Trilogy Review: The Chronicles of Riddick

Before The Fast and the Furious came along, Vin Diesel played an iconic part in a little known science fiction thriller Pitch Black. Asides from a bit-part in Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan and voice work in The Iron Giant, this film projected Diesel into the mainstream as it gained cult status and following.

What happened next, with Diesel's fame sky-rocketing with endless Fast and Furious films and even his American all-action spy XXX, his character from Pitch Black would get his own movie series.
Video games, anime films and a bloated sequel all followed Pitch Black's one-time gimmick in a hope to capture the audience's imagination. Now we have 2013's bafflingly titled "Riddick", which looks like a retread of the original movie...

Why is this such a big deal? Because Diesel wants more money making franchises? Probably. But the character of Riddick himself is very interesting, but there are some strange creative decisions being made...

Pitch Black (2000)

A reasonably well budgeted sci-fi thriller that puts all its time and effort into atmosphere, visuals and a tone of gritty desperation.

When a space ship carrying civilians accidentally crash lands on a barren planet, the survivors must deal with whatever had killed the population that had once settled there. However their ship was also host to transporting a vicious criminal, who's under custody of an unruly law enforcer.

Pitch Black has a very regular premise: who can be trusted, and who will survive, but it has a great sense of build up and visual flare for such a small project. The key characters are fleshed out nicely and their personalities are warped and changed as the situation escalates. Vin Diesel, who plays the criminal named Riddick, steals the show with ridiculous amounts of dry, uncompromising wit and cynicism. Radha Mitchell definitely gets a mention too, as the ship's pilot-turn-leader who has the most pressure on her as she must control her merciless male counterparts. She really becomes the heart of the team, and possibly the most relevant character of the entire series (not that you would know this from watching the sequels...)

The film has a good sense of humour when it needs to, not always gravitating around Riddick though quite regularly. It breaks up the overbearing tension that builds.
Certainly some audiences will find its opening and secondary acts a little slow paced; the film's dedication to landscapes and oppressive deserts and darkness might alienate some. But in today's climate, where films constantly blow things up and shoot people throughout, Pitch Black's restraint in holding all of its cards to its chest until the final forty minutes is a real credit!

It is one of my favourite science fiction films, and stands the test of time given it is thirteen years old (now I feel old....) and I would recommend anyone interested to see this film! Especially if the new film, Riddick, is the money-grubbing remake I think it is...

Additional Marshmallows: Video game fans will acknowledge two heavy hitters in Pitch Black, Claudia Black (Dragon Age: Origins) and Keith David (Mass Effect, Halo 2 and 3) are both present!

Dark Fury (2004)

Set mere moments after Pitch Black's conclusion, Dark Fury is an animated short designed as a bridge between that film and its sequel.

We join the action when Riddick and the other survivors are caught in their skiff by a massive mercenary ship. The mercs are led by a sadistic woman who has a fascination in catching criminals and preserving them, statue-like but still alive. Riddick must battle his way out of her clutches and protect the survivors he now owes his life to.

I saw Dark Fury after seeing the sequel The Chronciles of Riddick, and how can you blame me, they both released in the same year. Directed by Peter Chung who has done work for The Matrix "Animatrix" shorts as well as creating the Aeon Flux animated series (NOT the live action film...) I find his animated pieces incredibly fluid and kinetic. It is a distinct style and quite unforgettable. Dark Fury also benefits the return of the actors from Pitch Black providing their voices, giving a near seamless transition.
It is only thirty-five minutes long, and while there are some nods to where the film's sequel will go... I feel as though some proper explanation would go a long way. Pitch Black is a very grudgy, dirty environment and none of the characters display signs of the super-advanced, alien-esque culture that is being revealed here and in Chronicles. Even with this bridge, it is still very jarring to see Riddick in such environments.

The action is excellent, as it should be from Chung's direction. The choreography is exceptional and you know what's happening. The characters are still involving, for a thirty minute experience at least, though I wonder if some things were cut short? Some of the editing feels a little clunky and throw-away.

 

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

"All the powers in the universe can't change destiny", says the tagline. All the ways you can look at this film, doesn't prevent it from being bad.

