Riddick
I loved Pitch Black, and I love Chronicles of Riddick, so when my best friend said she wanted to see Riddick as her birthday present I was all over it. I happened to see they were having an advance screening last night, so we went to it.
She chose the venue (Movie Tavern, one of those movie theater/restaurant hybrids). I'm not a fan of seeing movies there. The food isn't all that great frankly, and it really takes me out of the movie to have people constantly walking in front of me.
On to the no spoilers review:
It was your typical action flick. Some good action scenes interspersed with campy one liners held together with a thread of a plot. The first full 1/3 of the movie is taken up by this quiet, rather slow moving introspection on Riddick's part like they were going for something deeper and more artsy than action flick.
Overall it was entertaining. The CGI and sound were absolutely fantastic. The story wasn't as compelling as the first or second and the last bit was so reminiscent of the first movie that I kept wondering if it was going to turn out they were on the same planet.
There's nothing behind the credits.
They weren't on Pitch Black's planet, although I think in the end it would have been cooler if they had been.
I'm beginning to think any movie with a strong animal character that dies before the end needs to come with a warning on the poster or something. I'm so sick of movies taking the cheap shot of killing the dog to make the hero (or antihero in this case) really mad. Besides, everyone in the audience knows it's coming. Seriously, in this movie Helen Keller could have seen it.
There were bits of foreshadowing that weren't followed through on. They have these energy guns and one guy puts in a mouth guard (it's highlighted even) but nothing ever comes of that. I figured Riddick would make the gun electrocute him or something after taking the guard out. I chock that up to something ending up on the cutting room floor.
It seemed like a lot of people survived this one, but when I think back I guess it was just 4? I'd rather have seen more of the creatures doing the killing rather than Riddick. It had more horror elements than the second, but not as much as the first. I think they should have decided whether it was action or horror and stuck with it. And sped up the whole I need to get back to being savage part in the beginning. Plus, the flashback to tell us how he ended up on the planet and what happened with the Necromancers was weak, short and unnecessary. He could have left it with the voice over saying he should have seen the betrayal coming but he got soft or whatever. His armor as the king was cool though.
I really like Katee Sackhoff. I liked her in BSG, I like her in Longmire and hell I even liked her for the very brief run of the Bionic Woman. I hated that she ends up doing exactly what Riddick predicts at the end but I guess that was just them playing with the idea that things always go exactly like he says? Or maybe that he's just so awesome he flips lesbians? I don't know. It was extremely against character and it bugged me.
Other than that and the pretty slow first part, I liked it. They set it up for a 4th and I'd love to see him finally make it to Furya.
I've almost decided I'm just getting to where I don't like watching movies in the theaters. I can get more into it and have a better experience at home. I don't get cold, nobody's talking through the whole thing or walking in front of me. I look forward to Mom moving so Jason and I can go to a regular theater. Maybe I'll be okay there. I do like the big screen, I just don't like the people. LOL
She chose the venue (Movie Tavern, one of those movie theater/restaurant hybrids). I'm not a fan of seeing movies there. The food isn't all that great frankly, and it really takes me out of the movie to have people constantly walking in front of me.
On to the no spoilers review:
It was your typical action flick. Some good action scenes interspersed with campy one liners held together with a thread of a plot. The first full 1/3 of the movie is taken up by this quiet, rather slow moving introspection on Riddick's part like they were going for something deeper and more artsy than action flick.
Overall it was entertaining. The CGI and sound were absolutely fantastic. The story wasn't as compelling as the first or second and the last bit was so reminiscent of the first movie that I kept wondering if it was going to turn out they were on the same planet.
There's nothing behind the credits.
They weren't on Pitch Black's planet, although I think in the end it would have been cooler if they had been.
I'm beginning to think any movie with a strong animal character that dies before the end needs to come with a warning on the poster or something. I'm so sick of movies taking the cheap shot of killing the dog to make the hero (or antihero in this case) really mad. Besides, everyone in the audience knows it's coming. Seriously, in this movie Helen Keller could have seen it.
There were bits of foreshadowing that weren't followed through on. They have these energy guns and one guy puts in a mouth guard (it's highlighted even) but nothing ever comes of that. I figured Riddick would make the gun electrocute him or something after taking the guard out. I chock that up to something ending up on the cutting room floor.
It seemed like a lot of people survived this one, but when I think back I guess it was just 4? I'd rather have seen more of the creatures doing the killing rather than Riddick. It had more horror elements than the second, but not as much as the first. I think they should have decided whether it was action or horror and stuck with it. And sped up the whole I need to get back to being savage part in the beginning. Plus, the flashback to tell us how he ended up on the planet and what happened with the Necromancers was weak, short and unnecessary. He could have left it with the voice over saying he should have seen the betrayal coming but he got soft or whatever. His armor as the king was cool though.
I really like Katee Sackhoff. I liked her in BSG, I like her in Longmire and hell I even liked her for the very brief run of the Bionic Woman. I hated that she ends up doing exactly what Riddick predicts at the end but I guess that was just them playing with the idea that things always go exactly like he says? Or maybe that he's just so awesome he flips lesbians? I don't know. It was extremely against character and it bugged me.
Other than that and the pretty slow first part, I liked it. They set it up for a 4th and I'd love to see him finally make it to Furya.
I've almost decided I'm just getting to where I don't like watching movies in the theaters. I can get more into it and have a better experience at home. I don't get cold, nobody's talking through the whole thing or walking in front of me. I look forward to Mom moving so Jason and I can go to a regular theater. Maybe I'll be okay there. I do like the big screen, I just don't like the people. LOL