Rate The Chronicles of Riddick (No CoR spoilers, some Pitch Black spoilers)

[Storm Raven]

Hmm...I liked Pitch Black even though I never saw the entire thing.

Not seeing the whole thing probably improves the film. That way you don't realize how much of the plot of Pitch Black doesn't make any sense.

 

[Welverin]

Chill out dude. Its fun to see how similar the tastes of others are compared to our own.

If you don't goad people, they won't have any need to chill out.

Seeing as how the first person to give the movie a 10 got a snide comment in return, Album Cover X's concerns were well justified.

 

[Villano]

Hmm...I liked Pitch Black even though I never saw the entire thing. Free Ticket in DVD, you say? Then I must make with the purchasing. Save $8 and pick up good movie, good deal.

The "ticket" like a gift certificate good for a movie admission. It's only usable in participating theatres (for up to a $10.50 ticket). It looks like all major theatre chains accept it, but, if you want to check for small, local theatres in your area, go to: www.hollywoodmoviemoney.info

Yes. That's why God created the internet.

No, Al Gore created the internet.

 

[Kai Lord]

If you don't goad people, they won't have any need to chill out.

Seeing as how the first person to give the movie a 10 got a snide comment in return, Album Cover X's concerns were well justified.

Well its a good thing you're here to call attention to this very serious issue. Album Cover and I might not have cleared that up several posts before yours if you hadn't.

 

[Aaron L]

Not seeing the whole thing probably improves the film. That way you don't realize how much of the plot of Pitch Black doesn't make any sense.

Really? Please, enlighten this poor fool, the movie makes complete sense to me.

 

[SynapsisSynopsis]

Wow, its as good as Return of the King, The Empire Strikes Back, and Raiders of the Lost Ark? Amazing!

I gave it a 9, since, if these were my points of comparison, and of them all I only liked Raiders of the Lost Ark, then that would give CoR necessarily a high score. Of course if I was comparing it to movies I think are good, it would probably be a 5 or a 6.

 

[Wombat]

Well, a friend of mine who is finishing up his 3-D animation degree, was given advance-showing tickets by a friend of his in the trade.

So four of us went.

This is not a Wombat film. The other three enjoyed it mightily, but, just for comparison, I also didn't like the Predator films, T-3, and a number of other sci fi violence-driven, special effects-laden films. OTOH, it was slightly better than I expected, so I gave it a 3.

If the others were allowed to vote, they'd probably rate it between 7 and 8. There was a lot of technical discussion of special effects that I did not follow...

 

[Storm Raven]

Really? Please, enlighten this poor fool, the movie makes complete sense to me.

Well, for starters: what do the alien creatures in the movie eat when there aren't any humans to munch on? The planet is otherwise devoid of all life, so what is their normal source of food when a crew of hapless humans doesn't happen to fall from the sky? (More to the point, how did creatures that die in sublight evolve on a planet with three suns?)

When one of the kids goes missing, why do they look for him in a bulidng that
they have the blast the locks open to get inside? How did the characters think the kid get in to such an apparently inaccessible structure?

When they figure out that an eclipse is coming, realizing that the predatory creatures only come out at night, does anyone bother to advance the model to figure out how long it will be until the sun comes up again? No. Why not? One would think that was a pretty vital piece of information.

And the whole ending sequence with Fry and Riddick made no sense whatsoever.

About half the things Riddick does make no sense, but I suppose you can explain that because he's psychotic. But on the other hand, about half the things the other characters do make no sense either (like why, when surrounded by thousands of ravenous predators, do they decide to take a break).

 

[Strithe]

Well, for starters: what do the alien creatures in the movie eat when there aren't any humans to munch on?

Answer: Each other. About mid-film there's a scene where the characters realize that the creatures' blood is literally raining down on them as the beasts start tearing into each other.

The planet is otherwise devoid of all life, so what is their normal source of food when a crew of hapless humans doesn't happen to fall from the sky? (More to the point, how did creatures that die in sublight evolve on a planet with three suns?)

Early in the movie the crash surviors wander up to the bones of some vast herd of large creatures. I assume they were what the monsters ate before they were wiped out. Quite clearly the aliens evolved underground and only emerged to feed on surface creatures. I agree the ecology is very shaky, but it makes more sense than the life cycle of the creatures from the "Alien" movies (Able to reproduce inside human hosts in spite of evolving somewhare in deep space? Super-acid for blood?). In any case, the particulars of the aliens life cycle in "Pitch Black" isn't really all that important to the plot, since the movie isn't really about them.

I never really look for a lot of explanations in movies anyway (there's not enough time). Besides, I am willing to give up a little logic in a genre that asks me to accept faster-than-light travel, flying dragons, and magic that actually works.

About half the things Riddick does make no sense, but I suppose you can explain that because he's psychotic. But on the other hand, about half the things the other characters do make no sense either (like why, when surrounded by thousands of ravenous predators, do they decide to take a break).

