Sui
Tank
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2004
- Messages
- 5,998
- Reaction score
- 3
spoilers throughout!
Pitch black:
I just bought the Pitch black and Chronicles of Riddick boxed set, and i'm just writing here to tell you my opinions on these movies.
Having never seen Pitch Black before, i must say i loved it. The intro was excellent- it must have been the best aircraft crash i've seen. The desperate yet urgent sense of decision making in a situation like that had you clenching your teeth- and because the characters were of no importance (yet), you really had no idea whether they would survive.
After the gripping beginning, it settled down to reveal the characters- but unfortunately, apart from Riddick and the Captain, there was no further character development and we were left not knowing the rest of the characters- which meant i didn't really care when they were ripped apart by angry monsters.
Ah, and we come to the monsters. Unlike other films- when all previous tension and mystery is washed away as soon as the hidden creatures are revealed for what they really are- in PB, even when you have seen one of the beasts for yourself, they are still as terrifying as ever. One thing i liked about PB was that it didn't try to scare me at every moment- instead it kept the options open and didn't just throw in some cheap scares like other movies of it's type.
But the thing i really admire about PB is the character evolution of Riddick, who is constantly being portrayed as a selfish, lone rouge who shows no remorse- but yet we are shown small hints of his humanity- that are all too soon rejected by the obviousness of his disregard for other humans. Yet at the end of the film, when Riddick seems to show his true self at it's coldest, he is tempted and eventually saved by his obvious feelings for the captain, and just as he is (ironically) shown the light; she is ripped from him in a gruesome display of swift demorilisation. And it is at this point- as he states on the flight off the planet- that Riddick died on that rock.
Now i may have got some of the subtleties wrong (I have a habit of viewing a story how i want it to be seen), but overall these are the great things in Pitch Black. Unfortunately there are some things that let it down- like (as i said above) the obvious disregard for all character development other than Riddick. But this doesn't stop it from being a great movie- and the fact that much of it is deeply inspired by Aliens (which is one of my favorite films) only compliments it further. Even the end was slightly reminicent of the Sci-fi classic.
Cronicles of Riddick:
And then we come to "the chronicles of Riddick". Chronicles of Riddick. When the film name revolves around a character, you should be able to excpect just the slightest bit of character development in that area. But instead all we get is Riddick being plunged into ludicrous situations, beating up the bad guys and generally showing a hint of "feelings" for the main female lead. There is none of the clever subtleties like in Pitch black- but instead he is just seen as a hero figure in which the director uses as an excuse to create lots of action scenes. Don't get me wrong- the action scenes were great, but I already KNOW that riddick can beat someone up; i want to learn of his past or even just a hint of his inner feelings... but instead we just see him flawlessly defeat waves of men.
In terms of design, Chronicles of Riddick is a spectacular movie. In perticular, the beginning war between the rebel planet and the army that endangered it was deeply thrilling when the sirens wailed and the ships crashed in for the attack- the invading army truly looked the part, with gothic, chilling armour that was strong and intimidating. The ships were both streamlined and complex and the characters looked the part. But the ONE thing that REALLY annoyed me about the design is that it was completely the opposite of Pitch Black. Here we have gothic armies invading gigantic, thriving cities- followed by extreme planets and fortified battleships- but this isn't what i wanted to see in a sequel to Pitch Black. The origonal had a mysterious, dark planet that gripped you as the inhabitants battled to make it off alive- but the drastic change in setting (not to mention the incredibly rushed and ill-planned ntroduction to the planet) just left me feeling confused and out of place.
Chronicles of Riddick is fast paced, action packed and completely varied from the origonal. It is not half as clever, half as intriging or half as good. It is a shambles of a story that has no regard of even acknowledges the first movie (despite feeble attempts at bringing the characters back- poorly). It is way out of it's league- swapping small scale, well performed horror for huge, epic battles. It's not that chronicles of Riddick is that bad... It manages to keep my intrest most of the time, but it just doesn't satisfy my curiosity into the character of Riddick. You just watch him beat stuff up.
Note: If i was writing a reiview, i would neaten this up and summarise the stoy on how it is on it's own rather than my personal preferences- But this isn't a review, it's just my opinion of how Chronicles of Riddick is far inferior to Pitch Black.
Overall i feel that the box set was a good buy- as it was worth £20 for the lovely shiny box and the Special edition of Pitch Black. To me, COR is just a bonus to show you if Riddick was to fight an army he would win.