The ruthless killer Riddick has escaped the bounty hunters on his trail for five years, but when he is drawn to the planet Helion Prime by an old friend, he is brought into a universe-changing battle. The Necromongers, a brainwashed legion led by a fanatical dictator seeking immortality in what he calls The Underverse, are intent on destroying Helion and all cultures that do not join their army. However, while Riddick attempts to find Jack - the young survivor he rescued - a destiny and lineage finds him.

In this day and age of remakes and lack of imagination, I find it hard to rail so harshly on The Chronicles of Riddick; here is a film full to the brim with creativity and otherworldly concepts. Right from the get go we see the Necromongers and their world-ending technology, right from the start we have Dudi Dench's "Elemental" giving narration about destiny and fate. Creative costume, set, weapon and ship designs are rife. We are given so much lore, pomp and circumstance that goes way, way, way over our heads instantly. 

But what the heck does any of this have to do with a handful of civilians surviving vicious aliens on a barren planet during Pitch Black? Not a darn thing.

Pitch Black is a small, isolated story, and its cult following is due to how it works well with what little it has. TCoR is so bloated with concepts and ideas that were never referenced to, and so completely dwarf the original film's significance, and that none of what we know about Riddick even matters anymore.
Indeed, Riddick himself feels lost in this story's heady heights; I almost feel bad for him and this supposed destiny he has been labored with. I suppose they wanted to give him backstory, since he was a mystery, but I personally don't think this is the backstory he deserved.
Indeed each of the Pitch Black survivors suffer in this film, especially Jack, whose unique perspective of Riddick just boils down to becoming a generic bad-ass. I felt there was a lot missing here, despite watching Dark Fury (if you haven't, you will find this character's development even more confusing...) Speaking of Dark Fury, that anime had better action choreography and pacing that this.

What's worse, TCoR was meant to be the first of three films. This was designed to be a vehicle for Vin Diesel and creator David Twohy to make their mark with. Naturally, this sort of "diving in feet first" approach backfired in the worse possible way, and no follow up was attempted for what is now nine years.

Asides from the costume, set and creative designs, I would say the film's second act is best, when Riddick is imprisoned once again. It is evident that the character belongs in small, claustrophobic environments, not sprawling vistas with armies of enemies.

I hear there is a Director's Cut out there, so I should track that down as it apparently explains more about... what the hell is happening and who everyone is.

So yeah, watch if you are a big sci-fi fan, but the CG is pretty bad for nine years ago. Otherwise, just enjoy Pitch Black as a singular, awesome slice of a universe we don't know.

So I will be seeing Riddick soon, so expect a review in the coming week. I... have my extreme doubts about it satisfying any questions brought up by Chronicles, I think this is a deliberate backpedal to the degree that they are basically remaking Pitch Black.

Which is a shame for multiple reasons. One; remaking things is unimaginative and I feel detracts from current audience's appreciation of the original, and two; Chronicles is very imaginative, and to ditch so much of that creativity just because it was too much too soon is disheartening. All it needed was a bit more focus, a bit more time to breathe and explain things to the audience.

See you then! 

Review: You're Next

Despite all the atypical slasher cliches, You're Next does have some appeal. Even if it is a long slew of endless murder.

When wealthy parents invite their children and partners to their countryside house, they are suddenly surrounded by masked murderers who are intent to hunt down and kill every one of them. However, one of the hunters' victims may not be all they appear to be, and someone may have ulterior motives.

You're Next is very predictable. I could tell you what happens and you probably wouldn't be greatly phased when watching it. Like all horror films these days they feel the need to have a twist (a simplified boast of wit or intelligence maybe?) but here it is almost clear from the start.
It has all of the classic jump scares, even some of the more embarrassing ones: someone alone in the house, early on, gets a fright when a friend gets their attention by... putting their hand on their shoulder from behind. WHO WOULD DO THAT??

The characters are quite interesting however, and the film's attempt at building a family unit initially was quite convincing to me; I felt like I could relate to some of them. Some of them, anyway. There's a LOT of family members, in fact the film's gradual introduction of them all felt a little cartoonish, like the dwarves arriving at Biblo's house. "How many disposable characters are we going to have??" I wondered. I think there were ten in total.