I always love the arm-chair critics that talk about how "stupid" characters behave in action or horror movies. Considering how most people fall apart under stressful real-world situations the illogical behaviour of the characters in Pitch Black is quite believable. Just take a look at what happens when there's a power failure or natural disaster: it doesn't take much of a push for looting, riots, and even worse to happen. If everyone was capable "keeping it togehter" when disaster strikes, we wouldn't be spending all that tax money on police officers, firefighters, and soliders. And even these trained professionals can panic if they are poorly-led or faced with situations they weren't properly prepared for.

In Pitch Black, you have a bunch of "fat civillians" expecting a placid low-budget cruise to their destination. They wake up to find that the most of the ship's crew and passengers are dead from a crash caused by a freak metor shower, and that they crash-landed far off-course on an inhospitable world. To make things worse, they have as their travelling companion an escaped felon with a history of violence. If they didn't behave irrationally or panicky at any further stress, the movie would have definitely made no sense.

Why did they stop for a rest? By the looks of them, all of them except the bounty hunter (who is strung out on drugs) probably never lifted anything heavier than a beer can their whole lives. Now they're dragging a bunch of batteries, lights, torches, etc., on a sled across sand. Considering that most people in today's world get winded climbing a flight of steps I'd say that makes perfect sense they'd take a break.

Meanwhile, the sole surviving crew member, who should be providing leadership, is herself trying to deal with the fact that only the slain engineer's actions stopped her from ejecting all the passengers in her fit of hysteria.

The whole point of the movie that the only one who actually keeps his head IS Riddick. The survivors are in the awkward position of having to rely on the person they most feared at the beginning. The whole time the viewer is wondering why this thug is helping these people: Is it self preservation (after all, the civvies make good decoys)? Is he simply just hanging around to watch these people die (he is psychotic, remember)? Or is it because deep down he has some spark of humanity left? If anything, that is the only part of Riddick's behavior that "doesn't make any sense." It also

Pitch Black does have a number of flaws (like why the creatures inexplicably break off their attack near the end), and is certainly not the greatest movie ever made. However, it is very good for a relatively small budget production that essentially re-hashed a lot of sci-fi cliches.

 

[Villano]

Well, for starters: what do the alien creatures in the movie eat when there aren't any humans to munch on? The planet is otherwise devoid of all life, so what is their normal source of food when a crew of hapless humans doesn't happen to fall from the sky? (More to the point, how did creatures that die in sublight evolve on a planet with three suns?)

Since the creatures are subterranean, the sun(s) may not factor much into it. After all, whole species of fish, salamander, etc. evolve without ever seeing the light. Of course, they don't explode in the sun, but this is a sci-fi movie, so, if we can accept that the Alien has acid blood that can eat through several feet of metal, that isn't much of a stretch.

I, too, wondered what they ate. If it wasn't for the bones on the surface, I'd argue that most of the life on the planet existed underground. Probably, most of the life does exist below the surface (the only other life forms we see are the glow worms).

On the other hand, we only see a small portion of the world. It's quite possible that these things only inhabit a small area. Sure, they come out and rampage every 22 years, but they may not exist all over the world. Think of the ants that run amuck in Africa. They lay waste to everything, but only in certain areas. Life in the rest of Africa goes on.

When one of the kids goes missing, why do they look for him in a bulidng that they have the blast the locks open to get inside? How did the characters think the kid get in to such an apparently inaccessible structure?

Two possible reasons. The kid sneaked in while Riddick was examining that building. It's possible that he either saw him or, after seeing the other kid hanging out on top of it, put two and two together.

OTOH, don't forget that Riddick wanted to get in there earlier and is also a sociopath. He may not have known or cared where the kid was. He just wanted in the room.

When they figure out that an eclipse is coming, realizing that the predatory creatures only come out at night, does anyone bother to advance the model to figure out how long it will be until the sun comes up again? No. Why not? One would think that was a pretty vital piece of information.

I didn't like or understand the model at all. It was pretty much a plot device.

And the whole ending sequence with Fry and Riddick made no sense whatsoever.

Are you talking about how she got out of the cave and to him while leaving the others behind? Yeah, that is a big problem.

Another fault I had with the film was that this colony was wiped out 22 years ago. It's a mining colony, it had to report to someone. If anyone came looking, they'd definitely find out what happened (look how long it took the crash survivors to encounter the creatures and they weren't outright investigating anything). If others knew, you'd think there'd be a big "Stay the hell away from this planet" warning that everyone would be aware of.

Lastly, the biggest problem I had was the "only works when in sunlight" solar technology. Okay, that's just stupid! They could have explained it away by saying that the battery in the car was damaged or didn't have time to recharge properly or something.

With all that out of the way...I actually enjoy the film. As far as bad science or questionable writing, this film comes out ahead of many other sci-fi action flicks (the Godzilla remake, anyone?). I even bought the DVD.


EDIT: I seem to have posted at the exact same time as Strithe. We covered most of the same points, too.