Movie Defense Force: The Chronicles of Riddick

[tzimize]

See also:

Escape from Butcher Bay and Dark Athena are some of my favorite games to boot. So. Damn. Good.

Is the new Riddick worth watching?

I'm guessing: yes. I loved Pitch Black, and I loved Chronicles. I dont like everything Vin has done (cars are extremely boring to me), but I LOVE Riddick and how dedicated Vin is to the character. Even if its cheesy, I just love it.

I'm looking forward to Riddick and I'm heartbroken that Chronicles didnt make more money.

 

[Evonisia]

I watched The Chronicles of Riddick before Pitch Black, and I absolutely loved it. Yes, it was incredibly cheesy but ultimately it was a pretty solid action flick with quite the decent length. The constant involvement of the more fantasy like qualities into the science fiction kept me gripped purely because any big sci-fi thing with some whimsical elements gets me invested a little bit.

I watched Pitch Black a year or so later with my Mum, and I was like "holy shit, it's Riddick!". The biggest issue with TCoR is that it's a sequel to Pitch Black. If it changed the main female's name (in fact, they did change it) and made it so neither her nor the character played by the Arbiter (I think it's Keith David?) were the other survivors from Pitch Black I think it would be solid enough to stand on it's own. I love Pitch Black, I love almost everything about it. Hell it even inspired Epic Games to put the Kryll into Gears of War, and the Kryll is one of my all time favourite video game enemies.

I've yet to see Riddick, I want to and I'll probably buy the DVD if I see it, though I'm not sure whether it's any good (kinda looks like a mixture between Pitch Black and TCoR).

 

[Jennacide]

Finally defending a movie I agree with, yay! I love the whole Riddick universe, and while Chronicles is the least impressive of the bunch, it's still rather enjoyable. I think part of the problem is the movie was kind of a 180 from Pitch Black, and Riddick was an unpredictable maniac in that. Chronicles you know exactly what he's thinking and what he's going to do, and that lessened some of the intensity. But still, I loved Chronicles, just not as much as Pitch Black of Escape from Butcher Bay.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

WHAT? This needed defending?
Guess me and my 80's born friends are all just stupid for liking this, then and now...

Btw, first movie I ever got in 1080p... it was that long ago.
We stared at the screenshots I'd made from the DVD versus that 1080 file, and the planet detail was just STUNNING... ^_^

 

[zvate]

I find myself in full agreement with Jim... This was a fun movie I enjoyed (although I freely admit that the horror adaptions and sequals I enjoy the most are those that have removed all the scary

 

[WindKnight]

Vin Diesel doesn't deserve all the hate he gets. He may not be the best actor around (and he has done some truly horrendous films), but at least he has fun. As for Chronicles of Riddick, well, I was never really a big fan. I liked Pitch Black, but Chronicles was just... all over the place. It's been nearly ten years since I have seen it, so maybe I just need to watch it again to know for sure.

He's the Iron Giant. He'll always have a special place in my heart for that.

'Superman!'

Anyways, loved Pitch Black, was Meh on chronicles, loved Butcher bay.

 

[grumpymooselion]

I like it when people point out that this film isn't that bad.

I loved Pitch Black. I liked Dark Fury. Chronicles resulted in an explosion of maniacal giggles throughout its run time, and only in the best of ways. I love these movies. I love Vin Diesel in these moves. I wanted more of these movies, and then this movie flopped. I was moving at the time, I didn't get to see it in theaters like I did with Pitch Black. I was sad about that, and when everyone I knew, and every critic I read, was telling me it was terrible I couldn't believe it. So when I did get to see it, as a rental, I couldn't believe. Granted the version I saw when I rented was not the theatrical release, it was the extended director's version with even more fantastical elements that got cut out of the theatrical release (which I saw later, when I bought a full pack of all the Riddick movies, complete with both version of Chronicles).

I've watched and rewatched these films. When I read that not one, but two, new Riddick movies were coming out - one more like Pitch Black (the one already out) and one more like Chronicles (the second one that I REALLY hope is ACTUALLY coming) I went ballistic. I was overjoyed. Something I thought wasn't going to happen is going to happen. When I saw the new Riddick movie in theaters I ignored all press and all commentary. I knew what they'd say, and sure enough, over and over, even trying to ignore them, I heard how terrible the new Riddick movie was, "Why did they make more of this shit?" I've heard. Well, I'll tell you why they made more.

Because this shit is awesome.

The new Riddick movie was great. I've yet to be disappointed by a movie in this franchise. I'm on board. I'm ready for more. Bring it. Bring it all.

-

Also I happen to think Vin Diesel doesn't deserve most of the flack he gets. I rather like the Riddick character he plays, but the one thing that really won me over was a preview of Assault on Butcher Bay. The Video game adaptation of the Riddick universe. Yeah, the old Xbox title, before it was updated and packaged in with Dark Athena. The interview had him at a convention talking about Butcher Bay. Playing bits of it on the floor. Talking to people. The man was so hyped. I'm not talking, "I'm selling this game" sort of stuff, I mean he is bouncing up and down like a schoolgirl, all giddy and happy. Every time he thought something in the game, or that he was talking about, was awesome, you saw it on his face. He wasn't saying it to the camera. The man was saying it to himself, like he couldn't believe that he actually got to be involved in making a video game.

