About the title: I saw this movie on opening night and the title for this review popped into my head about half-way through the movie. Then I started seeing other people use the same pun. Not wanting to let the terrorists win, I decided to stick to my guns and use the title anyway. So there.
I liked Pitch Black. A lot. Even all the times we saw some of it in Australia (they really seem to like that movie down there) couldn't dampen my feelings towards it. It was well made, stylish, and it took advantage of its small budget. And I quite liked the character of Riddick.
So I was intrigued by the idea of a sequel.
Then I saw the teaser trailer. I wasn't so intrigued anymore.
But as I saw more trailers, my interest began to build back up. It was directed by the same guy as well, I found that to be a plus. He did such a good job with such a small budget I wondered what he would do with a massive one.
Too much, it would seem.
Pitch Black worked because of its energy and style. The story was simple and propulsive: We gotta get off this planet. Chronicles of Riddick's story is too intricate for it's own good. And it ain't that intricate. There's all sorts of political intrigue and plotting that didn't really need to be in the movie and Dame Dench's only real purpose is to get all sorts of exposition out of the way.
That's my biggest problem with the story, it tries to cram too much in. Not only that, it crams it in in the worst way possible: by having characters just talk about it. Film is a visual medium damnit. To be fair, most of my films have shit loads of dialogue, but that's their point. This is a big budget action movie, I don't need no political in-fighting. What is up with all this political bullshit in sci fi lately? Episode 1 was lousy with it, The Matrix sequels had too much of it too.
They say that a good half hour has been cut out of this movie, so maybe that extra time will help better explain the story, give it room to breathe. Seems odd that while my main complaint is there's too much extraneous crap, I look forward to seeing more of it. It's not so much that I dislike all the intrigue, I just think it was handled most inelegantly.
Which fits in with the dialogue and such. This film has some really bad lines in it. "It's been a long time since I smelled beautiful." being my favourite. What's more, its based on some really hoary old cliches. Riddick is the chosen one, the last of his race, it has been prophesized that only he can defeat the Necromongers. Yep, the Necromongers (ooooooohh scaary, eh kids?). And you know what race Riddick is the last of? He's a Furyan. And before he defeats the evil bad guy of doom, he stops off on Crematoria to pick up an old friend. Crema-frikkin-toria.
I got sidetracked by the stupid names. Sorry. What I'm trying to say is that the propulsive energy of Pitch Black is no where to be found in this movie. It should be, but it isn't. It should be because Riddick is a propulsive character. He's a wanted criminal, he's always on the run. Most of this movie moves forward due to him running from bounty hunters or being taken somewhere by them. But the old energy just ain't there.
Even the action scenes are a bit lackluster. Riddick barely ever uses his ole' shiny eyes thing to his advantage. Once, right near the start, to be exact. And that fight in the dark is a quickly edited piece of crap. The intent might have been to show the chaos that Riddick is capable of causing, but it didn't work for me. The opening scene where he turns the table on his pursuers worked well. And the big fight on Crematoria was very well done and stands apart from most other fight scenes I've seen the last few years. The sound effects kind of fade away and the music takes centre stage. Twohy and his editor take the fight scene into the realm of the montage here and it works. Roger Ebert said the fight scenes in this film have no sense of space or location, but I think he's just getting old. Fuck man, he liked the Garfield movie and admitted to laughing at Family Circle (circus?)
So how does it look? The visual style of this film is easily its best attribute. If the Roman empire never collapsed and just kept spreading through the galaxies, it would look a lot like the Necromonger's empire. It's a different look, full of mean looking faces and such and I liked it. All the planets had their own distinct looks, and none of them sucked. All the ships and such looked both cool and feasible. And run down. Which is always cool. Which George Lucas forgot somewhere along the way.
And of course Vin Diesel looks cool. Riddick is a bad mother fucker and he looks the part. But Diesel edges real close to self parody in this one. I liked the Riddick in Pitch Black more. Maybe cuz Pitch Black was rated R.
In summation: looks nice, some good action, some bad dialogue and too much story.
If you liked Pitch Black and want more, play Escape From Butcher Bay instead.
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