I think what was interesting for me was the hunters... who turn out to be pretty bad at their work! They incompetently fall into traps and are actually dispatched as readily as the victims. This was very amusing to me, besides the usual slasher cliches that made me chuckle. It is probably due to them wearing impractical masks that probably remove ALL peripheral vision; I was surprised they didn't lop their own legs off with those axes!
The soundtrack too was very distinct, it almost had a 1980s, or even sci-fi tone to it and as such became quite surreal to hear in such a grudgy environment. Still, I found it interesting.

I feel as though I'm giving credit only to take it away again immediately. If you know your slasher movies, you won't find anything out of the ordinary here. It is literally a long procession of murders strung together by an overhanging ambiguity as to why it is happening and who's behind it.
If you want a cheap scare, there are certainly worse choices than this! Kudos for being an 18, even if that was mostly just for excessive gore.

Additional Marshmallows: In a bid to resist spoiling everything... I can't not complain a little about all the "super-powered women" in films now (especially horrors). I mean, I get it, but after so many they are going to get repetitive and not at all surprising. We need another Evil Dead "Ash" type hero!
 


  

Review: Elysium

District 9 director Neill Blomkamp returns with yet another muddy, high tech vision of a dystopian future, maintaining a vigil on social equalities or lack thereof. It doesn't quite stand up to District's brutish reality or metaphor, but it is a decent ride.

The film follows Max and Frey, two kids who grew up on the diseased, slum filled streets of Earth, who dream (like everyone on Earth) to belong on the orbital utopia known as Elysium. Elysium however is only for the richest, brightest and most famous, and it has vast technological advancement so far as being able to cure cancer.

However, when an accident at work makes Max (Matt Damon) fatally ill, he joins a resistance movement and dons a powerful exo-skeleton to right the social wrongs. At the same time, Elysium's security chief (Jodie Foster) looks to overthrow the current President.

There's a lot of high sci-fi concepts going on here, from current social issues to the heady science fiction involved, Elysium had great potential to be a stand out experience. But... as the story goes on it becomes less compelling; the final act is more of a straight up shooter/brawl fest that abandons nearly all of its ingenuity.

Critically, Jodie Foster's character felt criminally underused as the morally ambiguous “villain”, the film instead focuses on the brutish Kruger (played by the chameleonic Sharlto Copley) whose accent is nearly impenetrable. There's also several glaring plot conveniences, that are a little too obvious.

So what is good about Elysium? The pacing is excellent, the opening two acts are sturdy and introduce this future and humanity's duality very well. Visually it is as excellent as District 9, from the grainy, bleak slums to the clever robot, ship and weapon designs (though not quite as humorously unsettling as D9's weapons.) Matt Damon is good as the everyman-turn-hero, and Foster and Copley are fully invested too as the antagonists.
As a fan of video games, I saw huge similarities with Mass Effect, specifically with the Elysium station itself.

I certainly enjoyed the film, it never bored me and had a lot of well implemented sci-fi concepts! It just lacked a completely satisfying conclusion, as if the makers wrote themselves into a corner and just improvised.

Additional Marshmallows: I really liked how one Elysium citizen had a space craft/hover car that was branded as a Bugatti. That was clever.

Review: Vexille

From the creators of Appleseed comes an anime movie that has a lot of squandered potential.

Ready for a strange way to find out about a movie? 
Some time ago, I discovered one of my favourite video games had a song by The Prodigy (one of my favourite bands), but I had trouble finding the song. Later I found it included in the soundtrack for Vexille, and having liked the soundtrack, I gave the film a go.

Unfortunately the film isn't that good.
Set in the heady year of 2077, we follow a young American military agent named Vexille as she investigates the mystery behind Japan's development of humanoid robotics, a science banned by the UN.
As you would expect from a country devoted to technological advancement, they left the UN and became a walled, impenetrable island. No one knows what is happening inside.

