I noticed they released a new title in the Chronicles of Riddick series. My friend told me the plot that had been building in the previous movie is not ignored, but isn’t further developed.
Is that a fair assessment?
What do you think, Dopers, will this series ever be “finished”? Or will it wither away?
Since Vin owns the franchise now and it’s his favorite character outside of WoW, I’d say unless he loses every penny he has he’ll keep making Riddick movies.
It’s just a pity that Wesley Snipes wasn’t able to secure Blade the same way.
Yes.
With a very very clear indicator that the next movie will pick up the arc.
I liked the movie. It’s like an episode of *Firefly *written by Robert E. Howard.
All I can say is I really enjoyed Pitch Black and thought it was a cut above your average B monster movie. When the first sequel came out all I thought was, “Where are the space monsters?” Instead we got some convoluted plot about religion or prisoners or something (I admit I’ve never watched it). Although my first impression of this latest entry is also, “CGI dinosaur monsters, Matrix-bullets etc blah blah blah…” What made the first one so good was the directing & plot, suspenseful & scary. As well as interesting & likable characters (other than just Riddick).
Actually, you should say ‘favorite character outside of D&D’ - that’s the one he has a tattoo of. 
I’ve not seen the new film, but my friends who have (and have opinions on such things) seem favorably impressed.
I liked Pitch Black. The Chronicles of Riddick I didn’t really enjoy. I’ll probably wait for the DVD to check out the new one.
Vin Diesel was on Craig Ferguson the other day and laid it out pretty clearly. They couldn’t afford the huge budget to continue the storyline directly, because Chronicles of Riddick was lacklustre at the box office, so they went back to basics utilising the Pitch Black approach to rebuild a following, and then, using the finances Vin gets from the Fast and Furious sequels, help finance future Riddick films at a more epic level.
I liked Pitch Black quite a bit, and then liked Chronicles of Riddick even more. They are very different movies, though, sort of like how Alien and Aliens were very different. (And, I should clarify, far superior to Pitch Black/Riddick.)
I liked Chronicles of Riddick too, although I must say it was very uneven. Everything that happens on Crematoria was awesome.
I really liked 75% of Chronicles. This movie looks like it’ll be like that 75%. And realistically, making a sequel where Riddick is actually King of the Necros wasn’t going to be a Riddick movie.
You’ve just set an awful high bar there. I’ll be seeing it this weekend - if I’m disappointed, I’ll have to go all Cimmerian on your ass.
Oh - that’s great to hear! They had built a pretty good story already, I think, and I hated the idea of it getting buried.
I am very very surprised that Vin Diesel is so dedicated to the franchise as well. Perhaps, if what you say is true, I will watch the Fast and Furious movies, as my girlfriend asks me to from time to time.
I saw the third movie and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a fun adventure SF movie, reminiscent of the first movie, full of tough-guy heroics and dangerous-ass creatures. It never dragged, never left me looking at my watch as so many movies do, and while it didn’t advance the arc of the Necrom storyline (which I did not much care for anyway) it had the originality I’ve come to associate with Riddick. Nowadays, if you take away the remakes, Star Trek, Star Wars and comic book movies, SF is a pretty teeny genre, and a lot of the movies not in that group have tiny budgets that hurt their ability to convincingly create alien worlds. In this Riddick, they’ve done a pretty good job of creating an alien world. A little sense of wonder there. I lurves me that in my SF.
There were of course a couple of plot holes, I’ll spoiler box them for those who have not seen the movie yet:
So, where do all the giant scorpion monsters come from every time it rains? Are they buried in the ground or do they use the dampness to follow the rains wherever they lead? If so, what happens to them when things get dry? Makes no sense. Also, why do the giant scorpion things need water so badly? Their legs seem well designed for walking on dry land. And finally, why does the pool Riddick jumps in to evade the hellhounds not contain giant scorpions, if they’re in every fricking mud puddle left by a rainstorm? And finally, where is the REST of the fauna on that planet, is it all just hellhounds and scorpions now?
Also:
So, you’re on a planet chasing an extremely dangerous criminal and so to keep him from stealing your ship, which you KNOW is what he’s after, you cripple the ship by putting an essential part in a locker outside the ship? Why not cripple the ship by putting the part in a locker INSIDE the ship so you won’t have to run around the place the criminal knows much better than you to get back into the air? Does your ship not have doors, keys, lockers, etc.? Just sayin!
All in all, though, I had a fine time and considered the money well spent. Then again, I liked watching Prometheus on the big screen too, though it turned out to be MADE of plot flaws. So there’s that.
I enjoyed it too, it’s simply an adventure movie without any pretentions about being anything else - naturally sometimes over the top, but still, overall entertaining.
As for the plot holes:
[spoiler] I took it as a rainy season-dry season thing. The monsters hybernate during the dry season and emerge from the ground to feed and breed during the rainy season.
As usual, too many monsters and not enough prey - what are they all expecting to eat, when they can’t get bounty hunter? We know prey creatures exist, because Riddick is dragging the carcass of one around on a sled at one point - also, the skeleton in the station. They just don’t show them, much. Maybe having bounty hunters landing spaceships and stooting the place up scares off the game …
But mass emergence of horrible creatures during the rainy season isn’t totally unknown here on Earth - see the Cane Toad.
ABC My Photo - ABC News [/spoiler]
I didn’t get the locker thing, either.
It was definitely Pitch Black 2, but quite entertaining. I was afraid in the beginning it was going to be “The Adventures of Riddick and his CGI dog.” Luckily the other came along to liven things up. The cast of characters was somewhat interesting, ranging from innocents (what was that kid doing there anyway?) to honorable (Johns) to cartoonishly evil (other captain guy).
You do also get to see Katee Sackoff (playing another version of Starbuck) topless, if that’s a draw for anyone…
Katie Sackoff reminds me of a younger, sexier, edgier Natasha Henstridge, who was pretty much the same character Sackoff was in “Riddick 3” in “Ghosts of Mars.”
There is no such thing as “sexier than Natasha Henstridge”. I offer Species as my supporting evidence.
Right? Yeesh.
Sackoff in anything doesn’t hold a candle to Henstridge in Species.