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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

Sorry, gonna have to side with Matt here, I think Chronicles is awesome, and totally works as a story. As he pointed out, most of your problems were addressed in dialogue in the movie which you failed to pay attention to. I also don't get your hatred of diesel, I think he totally works in the role and makes an entertaining badass. Yes, the story could be more focused, but its just such a cool universe, when's the last time we've had an awesome original sci-fi universe like this? There's basically firefly and this in the last 10-20 years.

Also, Shoot-em-up is a piece of shit, tries to make fun of John Woo but has totally boring action scenes with no impact, and an annoying as fuck self-aware tone. Hot Fuzz is how it should be done, you have to play it straight or not at all.

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  • From: Kent, England
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

Figures, I love Shoot Em Up but am kinda meh on Hot Fuzz. How can a skydiving gun fight played against AC/DC's 'If you want blood' be boring? Plus, Monica Bellucci.

I think alot of the contention stems from the design of necromongers, as in that medieval-styled armour they appear they've stepped out of the pages of another universe (which is why references to LOTR came popping up). I'd argue that had these guys been dressed in a more grounded Stormtroopers/futuristic style armour, their sections of the film would have fitted more seamless with the Pitch Black universe. Thus the tone difference between the two films wouldn't been so jarring.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

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  • From: Scotland
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

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  • From: Kent, England
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

By any reasonable standard? Sorry, that's extremely... short-sighted. It undermines the scale of good and bad when you declare a film like Riddick to be a bad movie. There are many, much more genuinely bad movies out there. Let's not dilute the meaning and power of these words by flinging them about so thoughtlessly. What the hell happened to average and all those other words we use to describe things that aren't at either end of the scale?

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

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  • Teague
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

I agree with the point you're making, but not the hill you're trying to die on. wink

In other words: Riddick is, uh. Riddick is pretty bad.

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  • Registered: 2010-01-25
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

See, I don't get that view-point. I would honestly call it above average sci-fi. The only real big problems for me are the disjointed feel, a few lines of dialogue (I actually like most of Riddick's lines in this one, minus the tea-cup bit), and thandie newton. Its not great or anything, but it's 3/4 of the way to being great in my book. I believe Vern called it not half-assed but 2/3rds assed in his review, and that's pretty much how I feel about it.

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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

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  • Teague
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

Unfortunately, if the pattern continues, the next movie will have nothing in common with this one.

Boom.

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  • From: Farmington, CT
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

The Chronicles of Riddick: GAME OVER

Riddick discovers that his entire universe is actually part of a complex computer simulation, and the Necromongers were created to cleanse excess data. Riddick breaks free, finds the creator of the simulation, and kills him using only a keyboard.

The Chronicles of Riddick: ORIGINS

This prequel follows a teenage Riddick (back when everyone called him Richard) as he learns the ups and downs of love from a beautiful young woman named Mary. This film takes place entirely on Earth. There are no aliens or mention of aliens.

The Chronicles of Riddick: ANNIHILATION

In this lighthearted comedy-adventure, Riddick tries to defeat the Clown King, an evil overlord who kills his enemies with pies. Joining Riddick is Danny (Eddie Murphy), a wisecracking Necromonger who's always getting into sticky situations!

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

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  • From: Florida
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

Matt Vayda's Website

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  • Registered: 2010-01-25
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

Agreed. Pitch Black has the better story and characterization, Riddick has the better look, feel and tone. If only they could get together and make sweet love.

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  • From: Buffalo, NY
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

Zarban's Website

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  • From: Kent, England
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

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  • Teague
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

You should be comparing it strictly to movies where they're inventing an entire universe onscreen for the first time.

It's a little easier for Transformers to make sense to a viewer (and it does - Revenge of the Fallen not so much) because it takes place on modern day Earth. Riddick stands to be compared with Star Wars before it stands to be compared with Transformers, which kind of sucks for them, but they chose the playground.

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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

Hang on a sec. Can we go back to the part where you compared The Chronicles of Riddick to 2001? Cause I found that unaccountably hilarious.

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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

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  • From: Kent, England
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

Oh noes, did someone just diss 2001? They're both incomprehensible, just in different ways. In other news, Citizen Kane is not the greatest movie ever made.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

You're a giant baby.

And 2001 is not incomprehensible. It's just that some people don't comprehend it until it's explained to them, is all. Riddick, by comparison, is neither incomprehensible nor uncomprehended. It's just not a very good story, down in the details.

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  • From: Kent, England
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

Except 2001 doesn't actually have a story, it's a series of ideas and images ending with a philosophical punctuation mark. It's incomprehensible because there's nothing really there to comprehend. Once you've looked past its technical merits or had some pseudo-intellectual prat try to explain it, you just think "and?"... and that's at the end after you've been thinking "ok, so what is going on?" for the previous 2 hours. On the other side, Riddick is incomprehensible because there's too much stuff going on and you're thinking "wait, what?" and "how does this fit with that?".

So you have a film that's severely underwritten to the point that there's no script, whereas the other feels like it's been made with scripts for different films on set. Both clearly have story problems. You enjoy both, and I would guess you'd watch Riddick over 2001 any day of the week, so why is one bad or so below average it makes a mockery of mediocrity and the other fantastic?

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

I love you guys so much; you've put more effort put into breaking the film down than was ever invested in the screenplay.

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  • Registered: 2010-01-25
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Re: The Chronicles of Riddick

Sir, you have insulted 2001 for the last time. I demand that we go out into the parking lot and commence punching each other in the face until one or the other of us apologizes. The loser shall buy a round for the bar.

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