Pitch black:
I just bought the Pitch black and Chronicles of Riddick boxed set, and i'm just writing here to tell you my opinions on these movies.
Having never seen Pitch Black before, i must say i loved it. The intro was excellent- it must have been the best aircraft crash i've seen. The desperate yet urgent sense of decision making in a situation like that had you clenching your teeth- and because the characters were of no importance (yet), you really had no idea whether they would survive.
After the gripping beginning, it settled down to reveal the characters- but unfortunately, apart from Riddick and the Captain, there was no further character development and we were left not knowing the rest of the characters- which meant i didn't really care when they were ripped apart by angry monsters.
Ah, and we come to the monsters. Unlike other films- when all previous tension and mystery is washed away as soon as the hidden creatures are revealed for what they really are- in PB, even when you have seen one of the beasts for yourself, they are still as terrifying as ever. One thing i liked about PB was that it didn't try to scare me at every moment- instead it kept the options open and didn't just throw in some cheap scares like other movies of it's type.
But the thing i really admire about PB is the character evolution of Riddick, who is constantly being portrayed as a selfish, lone rouge who shows no remorse- but yet we are shown small hints of his humanity- that are all too soon rejected by the obviousness of his disregard for other humans. Yet at the end of the film, when Riddick seems to show his true self at it's coldest, he is tempted and eventually saved by his obvious feelings for the captain, and just as he is (ironically) shown the light; she is ripped from him in a gruesome display of swift demorilisation. And it is at this point- as he states on the flight off the planet- that Riddick died on that rock.
Now i may have got some of the subtleties wrong (I have a habit of viewing a story how i want it to be seen), but overall these are the great things in Pitch Black. Unfortunately there are some things that let it down- like (as i said above) the obvious disregard for all character development other than Riddick. But this doesn't stop it from being a great movie- and the fact that much of it is deeply inspired by Aliens (which is one of my favorite films) only compliments it further. Even the end was slightly reminicent of the Sci-fi classic.
Cronicles of Riddick:
And then we come to "the chronicles of Riddick". Chronicles of Riddick. When the film name revolves around a character, you should be able to excpect just the slightest bit of character development in that area. But instead all we get is Riddick being plunged into ludicrous situations, beating up the bad guys and generally showing a hint of "feelings" for the main female lead. There is none of the clever subtleties like in Pitch black- but instead he is just seen as a hero figure in which the director uses as an excuse to create lots of action scenes. Don't get me wrong- the action scenes were great, but I already KNOW that riddick can beat someone up; i want to learn of his past or even just a hint of his inner feelings... but instead we just see him flawlessly defeat waves of men.
In terms of design, Chronicles of Riddick is a spectacular movie. In perticular, the beginning war between the rebel planet and the army that endangered it was deeply thrilling when the sirens wailed and the ships crashed in for the attack- the invading army truly looked the part, with gothic, chilling armour that was strong and intimidating. The ships were both streamlined and complex and the characters looked the part. But the ONE thing that REALLY annoyed me about the design is that it was completely the opposite of Pitch Black. Here we have gothic armies invading gigantic, thriving cities- followed by extreme planets and fortified battleships- but this isn't what i wanted to see in a sequel to Pitch Black. The origonal had a mysterious, dark planet that gripped you as the inhabitants battled to make it off alive- but the drastic change in setting (not to mention the incredibly rushed and ill-planned ntroduction to the planet) just left me feeling confused and out of place.
Chronicles of Riddick is fast paced, action packed and completely varied from the origonal. It is not half as clever, half as intriging or half as good. It is a shambles of a story that has no regard of even acknowledges the first movie (despite feeble attempts at bringing the characters back- poorly). It is way out of it's league- swapping small scale, well performed horror for huge, epic battles. It's not that chronicles of Riddick is that bad... It manages to keep my intrest most of the time, but it just doesn't satisfy my curiosity into the character of Riddick. You just watch him beat stuff up.
Note: If i was writing a reiview, i would neaten this up and summarise the stoy on how it is on it's own rather than my personal preferences- But this isn't a review, it's just my opinion of how Chronicles of Riddick is far inferior to Pitch Black.
Overall i feel that the box set was a good buy- as it was worth £20 for the lovely shiny box and the Special edition of Pitch Black. To me, COR is just a bonus to show you if Riddick was to fight an army he would win.
) about further storyline development, quantity over quality (but that isn't some big flaw);