That sort of joy, that sort of love for what he was doing with the Riddick universe and that game? That won me over. Vin Diesel is awesome.

 

[asbrandr]

At some point you should defend Splice (2009). People mistake it for a terrible sci-fi horror when it's really just terrible if you view it as such. By viewing it as a coming of age drama it turns out it is a winner! Splice is about a couple learning (and stumbling some along the way) what it is like to raise their first child together as well as their daughter as she discovers her inner beauty and overcomes the trials of being an awkward teen that has trouble "fitting in". You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll giggle as you join this nuclear family on their quest through parenthood and child rearing and finding one's place in the world.

 

[drschplatt]

I never thought the movie was all that bad to begin with, but what do I know, I'm just a paying customer.

 

[Raikas]

?
it. Also Mr. Makt had seen Colm Feore at the Stratford Festival for many years in the 80's, and was quite happy to see him finally in the movies.)

Heh, I had that reaction as well (in my case it was Stratford in the 90s, but still).

The randomness of the cast was one of the things I thought was pretty awesome about it.

 

[Tono Makt]

Also I happen to think Vin Diesel doesn't deserve most of the flack he gets. I rather like the Riddick character he plays, but the one thing that really won me over was a preview of Assault on Butcher Bay. The Video game adaptation of the Riddick universe. Yeah, the old Xbox title, before it was updated and packaged in with Dark Athena. The interview had him at a convention talking about Butcher Bay. Playing bits of it on the floor. Talking to people. The man was so hyped. I'm not talking, "I'm selling this game" sort of stuff, I mean he is bouncing up and down like a schoolgirl, all giddy and happy. Every time he thought something in the game, or that he was talking about, was awesome, you saw it on his face. He wasn't saying it to the camera. The man was saying it to himself, like he couldn't believe that he actually got to be involved in making a video game.

That sort of joy, that sort of love for what he was doing with the Riddick universe and that game? That won me over. Vin Diesel is awesome.

I'm going to find some way to ensure this isn't a "Low Content Post" while I essentially quote you with "QFT!".

He's not going to win an Oscar for his acting ability (even if he was cast in an Oscar-worthy movie, like a stereotypical Gay Cowboys Eating Pudding movie), but he's an extremely enjoyable actor to watch. I've enjoyed watching him in pretty much everything I've seen him in, even the Pacifier. (I didn't really like the movie, but Diesel made it enjoyable) When he's in a movie, that movie is an automatic "Maybe - definitely look more closely at the movie." to seeing it in the theatres. If I enjoy the movie in the theatres, it's a "Put on Xmas list." at the very least, or in the case of Chronicles, "Buy on DVD/Blu Ray." and that's mostly due to Diesel in the movies.

So yeah. He doesn't deserve the flak he gets from fellow Geeks. More Geek Love for Vin Diesel!

 

[LtAdams2247]

Thank you, Jim. I must be unable to word it correctly because I never was able to get that very point across. To people who then went on to see and ENJOY The Expendables. Maybe they just have something against Vin Diesel but henceforth the "it's too cheesy" argument won't fly. I'll just link'em to this vid ;-)

 

[Groverfield]

Thank you for reminding me that this exists.

 

[nitrium oxide]

Strange no one so far has mentioned the fourth Riddick film: The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407658/). Sure it's just a short 35 min cartoon, but it's 100% Riddick canon.
Anyway I'm totally with Jim here. There is nothing wrong with Chronicles of Riddick. Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I enjoyed it more than either Pitch Black or the new Riddick film (imo the weakest in the series so far). That said, the Escape from Butcher's Bay game is imo probably the best Riddick anything.

 

[tehroc]

Chronicles of Riddick was just Conan in Space to me. He's a King by his own hands yada yada. I loved it.

Edit: Wow someone beat me to it on page 2. Even used the same examples.

 

[Dandres]

Thanks Jim, I like all the Riddick moves and wish they would make more about that universe or at least some books for me to read.

 

[Zeras]

I didn't really like Pitch Black when it first came out - that was a combination of not knowing who Vin Diesel was as an actor and a person, but I did like that Claudia Black was in it (but I can't remember if this was after SciFi's Farscape was finished or not) but I really loved Chronicles for what it did do: furthering Riddick's character and storyline. Plus most of the stunts were beileveable; all Riddick had to do in the final fight was know what his opponent was going to try to do - and since he's a fighter with years of experience (and someone who thinks there aren't rules in combat) he gets his goat....sort off....

 

[GameChanger]

I like Vin Diesel, he seems so grateful to have a fan following. Really down-to-earth kinda guy. I wanna be like him.

That said, Chronicles just disappointed me. I was hoping for a more realistic continuation from Pitch Black in both tone and style. I just wanted to see what a lone man, facing a universe that tries to hunt him down, would do, and we got that in the last film, a true continuation of the story. I would love to think that Chronicles just happened in another timeline or was retconned, but it didn't happen.

It's an enjoyable movie, but it totally falls out of style compared to the other two, superior movies.

 

[lowkey_jotunn]

Jim, all that had to be said was

Space Conan

/debate.

That, plus a little hint of Masters of the Universe.

 

[HalfTangible]

Can you defend Space Jam?