The Chronicles of Riddick

I enjoy a good cheese crusade every now and then. No, this isn't the greatest movie out there. It isn't even, theoretically speaking, a good movie. But it is enjoyable. I'll start with what sucks. The script is, at times, atrocious. It's commendable that the actors manage to carry through them. At least, some of them. Others among the cast are quite less than bullet-proof and almost scare you with how horrible their dialogue sounds. I have an icy glare at Thandie Newton here. Unfortunately, Dame Judie Dench is not at the top of her game, seems rather uncomfortable in her role most of the time, and always has a sort of can-we-get-this-over-with way of doing things. Her character has an odd relationship with Lord Marshal, but its depth is never explained. It was probably in the script, but trimmed to keep things moving and to keep this movie from over-staying its welcome. Something that sits between flaw and insignificant is that, like Pitch Black, most of the characters have names, but you really only pick up the main ones. Of course, that is probably just my problem, and everyone reading this is squinting their eyes at their screen right now. On to the good stuff. I really like the artistic design. The ships all look distinguishable, between the three different sources we see, and they all look absolutely nothing like Star Wars or Star Trek. Don't get me wrong, I love those two franchises, but it's too easy to rip them off rather than come up with something unique in the design department. There was a particular effect that they used that I felt added a lot to it, and that was that all the ships had a very noticeable engine trail. Be it heat, gravitronic distortions, dark magic, whatever, doesn't matter, the fact that the ships acted like they actually have engines and don't just fly seamlessly around like vector graphics helps you believe their actually space-craft, no matter how weird they look. The script doesn't apologize to the audience either. I can think of some specific comparisons. A lot of sci-fi movies (I'm looking at you Episode I) have to find a way of explaining everything to the audience, and they usually do it through some kind of ignorant character who needs a refresher course on history. Sometimes this isn't such a big deal, typically when the information is very specialized, i.e.. the genetic explanations and Dr. Malcolm's rants in Jurassic Park, or when the characters handle it like normal people handle it, point form (original Planet of the Apes.) However, there are times (Episode I) where everybody just seems to be a fountain of knowledge, and willing to take the time to explain what should be common information (Corruscant is one giant city!) when normally they'd not have to explain any thing ("Why you no good, scruffy looking, Nerf herder!" I don't know what a Nerf is, but it sounds not-good.) Riddick doesn't pamper us with lengthy histories on the origins of their universe. They fill in why the Necromongers are bad, and why Riddick is important. As for the origin of their known universe, to the best I can figure out, humans left earth and found the universe to be an empty and lonely place. So they started filling it. Thousands of years later each system has come to consider itself to be a distinct race, springing from common human heritage, but possessing traits unique to their adopted heritage, results of natural adaptation. I like that I've been in a position to figure that out on my own. It's interesting, but it doesn't drive the story. Too much Sci-fi assumes that their elaborate environments are the source of 'good' (Matrix 1-3) and spend a lot of time establishing those environments, occasionally literally touring them, and making them bigger, deeper, and more elaborate at every turn. Establishing Matrix 1 was fine, it put us in a place to feel empathy for humanity, like there was a greater good for our heroes to fight for. Endless talks about rogue programs, exiles, how programs die, do programs feel, there's a key-maker program, a defense program, a fortuneteller program, a vampire program, a virus program, a hot-dog vendor program, and a program that listens to the secret thoughts of little children when they touch themselves, it all bogs things down. I like being allowed to use my imagination to figure out the peripherals and extras (not the plot Matrix 3!) and riddick gave me an opportunity to do that for a night.
I had a good time.

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