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Amph "I'm Going to Kill You With My Tea Cup": The Chronicles of Riddick

Discussion in 'Community' started by The2ndQuest , Dec 11, 2003.

  1. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    SPOILER talk ahead.

    The one thing I liked About Pitch Black over COR was that he was not superhuman. He was tough, skilled, and had the special vision, but in COR he might as well be Wolverine on speed.

    Also when PB came out it was in the midths of a "get the science right" crop of scifi films. They paid close attention to the eclipse effects and its effects on the biology of the world, and beacuse they were in a differant solar syatem with a differant type of star than we have here, the world outside had a differant color. Sweet.

    I did like COR, it is entertaining. The visuals were good and I really liked the huge monolithic statues of the mutli-faced Lord Marshal.

    I really wished they had delved more deeply into the religion of these baddies.

    I did not catch a name, but someone already said they liked the ending. I was also surprised by it and liked it.

    Oh, and uh, for the guys there are a few good cleavage shots. :)
     
  2. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    >> The one thing I liked About Pitch Black over COR was that he was not superhuman. He was tough, skilled, and had the special vision, but in COR he might as well be Wolverine on speed. <<

    I noticed that as well- Riddick did seem more superhuman in this..but that might jiust be going with the myth aspect of things, or his emerging Furian status ;)

    Though I still liked it when he was just a badass normal joe to a certain degree.
     
  3. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    Another thing I forgot to mention; stop with the shaky camera during fight scenes. The blurry hand to hand battle in the middle actaully hurt my eyes a little trying to make out what was going on.
     
    Jedi Merkurian likes this.
  4. Trekkie101

    Trekkie101 Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jul 17, 2001
    I liked Pitch Black. While for the most part by-the-numbers (its Australian character said "Crickey!" for the love of God) there were some interesting characterizations, especially early in the film, and some interesting photography that didn't come out of Bruckheimer 101. Vin Diesel's charisma shown through and his weird symbiotic relationship with the genderqueer mimic "Jack" was almost original and certainly fun! Somebody managed to make some money not just phoning it in for a change.

    So in Chronicles Of Riddick, actor/producer Diesel has three times the budget and twice the time to insult our intelligence about fifty times as much. I guess we can split the problems with this movie into stupidities of two sorts, those of setting and those of personality.


    Setting

    1. The setting's stupidity is best illustrated via the planet Crematoria. It's a prison planet, because what the hell else are you going to do with planets, and even though it seems to have an Earth-like atmosphere, it has a slight temperature problem. At sunrise it hits 700 degrees and if you're outside you blow up (quickly if you're a nobody, tragically and to welling pseudo-Mahler mush if you have a few lines). Luckily for our heroes, it's only 80 degrees in the shade. Literally. When it hits 700 degrees, you're FINE if you hide behind a rock. This also leads to the ultimate extension of the outrun-the-fireball "action" scene: Riddick swings down from a rope, snatches up his love interest, and outmaneuvers the entire horizon. If you're interested in trying something like this at home, pop a copy of Pitch Black in your VCR or DVD player and see if you can stare at the screen while moving your head so quickly that you actually duck and weave between the images so that none hit your eye.

    2. Hey, there's an ice planet too! Wow. Anyway, we see Riddick running from people in a spaceship across a flat grooved glacier, but luckily it's one of those special spaceships that have all the speed and handling of a WWI biplane when in the atmosphere. The craft is full of bounty hunters looking to capture Riddick. So, do they use some super-spacy weapon, or melt the ice in front of him to trap him on a floe with their engines? Do they even use stuff we have now, like tear gas or flash grenades? A big net? No, but that last is close. They use little nets, ones about the size of a throw rug. They don't work.