I watched Vexille with the original Japanese audio and English subtitles (because I have no problem with subs) which brought up an irritation of mine with anime; the film follows American agents, yet they speak Japanese. I know, I know, it is a Japanese animation so it is in Japanese, but wouldn't these things be more compelling if the Americans were American with Japanese subtitles? It happens in Ghost in the Shell too, which also weirds me out; they travel to England, where everyone speaks Japanese.

Anyway, that is neither here nor there!
Vexille has all the style of Appleseed, instead of traditional 2D animation the film is entirely 3D rendered. Sometimes there are moments of greatness, a certain shot will be animated perfection... but I really do prefer the artistry of Studio Ghibli (for example) over this. This looks like a video game cinematic.
What really bothers me in Vexille are the characters. The theme of the film is quite compelling, much like Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed, it reflects on the future implications of robots and the affect they will have on humanity, as well as the possibility of our loss of identity with an abundance of technology. But, the characters here are hopelessly uninteresting. There are far too many of them; the film has a dozen characters that it does nothing with, killing them off liberally and we have little or no sympathy for them.
In a film about humanity and the loss of humanity, we don't sympathise with the humanity lost...

There's a very cool concept buried beneath monotonous tech-jargon and constructed plotholes. What the film does with Japan is very interesting thematically (I cannot spoil it; it is probably the only reason to watch it) but I hate to say it might not be worth the effort. The human element is missing here.

If you loved Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell, give it a go, but don't expect the latter's complexity or integrity.

Additional Marshmallows: Interested in what the song was? Here it is:

And how long did it actually last in the film?

About ten seconds...
  
 

 

Review: The Sweeney

Something about crime drama set in Britain just irks me.

Adapted from the 1970s television show of the same name, The Sweeney follows two of the more unconventional police officers in Britain, whose lack of regard for authority has them running out of allies while hunting down a devious criminal.

The film is a classic cops-and-robbers scenario but with a twist; our heroes are not the clean cut, law abiding officers. They use any means necessary to catch criminals, and their commanding officer Jack Regan (Ray Winstone) sees no problem in how his unit operates. But the higher ups look to undermine him at every turn, and his dogged nature means he won't quit.

Ultimately this is the meat of the show, but unfortunately the film doesn't provide any great sustenance for the characters. The villains are unremarkable and cardboard, while Ray Winstone... well... I imagine he is playing himself here! Certainly if you have a problem with Winstone's past performances I recommend you avoid The Sweeney; this is very much his film.
... I don't know who wanted to see him on the big screen in his boxers, not once but twice, but I know I didn't ask for it...

The gun battles that run consistently through the film aren't shabby, the music isn't bad either and the action is shot nicely so you can see what's happening, but it doesn't feel like it escalates. It feels as though the film has one setting; gruff and dogged, and it doesn't do anything else (a bit like Winstone himself really)

I don't know, it didn't grab my attention, and looking back at it I wish there was more backing to the characters and their personalities, especially with Ben "Plan B" Drew's character George. His character could have had an interesting arc but we don't get to see his origin; it is explained in rushed exposition instead.

Maybe if you knew the original television show there might be more comprehension, but as it stands The Sweeney isn't memorable and remains very average in my eyes.

Additional Marshmallows: Also, I cannot help but be reminded of UK television's Top Gear having a humorous episode shot around the filming of The Sweeney and thinking how that was better.
 

Review: Kick Ass 2

New York gets a second dose of teenage superhero carnage, this time boasting even more controversy and violence but also a wicked social commentary.

Set some years after the first film, Dave "Kick-Ass" Lizewski finds himself out of shape and out of the crime fighting limelight, while Mindy, aka Hit Girl, is trying to let go of her heroic persona and live a normal life. However an old, or rather young, nemesis seeks revenge on Kick-Ass and is forming a ruthless army to do it for him!

The sequel blows the original out of the water with a surprisingly layered narrative. While sure Dave's storyline isn't that unique in today's over-saturation of comic book movies, this is undeniably Hit Girl's movie. Even more so than the first film. Some of this film's funniest and bitchiest dialogue comes from Mindy's attempts to rejoin High School society. There might be cliches lurking in that concept, but I assure you, this film isn't retreading any ground; Mindy is up and face to face with some of the most deplorable female social issues and everyday evils. A great juxtaposition with the crime fighting action otherwise shown.
I don't want to go into Jim Carrey's denouncement of the film, though I can hardly see the reasoning for his decision (this film is no worse than the first) but I want to say that his performance is excellent although incredible short. It is a role that stands out from all his usual trappings and it is a crying shame it was so short, but for that short time it outshone the rest!

