BEFORE: Vin Diesel carries over from "Pitch Black" (as does Keith David), because once I start a series, I try to finish it. It's much easier when there are two films in a series, instead of 23.
THE PLOT: The wanted criminal Riddick arrives on a planet called Helion Prime, and finds himself up against an invading empire called the Necromongers, an army that plans to convert or kill all humans in the universe.
AFTER: I find this Riddick character somewhat interesting, because he's not just a mindless killer. He's a very smart killer, he seems to know whatever he needs to know to get the job done, plus he's got some cool powers like night-vision (which also conveniently force him to wear cool sunglasses during the day). So in one sense he's on a level with James Bond, or perhaps Wolverine (also suggested by his animal-like sense of smell).
The problem is, you've got to give a killer somebody to kill - and if those people are innocents, then the killer is evil. But if you put him up against a foe that is "more evil", then he becomes a hero, or perhaps an anti-hero. The villains here are called the Necromongers, and they are in the middle of taking over the galaxy, one planet at a time, offering the inhabitants a choice - "Join us or die".
Actually, it's a little more complicated than that, because the Necromongers believe in an afterlife, called the "underverse", and you have to die to get there, but you also have to believe in it to get there. (Hmm, where have I heard this before?) So the Necromongers are happy to either kill you and keep you out of paradise, or you can submit to them and get rewarded in the next life. Wait, is there a third choice?
The obvious analogy is to something like organized religion, but it's run in a manner similar to that mirror-universe on "Star Trek", where Spock was evil and had a beard, and people got promoted through the ranks of the Federation by assassinating their superiors. It's not a large leap from the Necromongers to the Catholic Church when you consider events like the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition. For those of you who haven't heard of the Inquisition, that's where a bunch of holy people would force people to confess to their sins (actual or perceived) by using torture - so citizens either started confessing to stuff they didn't do and atoned for it, or they suffered physical pain up to and including death, in order to make their souls pure enough for heaven. It's where we got the phrase "Damned if you do, damned if you don't."
But this is another case like "Dune", where a film gets so convoluted with its own mythology and the rules of engagement in a war, that it's easy for the viewer to lose interest. Here there are elementals, and warriors, and hints that our favorite convict Riddick might be some kind of cosmic messiah - but you know what? I don't really care. As an Earthling, I don't really have a dog in this fight, not even a big, snarling alien prison dog.
There's also some debate about whether another character carried over from "Pitch Black" - Riddick kept narrating/thinking about some woman, who may or may not be on the prison planet he wants to go to, but I wasn't clear if her character appeared in the previous film. If she did, she was played by another actress and had a new name, so you can see why I was confused.
The prison planet, Crematoria, is another one of those planets with a very dangerous surface - on this planet you're fine if you're on the night side, but when the sun rises the land gets covered in volcanic fire. So, in the future, does anybody live on planets that are actually, you know, inhabitable? Just wondering.
Also starring Colm Feore (last seen in "Thor"), Thandie Newton (last seen in "W."), Judi Dench (last seen in "Skyfall"), Karl Urban (last seen in "Star Trek: Into Darkness"), Linus Roache, Alexa Davalos.
RATING: 3 out of 10 telepaths
No comments:
Post a Comment