made more sense were she not a self-proclaimed lesbian. I think the ONLY reason you would mention that in this movie is if there were another female character and the relationship between the two was there to add some tension, or a greater sense of danger. In this case it was just something tacked on for no good reason.

Beyond that. I am not sure what more Bob wants in terms of explanation regarding the second movie. Seriously, they pretty much sum up the whole thing, Riddick was king, he got complacent, people didn't like that, so they tried to kill him. All of which makes perfect sense in regards to the character.

Now, where I think this movie was let down was in the tension/suspense department. Pitch Black works because of the unknown element, this movie telegraphs everything that is going to happen, before it happens. It was a descent movie, made on a smaller budget. I think for the most part Bob is correct, just gets a little too "i hate the cool kids" for my taste when talking about movies like this.

 

[leviadragon99]

Huh... well the "fucking her straight" thing is pretty repulsive, if it weren't for that I might've considered watching this as popcorn fare...

Like I mentioned earlier, nowhere is the phrase "fucking her straight" ever used in the actual movie. Riddick merely makes a few lewd comments and then grabs her ass at the end. BTW, I don;t recall her sexual orientation even being mentioned in front of Riddick. There's also the small matter of the merc who attempts to rape her, but nooooooo, a couple of lewd comments is just sooooo much worse.

Just because it wasn't said openly, doesn't mean it wasn't implied.

And I think the other merc trying to rape her is also pretty pathetic, given that it's trivialising rape and using it as a cheap engagement tactic, easy vilification of the one guy at the expense of her.

And for that matter, sexual harassment via unwanted comments and touching may not be as serious as rape, but it's still a serious problem in the world today, and is just really icky to try and use as part of a morally ambiguous character shtick.

 

[Andrew Majik]

I guess I'm one of the few people on this planet that both REALLY like Vin Diesel, REALLY liked Chronicles of Riddick and actually Does Not like the Fast and the Furious movies. He's campy and macho, and the Riddick universe is really superheroy.

Did you know there's a whole series of VIDEOGAMES and an animated series based on Chronicles of Riddick? And that they ALL have Vin voicing Riddick?

 

[jmarquiso]

Wait, Battista, Diesel and Sakhoff all talked to Marvel after this movie, and are in Marvel movies. This wasn't a movie, it was a casting call.

 

[UM536]

That was supposed to be robocop?!?!

 

[spartan231490]

Honestly, this is yet another review that makes me wonder why your movie reviews are so popular. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they are, I love "The Big Picture" but, I disagree with you on virtually every movie review I've ever seen(which is reasonably few for that very reason. Well, there's my .02, not that anyone cares.

 

[VonBrewskie]

I loved this movie. I hear yah Bob. I do. I don't know. Aliens is one of my favorite films of all time, Pitch Black seemed like an homage to it back in 2000. Vin Diesel sold me on Riddick then. I thought "Chronicles" was kind of terrible, but in this disjointed awesome way I can't seem to help but love. Then this one. I mean, the guy literally stands naked on a precipice all like, "LOOK AT MY BALLS WILDERNESS!" He has like, fifty scenes where he stands like that, or slowly walks toward the camera. It was just self-indulgent awesomeness to me. It totally nailed the feeling I got from Pitch Black. Was it a great film? Helllllll no. It was just what you said. A B-Movie. I happen to love B-Movies with the kind of passion for the subject matter Riddick possesses. Here's hoping I see more of the Necromongers or whatever in a sequel. It'd be great to see more of them in a game perhaps.

 

[Jadak]

Like I mentioned earlier, nowhere is the phrase "fucking her straight" ever used in the actual movie. Riddick merely makes a few lewd comments and then grabs her ass at the end. BTW, I don;t recall her sexual orientation even being mentioned in front of Riddick. There's also the small matter of the merc who attempts to rape her, but nooooooo, a couple of lewd comments is just sooooo much worse.

Just because it wasn't said openly, doesn't mean it wasn't implied.

True, and it was definitely implied. However, I'm not sure Riddick was the one implying it, from what I watched it seemed like the 'lesbian' was more than carrying her own weight when it came to whom was coming on to whom. Frankly, she was so into Riddick that the biggest problem I have with the topic is that she declared herself as lesbian at all, as that does not seem to be the case as shown by her following behavior.

Also, while I'd have to check it again to be certain, I'm not sure Riddick is actually present during any moment where she clearly state herself as being gay.

 

[Primus1985]

I liked CoR, I was hoping it would expand the Riddick-verse and be a launching off point for other related media, but NOOOOO all he seems to have time for is 3 more Fast and Furious movies. The very least he could have done would have been a short animated movie filling in the gaps between movies, like Dark Fury did between Pitch Black and CoR. Oh well.


Again, I still didn't see how Chronicles was bad, no worse than some other drek that comes out.



Oh and I whole heartedly agree after watching the trailer to Robocop, it will suck, their not even trying to be like the original. Not even Sam Jackson's magnificence can save it. However whats with the "Maybe" to TF4? 2 was somewhat ok, not terrible but not as good as the first one, only thing that saved it was the Matrix of Leadership part. 3 was an unmitigated down right utter clusterf-. It made no sense and made some characters seem down right stupid. Hell Megatron was a total pansy the whole movie, perhaps the worst sin was Sam killing Starscream! Ive heard maybe Megs will turn into Galvatron and of course the Dinobots will be in it, but this is Michael Bay where dealing with the raper of our childhood. Galvatron will probably talk a lot and not do anything the whole movie only to be defeated by a maguffin. While the Dinobots...gods I don't even wanna think what he's gonna do to them.

 

[ForumSafari]

Also, while I'd have to check it again to be certain, I'm not sure Riddick is actually present during any moment where she clearly state herself as being gay.

He's not. At least if you don't take the view that Riddick is in every shot, you just don't see him most of the time.

Having said that I watched this film last night and as far as I remember he doesn't threaten to rape her, consent is specifically implied. He's also not shown 'getting the girl' at the end, in fact I read their relationship by the end of the film as merely friendly. That's a hell of a contrast because she's such a ***** to nearly everyone else but in and of itself her behaviour isn't odd.

 

[SecondPrize]

I just finished watching this. Where's the line where Riddick claims he'll fuck Sackhoff straight? There's him coming on to her, him telling her they'll have sex and her agreeing in the end but there's nothing like what Bob says. That's a very specific thing you're accusing the movie of doing, Bob, and I'm not seeing it in there.

 

[TheUnbeholden]

The reason the movie was made was not just because of Vin Diesel not wanting to let go, but the Riddick fans want another. I'm actually surprised it took this long for another. The fact that it is Pitch Black part 2, is more of a good thing then a bad thing... Joe is making it seem like it's a bad thing.. harping on it for having half the budget of the previous film, and the lesbian part. The movie has everything that made the first movie above average.

Except it doesn't have a believable religious character... instead it has a annoying religious guy who is played so over-the-top that you keep begging for him to die. That is the only bad thing about the movie..

There are nitpicks like how the female lead isn't as good as the first movie. Here the lesbian just comes off as cruel. The first movie had a female that was trying to be heroic eventhough she knows shes not. But I can also say there are some things I like better than the first movie.

I just finished watching this. Where's the line where Riddick claims he'll fuck Sackhoff straight? There's him coming on to her, him telling her they'll have sex and her agreeing in the end but there's nothing like what Bob says. That's a very specific thing you're accusing the movie of doing, Bob, and I'm not seeing it in there.

Yeah I think Bob is jumping the gun here.