It probably has a lot of quotable dialogue, the film's writing is impressively witty and garishly vulgar at the same time. I've never liked Christopher Mintz-Plasse, but his villain is so pathetic and crude that he works perfectly in this film.
I think one line that sticks with me is his allocation of names to his henchmen, one mercenary was of particularly short stature: "So he's little and he kills people, call him... The Tumor."

It is a great, funny and ugly film, and while it does have the usual trappings of comic book films (some character arc similarities to The Dark Knight) and it does frequently say in the script: "This isn't a comicbook, this is real life!" as if to remind us of the unique slant it has. These are very minor gripes and if you enjoy Scott Pilgrim and the first Kick-Ass, you will surely love this.

     

Review: The Lone Ranger

It has been a long time since I've walked into a film with this much trepidation. But despite the film getting monumentally bad critical responses, so bad that showings here in the UK have been virtually deserted, I didn't find the film that bad.

Seen from the perspective of his Native American sidekick Tonto, the film shows the origin of The Lone Ranger and his transformation from zero to hero. The construction of a railroad brings unrest between the settlers and native Indian tribes, while a bloodthirsty outlaw becomes a vengeful obsession for our two heroes.

It is very easy to see why people dislike the film, and I must agree that there are some pretty strange decisions made here (not just casting Johnny Depp, as many critics argue). The film is far, far, far too long; an hour could have been cut clean out of it and more fun could have been had. The Lone Ranger began its life as short serials, I doubt it had any desire to become so bloated and overcomplicated.

In true Jerry Bruckheimer style, this film has a lot of needless padding and abundance of characters that plagued the Pirates sequels. Heck, one of William Fichtner's villain's lackeys is a replica of the glass-eye pirate from those films, parasol and all! Helena Bonham Carter's character was unnecessary too and could have been easily written out.
There are some pretty weird little things too... Tonto acting insane and feeding the dead bird on his head, flesh-eating rabbits (yes, you read that right) a horse standing in a tree, and a strangely unnecessary narrative framing device that has circus-performing Tonto as an old man telling the story to a little boy in 1933.
Add to all of this that the film has a lot of cliche Western visuals. It is almost every Western you have ever seen crunched into one film.

So wait, wait, wait. I told you I didn't find the film bad, but it sounds like I did? Well, I am explaining how it can easily be seen as bad, it is vulnerable to being beaten up.
There are some very good characters here, despite some of them being unnecessary. Depp as Tonto is NOT (I repeat, not) as bad as people are exclaiming. While we live in a very Politically Correct environment and I admit casting a lesser known but more fitting actor would have been more compelling, he isn't unbearable. In fact he very rarely goes full "Jack Sparrow".
The visuals are impressive, a lot of the comedic moments are genuinely funny, but what I loved most was the last 25 to 30 minutes. While it takes the film forever to get there the finale is amazing! Mostly because that all too familiar Lone Ranger "theme" comes booming heroically out at us, you cannot help but be swept up in it. Oh, and Silver the horse is great. But that's hardly surprising.

There are little silver nuggets of greatness in this rather tedious pile of obscurity. Unfortunately it is easier to focus on the things wrong with it as a film rather than the individual parts that make it unique, this is mostly because it spends way too long focusing on these unnecessary elements.

Too long, too complicated, too confused, this film is more like Prince of Persia than Pirates of the Caribbean from Disney. But it has its moments, and they are genuinely good moments! I just wish and wish the film was ninety minutes long rather than a mind numbing one-hundred and fifty.

Additional Marshmallows: It should be mentioned that this film has some surprisingly graphic scenes in it. People are shot through the head with arrows, a man has his heart cut out of his chest, people are liberally shot and maimed throughout! Even Disney is pushing the boundaries of what 12A can likely provide.