    3. Time to destroy a planet! But first, we have to get some new recruits for our religion. However shall we transport our troops? Eh, let's just land our giant ships on the lawn and have the Uruk-Hai...uh...soldiers march in on foot. Interstellar travel, yes; armored personnel carriers, or heck, donkey carts and mopeds, no. A few minutes later we see why foot soldiers make sense for this starfaring society: they use axes in war, and special beam weapons that have a range of all of three feet and kinda sting the target a little. If only the peaceful people of New Mecca had the means to stick bottle rockets in the holes atop wiffleball bats and aim them at the evil Necromongers, they could have driven the invaders back to their ships!


    In a dark and terrible future where there is only idiocy, can our poor characters fear any better? Fraid not.

    Personality

    1. Riddick was an intruiging character in the first movie because he wasn't spouting off action hero one-liners every two seconds. Apparently, the years spent on the ice planet have made him stupid and lonely. In this film he was spouting one-liners to HIMSELF via VOICE OVER.

    2. Personally, I knew we were all doomed when the Imam from the first movie revealed that he had a cute moppet daughter. Of course, she asked Riddick, "Are you going to kill the new monsters now?"

    3. Gandalf, here played by some old lady, has a great plan to defend Helm's Gate. See, Riddick isn't just a badass, he's a Furian, which is a race of badasses. All they need to do is have Riddick find some other Furians and ask them to please kill all the Necromongers, who given their name, should
     
  5. JediTrilobite

    JediTrilobite Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Nov 17, 1999
    I'm still looking forwards to it, didn't get a chance today... Some of my friends did, liked it.
     
  6. lomion

    lomion Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    May 22, 2004
    I thought the movie was enjoyable. The action was good, I thought the way they did some of the fight scenes perfectly fit Riddick. bouts of intense, chaotic violence. I thought the way it ended was pretty good, the twist at the end was not what I expected.

    As for his badassness. If you look in the first one he does things that no ordinary human would do easily. The way he carries all those energy cells (they are like 35 kilos a pop or something and he hefts two like they are nothing). The way his senses work, he hears Fry's cries for help before anyone else. The fact that the cryosleep thing does not seem to work fully on him. How he goes by sense of smell also. Then his rotating his shoulders and dealing with the pain. There are other instances, the way he takes out one of those aliens with justa knife, how he can hold one at bay. He always seemed like more than just your average human,

    I have heard that a number of scenes were cut that may fill in the plot better. Not sure though. I will probably be getting this on dvd when it comes out.
     
  7. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Yeah, I'm hoping to give the novelization a quick read in a few weeks when I'm done with The Cestus Deception, to see what deleted scenes might exist.
     
  8. NeoStar9

    NeoStar9 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 12, 2002
    I saw COR yesterday and I have to say I really enjoyed it a lot. In fact I'm going back to see it next weekend. Better then PB in my opinion. The whole universe setup was very nice, and I really enjoyed the ending. Characters were pretty interesting as well.

    I didn't know there was a novel. I have to go look for it now cause I want to see what was cut.
     
  9. masterskywalker

    masterskywalker Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2001
    I liked it for what it was. An action sci-fi movie which gives Vin an excuse to blow things up and talk tough. :D Sounds okay in my book.

    Yeah, I definately want to see where this goes. I don't care how much he's changed, Ridick in command of the biggest dark army in the universe isn't a good thing. :p

    The invasion scene was absolutely kick ass too. I hope that one merc that captured Ridick escaped from those alien cats. He was funny. :)
     
  10. Jedi Daniel

    Jedi Daniel Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 7, 2000
    Does anyone have the Pitch Black theme they could send me?
     
  11. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Got Dark Fury today, and it's pretty good- lots of action, and some good sequences to use Riddick's eye shine well.

    It definitely has more of a Pitch Black than COR feel to it, which I like. And it sets up a couple things in COR, even has Toombs in it.

    The plot involves this lady in charge of a plantation ship (which carries cryo'd mercs instead of crops or ore) who "collects" most wanted individuals and turns them into living statues as art.

    "There's one fundamental difference between you and I, Riddick."
    "Yeah- you're a psychopath."

    It's also more cohearant (and, as a result interesting) than Matriculated as well.
     
