# Anyone Seen Chronicles of Riddick? Caution: Spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 14, 2004, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333 "2004-06-14T19:24:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/21 "2004-06-15T22:47:13Z")
> [@El Elvis Rojo](#): > > any movie where the villains call themselves the “Dead fuckers” has to get some props 🙂 Necromonger doesn’t mean “Dead fuckers.” Is a rumormonger a “rumor fucker?” No. From [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com): monger 1. A dealer in a specific commodity. Often used in combination: an ironmonger. 2. A person promoting something undesirable or discreditable. Often used in combination: a scandalmonger; a warmonger. So a Necromonger is a **“Death Dealer.”** Still pretty cool. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/22 "2004-06-15T23:38:41Z")
I always thought in certain combinations that the word “monger” meant “someone who takes advantage of in a sexual manner”. As in “whoremonger”, or “fishmonger”. Oh well, learning every day. It’s still a silly name. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/23 "2004-06-16T00:25:56Z")
I’d give it a heartfelt and resounding “eh.” I wouldn’t call it “good,” but it was engaging enough and there was plenty of neat stuff to look at. More imagination than intelligence or, for that matter, talent. Plus there was plenty of awesomely bad dialogue, like the line in my title. And people screaming _ **RIDDDIIIIICCK!** _ not just once or twice, but all throughout. My recurring thought was, “Somebody read _Dune_ an awful lot in high school.” Also: Yes, it’s very nice to have talented concept artists on your movie. You also need a screenwriter, too, though. And you don’t have to put every single thing the concept artists draw into the movie. And: You don’t always have to use the very first name you think of. With a few minutes’ thought, you could probably think of a better name for your wicked-hot planet than “Crematoria.” And the race of “Furions.” And, for that matter, “Necromongers.” I’m surprised to see people saying Karl Urban was good. I thought he was distractingly awful. When you’re the worst actor in a Vin Diesel movie, that’s saying something. And his attempt at an accent/covering up his accent was just the worst. He said everything like he was trying to keep from throwing up. Dude’s not even all that good-looking; why is he famous, again? ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/24 "2004-06-16T00:27:58Z")
Oh yeah, and the monsters that they let lose in the prison: congratulations, you’ve overtaken the alligators from that Schwarzeneggar movie _Erasure_ for the title of **Worst CG Creatures Ever**. I’ve seen more convincing monsters in a Sid & Marty Krofft series. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/25 "2004-06-16T03:03:33Z")
[QUOTE=SolGrundy] Oh yeah, and the monsters that they let lose in the prison: congratulations, you’ve overtaken the alligators from that Schwarzeneggar movie _Erasure_ for the title of **Worst CG Creatures Ever**. [QUOTE] Watch **Vicious** …I think they win that tittle. But I agree, the monsters weren’t that good, and…what was the friggin’ point to them being let lose again? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/26 "2004-07-05T07:21:04Z")
I expected the movie to suck :o , but I was surprised!! :eek: It kept my interest to the end. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Beauty\_Personified](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Beauty\_Personified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauty_Personified)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/27 "2004-07-07T05:21:48Z")
Personally, I didn’t like _Pitch Black_. It bored me. I almost fell asleep watching it, so I just turned it off and went to bed. _The Chronicles of Riddick_, however, really impressed me. More sci-fi than anything else, I thought it was a decent film in every aspect. The effects, though not the cream of the crop, were convincing and consistent. (_I_ thought the prison “dogs” were excellent.) Not one effect stuck out and jerked me out of my viewing experience. The acting was solid all around, and I really liked the ending. It’s a shame it hasn’t done very well at the box office, and that Vin Diesel apparently isn’t interested in doing any more sequels. Maybe in five years, when his career is going nowhere, he’ll reconsider. 😉 Actually, I’d like to see how Vin Diesel would do in a more dramatic non-action role. Based on the interviews I’ve seen him do (especially his last one on _The Tonight Show_), I get the impression that he’s a very sensitive man. And, yes, he was a gamer. On one of the late-night shows, he recounted that he used to play D&D as a drow. (That’s a “dark elf”, for those unfamiliar with the fantasy genre.) And I think one of the tattoos he had in _XXX_ was actually the name of the drow. (It was on his stomach, I believe.) Anyhoo… ---
**Author:** ![Soapbox\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Soapbox\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soapbox_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/28 "2004-07-07T05:47:26Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > My recurring thought was, “Somebody read _Dune_ an awful lot in high school.” I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought that. While I was extremely entertained by the movie, I left the theater with an overwhelming hunger to see a faithful Dune adaptation brought to the big screen. ---
**Author:** ![Soapbox\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Soapbox\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soapbox_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/29 "2004-07-07T05:49:57Z")
> [@Beauty Personified](#): > > And, yes, he was a gamer. On one of the late-night shows, he recounted that he used to play D&D as a drow. (That’s a “dark elf”, for those unfamiliar with the fantasy genre.) And I think one of the tattoos he had in _XXX_ was actually the name of the drow. (It was on his stomach, I believe.) Yes, I remember that Conan O’Brien interview. I also recall Vin claiming that he invented the name Melkor, which he used for his character. _cough_ ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/30 "2004-07-07T14:22:25Z")
