Eric Boellner
Well-known member
Saw the film yesterday at a matinee, and really enjoyed it. As usual, Twohy can't write dialogue for s--t, and you have to want to like the movie in order to not scoff at the last 30-40 minutes, given the combination of B-movie dialogue and some fairly bad acting on the part of the supporting cast (Sackhoff just annoyed the s--t out of me, but I couldn't tell if that was her as an actor, or just the way her character was written).
But as a sequel to Pitch Black (f--k "Chronicles." I got 25 minutes into that movie before turning it off and just reading the wiki page), the film worked really well. It delivered exactly what I wanted out of a Riddick movie: Riddick getting burned and spurned, doing bad s--t, and generally owning everyone else in the film with his cunning and brutality. I was a little disappointed by the tacky ending: the thing everyone loves about Riddick is that he's the antihero every antihero strives to be: a cold-hearted, animalistic motherf--ker who will leave your ass to die if he has no reason to kill you himself. I liked the first film, because it pushed the limits of this. Riddick made some efforts to help people other than himself (when he does so, I feel it's because he identifies with the people he's helping, particularly Jack, or because they sort of amuse him, like the Imam), but in the end, he never crossed the line into "bad guy with a heart." This film kind of crossed that line with a slightly mushy, neatly-tied-off ending.
I've gotta say, the first 40 minutes had Riddick just holding his own on this godforsaken planet, and it was a thrill to watch. Overall, I'll definitely be seeing this one again. There were some missed opportunities, some cheesy dialogue and acting, but as a sci-fi B-movie with a character I like, this film was pretty much a solid hit for me.
-EMB
As far as box office goes, the film is on track to make a small profit, and should out-gross Pitch Black. It's also rated about the same as PB, both critically and by audiences.
But as a sequel to Pitch Black (f--k "Chronicles." I got 25 minutes into that movie before turning it off and just reading the wiki page), the film worked really well. It delivered exactly what I wanted out of a Riddick movie: Riddick getting burned and spurned, doing bad s--t, and generally owning everyone else in the film with his cunning and brutality. I was a little disappointed by the tacky ending: the thing everyone loves about Riddick is that he's the antihero every antihero strives to be: a cold-hearted, animalistic motherf--ker who will leave your ass to die if he has no reason to kill you himself. I liked the first film, because it pushed the limits of this. Riddick made some efforts to help people other than himself (when he does so, I feel it's because he identifies with the people he's helping, particularly Jack, or because they sort of amuse him, like the Imam), but in the end, he never crossed the line into "bad guy with a heart." This film kind of crossed that line with a slightly mushy, neatly-tied-off ending.
I've gotta say, the first 40 minutes had Riddick just holding his own on this godforsaken planet, and it was a thrill to watch. Overall, I'll definitely be seeing this one again. There were some missed opportunities, some cheesy dialogue and acting, but as a sci-fi B-movie with a character I like, this film was pretty much a solid hit for me.
-EMB
As far as box office goes, the film is on track to make a small profit, and should out-gross Pitch Black. It's also rated about the same as PB, both critically and by audiences.