  12. Drew_Atreides

    Drew_Atreides Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 30, 2002
    ..thanks for the post, Quest..

    I keep struggling over whether i should check this out or no.. I may just have to, now..
     
  13. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Yeah, I think it's worth checking out- no great character changes (with exception to one thing at the end, perhaps) but a nice little adventure in the Riddick universe.

    It's 35 minutes long, btw- which is why the DVD is fairly inexpensive (got mine for 12.99 at Borders- you can probably get it for 10 at places like Best Buy or Walmart I'd wager).
     
  14. Kueller

    Kueller Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 15, 2001
    Somebody asked about USA films earlier, and I have an answer. USA basically died and Universal(which owned it) formed the remaining pieces into Focus Features.
     
  15. Jedi Daniel

    Jedi Daniel Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 7, 2000
    I'll be getting 'Dark Fury' when it's released here. Looks really good.
     
  16. JediTrilobite

    JediTrilobite Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Nov 17, 1999
    Just got Dark Fury, although I haven't gotten a chance to see Riddick yet.
     
  17. JediTrilobite

    JediTrilobite Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Nov 17, 1999
    I liked Dark Fury. Fun story, liked the animation, (and I'm not an anime fan). The Zero-Gee fight was fun, as well as the last one. Wasn't too fond of the weird neon creatures-- they were weird, but overall, it was a cool story.
     
  18. Trell

    Trell Jedi Knight star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 11, 2002
    A brainless film I actually loved. I normally can't forgive a movie for being brainless, but this did it very well and stylishly.

    Best movie I've seen in a long time I'd actually say.

    It felt a bit like a Matthew Woodring Stover film put to film.

    I hope they make the two next films.

    -P!-
     
  19. Darth Guy

    Darth Guy Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2002
    Wait... are Matthew Stover's books "brainless?"
     
  20. Trell

    Trell Jedi Knight star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 11, 2002
    well... perhaps I phrased that wrong. I mean that Riddick itself was fairly brainless, but good fun. Meanwhile, the fights, and overall tone of the film, including the "soliloquy" reminded me very much of Caine. How the fights were directed, and how Riddick acted reminded me of Hero's Die and the rest.

    -P!-
     
  21. Syntax

    Syntax Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 1, 2001
    Saw the movie tonight. I liked it a lot. However, there were a LOT of things that were either in the trailer or in the novelization that weren't in the movie, including what would have been my favorite piece of dialogue:

    When Riddick and Jack/Kyra are on Crematoria, escaping the rising sun and increasing temperature, Riddick says "One rule: Stay out of the light", and Kyra says "That's an interesting reversal" (referring to Riddick's line from 'Pitch Black' during his fight with Johns: "One rule, stay in the light").

    I also kinda preferred the good ol' fashioned hunt on the ice planet as it happens in the novelization as opposed to the movie. However, the movie DOES imply that Toombs could have survived on Crematoria (assuming another ship shows up, or he escapes or whatnot) as opposed to the novelization where his death is confirmed.

    Another line that I wish they'd left in is on Crematoria, when Riddick tames and pets one of the hellhounds - in the novel, he notices all the scars and cuts on the hellhound from the mistreatment its owners put it through, and Riddick says "Yeah, I know how it feels". Riddick SAYS and DOES the same exact thing in the PitchBlack.com flash animation of his escape from Luna City - he tames a doberman that was sent after him, and says the same line. And the PitchBlack.com flash animation has been on the Internet for 4 years and counting. :p
     
  22. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Yeah, I caught the reference to that flash comic when I saw that scene in the movie, nice little touch ::)
     
  23. Jedi Daniel

    Jedi Daniel Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 7, 2000
    This weekends sales will let Universal know whether to make Parts 2 and 3 so get together with friends and family and go see the movie again :)
     
  24. JediTrilobite

    JediTrilobite Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Nov 17, 1999
    Hopefully going to see it this afternoon. Is the ticket in Pitch Black good for one at a movie theater?
     
  25. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Yeah, only good for one ticket.