I saw it last night and thought it was awful. To all these people saying the special effects were good - are you crazy?? They were terrible! It was a masturbation fest of fake, plasticy CGI. Those dog creatures looked like something out of those [Computer Animation Festivals](http://www.odyssey3d.com/videoclips.html), circa 1995. The costumes and props were good? To who? A D&D-playing highschool kid making movies in his basement? Those hammers looked like painted styrofoam on the end of long sticks. The costumes? This was supposedly set how long in the future and they’re dressed like some weird medieval warriors? Okay guys. Oh, and once again, we see a devestated “world of the future” where everything is going to pots. And I’m so so so sick and tired of the dark, leaky oily spaceship look. Takes place in the future, right? So why, oh why, must the spaceships look like something the Russians built in the coldwar?? And I’m also sick of the “organic” look. You know - spaceships designed to look like insects. Buildings and infrastructure taking on plant-like form (and inevitably dripping some sort of weird black ooze. I guess the concept of caulking doesn’t exist in the future…). Been there, done that. What an awful movie. Or maybe I just don’t “get” sci-fi. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/31 "2004-07-07T14:30:54Z")
I liked it. Not perfect, but the ending was great enought to make me want the trilogy to be completed. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/32 "2004-07-07T18:52:28Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I liked it. Not perfect, but the ending was great enought to make me want the trilogy to be completed. I think this sums it up for me as well. I haven’t seen **Pitch Black** , so I don’t have anything to compare **Chronicles** to, though. In all, I don’t think I killed any braincells while watching it. There are some movies that can’t even claim _that_. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/33 "2004-07-23T22:27:46Z")
Sorry about the bumb but I downloadedit today and just watched it, and rather than starting a new thread… I kinda liked it. I kinda like Vin Diesel. What I mean is: Vin Diesel seems like a guy who has invented his own public persona, trying to achieve something that a broad spectrum of the public will like. I bet he’s inflenced by Yul Brynner, in that he’s keeping ethniticity and sexual preferences somewhat obscure, as well as his origin. OTOH, when reading his bio at IMDb, he comes across as a reasonably creative and intelligent man. For some reason, I’m thinking “stereoids and calculation” but at other times I can see the self-irony shine through. The first time I saw him was in Pitch Black, which was a surprise. I always enjoy stories where heroes and villains aren’t so clear cut. Some of my favorite books are Hignsmith’s Ripley series, and there sure is a reason why I’m an avid Jossverse fan. So I liked PB, thought that F&F was OK, and that Diesel’s larger than life quality (invented or not) saved the movie, and xXx was silly fun. CoR could have been good. I get a feeling that the studio thinks that Vin is the next Ahnold (even though at 37, he’s a bit old to be ‘the next’), and throws in a lot of money, hoping that the simple use of the actor’s name will be enough for future projects. I can hear the discussion in the boardroom, with execs thinking they’ve got a new Terminator in the can. I like the worlds they created, not in a cosmological sense (which was stupid), but there was creativity there. I got a ‘sense of wonder’ to use an old SciFi phrase about how it was all connected. There was something lacking though. There was no story. And that’s why they spent so much time on prison planet and that’s why there were so many plot holes. They created a universe, which is fine enough. And the continuing action might fool the audience for a while, but afterwards, my question remains: “What was it all about?” Most good stories can be summed up in a sentence or two: “Local cop must save small town resort by killing big shark” or “Punch drunk loser gets chance to fight for world championship and almost makes it” or “Smallish humanoid must save humanity by destroying the source of power of Evil”. CoR was about… Vin Diesel flexing his biceps and kicking ass in a really cool setting…? That’s not a story. BTW, it was nice to see Spandexia again. (Ats fans will know the reference). ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/34 "2004-07-23T23:05:10Z")
Hey, enough with the Dune-bashing already!!!@@#@$$@# There I feel better. The one thing I kept wondering while watching Riddick was “Why is Samurai Jack a Necromonger?” Honestly, the guy who played Vaako, Karl Urban, looks just like frickin’ Samurai Jack!!! It was distracting! Otherwise a great movie. For a cheesy sci-fi flick, anyway. The planet with the burning hot lava crap was complete shite, though. ---
**Author:** ![Soapbox\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Soapbox\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soapbox_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333/35 "2004-07-23T23:42:35Z")
> [@Ghanima](#): > > Hey, enough with the Dune-bashing already!!!@@#@$$@# What Dune-bashing? My love for the books is almost equal to my love of LotR, and I simply want to see a _good_ adaptation some time during my life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-chronicles-of-riddick-caution-spoilers/250333.md?page=1)