Riddick (David Twohy)

[TGM]

RIDDICK

Director: David Twohy

imdb

[TGM]

Pretty much, outside of a completely bullshit copout beginning and an even more bullshit copout ending, I actually really liked everything else in-between for the most part. It's not exactly what I was hoping it'd be, but it'll do, I guess.

[B-side]

Saw this. First 15-20 minutes or so was pretty cool, with Riddick wandering and surviving in this vast and gorgeous desolate alien landscape with a dog companion. The color palette is dominated by brown, and yet it pops. Once the bounty hunters show up, things go downhill a bit, then get even worse when Riddick joins them. There's a really poor attempt at an emotional core dealing with Johns and his son that seemed to have been slapped together and thrown in just to make sure people hadn't become tired of the grunting of anonymous henchmen. I don't get the homophobic argument at all. I get why people didn't like the depiction of the lone significant female character, though. I won't say it's misogynistic because that's kind of a facile character judgment of the filmmaker, but it's one that is contradictory in its portrayal and fails to support her individuality despite initially pushing a sort of hard-nosed female soldier arc. There are basically only two or three kinda likeable characters in the film, and she's one of them, and considering there are about a dozen featured characters, the end result in terms of character's earning sympathy or depth is little to none. The lack of sympathy isn't an issue at all, and the depth isn't a problem inherently, but this is a character-heavy film, and only Riddick and the silly Latino leading bounty hunter really stand out. Riddick is meant to have a semblance of empathy about him, yet he has little trouble objectifying the lone female there in a pretty grotesque manner. In this, he is equated with the aforementioned Latino who is shown to have been sexually abusive to a woman he held captive for bounty before pursuing Riddick as well as the female officer. Thus, there is a correlation that speaks to their characters that involves misogyny in the diegetic world. Now, the way her "relationship" with Riddick is pursued in the narrative is quite bad. There's no trajectory, nor a "forbidden fruit"-type sexual conquest, which could've been made into something. There's only a dogged individualism, then an immediate capitulation out of nowhere. I'll add that I more or less forgot the film after about an hour or two. I'm forcing myself to remember right now in order to write this, but I don't see it remaining in my head beyond a few quick glimpses of the alien moon over the desert landscape.

[Dukefrukem]

Pretty much, outside of a completely bullshit copout beginning and an even more bullshit copout ending, I actually really liked everything else in-between for the most part. It's not exactly what I was hoping it'd be, but it'll do, I guess.

Now that I've seen this, I understand your frustration with the beginning, but you couldn't expect them to spend half a movie with flashbacks with Necromongers...It was a fine segue into the new story.

This was everything I wanted in a Riddick movie. In fact, I really like the way they paced it. Aside from the narration, Riddick doesn't have many lines until the bounty hunters actually show up 25 minutes in the film. Then another 30-60 minutes with bounty hunter banter and Riddick completely off screen. And a final 25 minutes with monsters. It's almost a throwback to From Dusk Till Dawn where the climax is less than half the time on screen.

Nice side boob shot of Katee Sackhoff.

Speaking of side...some additional theater side notes... another awful theater experience for me. Two dickheads in the front row on their cell phones where I had to yell at them to put them the fuck away. And another dickhead and his bimbo girlfriend whispering throughout the whole god damn fucking movie because she hadn't seen the first two. The kind of whispering where you see something on screen, and a second later you hear... <whispter> hehe a golfball</whispter>

There's a reason why I went to this late on Sunday and I still suffered...Piracy looks more and more justifiable.

[Rowland]

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Balls deep, sweet-like.

]

[Skitch]

Finally caught this at the dollar theater. Fun stuff. Nothing too surprising. Even if it is the first movie over again, it was still fun. I'm really excited for another Riddick vs Necromongers to find Furya.

[Qrazy]

Yeah this is also what I expected it to be which was solid enough.

[TGM]

So, seeing as the Director's Cut of The Chronicles of Riddick addressed and corrected literally every issue I had with the theatrical cut of that movie, I was very interested to see the Director's Cut of this movie and see if it wouldn't do that same. And... not quite.

It does address the Necromonger issues, and the scene in the beginning is extended quite a bit, and doesn't feel so out of place as a result. However, also included was a conversation that essentially retcons the origins of Riddick's eyes, which was a bit obnoxious, and likely had a part as to why it was originally cut.

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Also, there's a new ending on top of the original ending, that also includes the Necromongers. Riddick hunts them back down in search of vengeance against Vako, only to discover that Vako's apparently reached some sort of "transcendence" between life and death. It's a bit curious that this scene was cut from the original, as it basically sets up the next movie, which would continue the Necromonger storyline.

However, on the contrary, it's also curious that this ending was ever even considered, especially considering Riddick's talks about having a fresh start. I figured he was just glad to be rid of them, and to start anew, but apparently not. But assuming they decide to go through with a fourth movie, would they really be willing to restart the Necromonger storyline, even after this movie so blatantly went out of its way to go in as opposite a rout as possible? Or would they perhaps just ignore this Director's Cut ending altogether, seeing as it wasn't even included in the original version?

]

Anyways, outside of the Necromonger stuff, it's pretty much the exact same movie untouched, which is a bit underwhelming, considering how Twohy actually went in and re-edited scenes in Chronicles to make certain events have a much more natural flow and ultimately leave a stronger impact, yet here, there's nothing of the sort to be found.

[Dukefrukem]

Talk to me a bit about the origin of Riddick's eyes. The canon story on how he got his eyes is actually explained in Escape from Butcher Bay. Which is why I loved the fact that he lied about it in Pitch Black and Chronicles.

Also, where can I get a copy of the Chronicles director's cut?

[TGM]

Talk to me a bit about the origin of Riddick's eyes. The canon story on how he got his eyes is actually explained in Escape from Butcher Bay. Which is why I loved the fact that he lied about it in Pitch Black and Chronicles.

Also, where can I get a copy of the Chronicles director's cut?

Huh, I thought he did get his eyes through surgery, as he explained in the first movie, but after looking it up now, I guess not? I even recall the sequence early in the game, but I admittedly didn't get too far, so I either didn't get to the point where he unlocks his real eyes or I just don't recall it. Anyways, I guess that wasn't a retcon after all then, so disregard that.

As for the Chronicles DC, I dunno, try amazon? Or I know in prior "collection" packs with Pitch Black, Dark Fury, and Chronicles, they were collecting all DC versions of those movies, so if you could find one of those somewhere still.

[TGM]

Also, where can I get a copy of the Chronicles director's cut?

And now that I'm on a computer and looked it up, yup, you can still get it on amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Rid...dp/B0002VEUV2/

Not sure how easy the Director's Cut would be to still find in stores, though...

[Dukefrukem]

Amazon is good enough for me. I was hoping it would be on Blu-ray tho.

[Skitch]

Amazon is good enough for me. I was hoping it would be on Blu-ray tho.

I bought the blu set of the first 2 films + anime for pretty cheap. It has the DC.

[TGM]

Amazon is good enough for me. I was hoping it would be on Blu-ray tho.

There's a solo bluray version on there as well.

[Dukefrukem]

Doh! I owned this the entire time! Includes DC of Chronicles.

[Skitch]

:lol:

[Dukefrukem]

And this is why I am reducing my DVD collection to a mere shelf instead of an entire Boltz rack.

I just need to find out how to store my comics now...

[Skitch]

And this is why I am reducing my DVD collection to a mere shelf instead of an entire Boltz rack.

I just need to find out how to store my comics now...

If I could count how many times I've almost rebought a movie I have...

Longboxes?

[Dukefrukem]

Watched the DC last night and yes, it adds in some nice Necromancer bookends. I enjoyed that immensely.