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redfiona99The Statement For The Prosecution:
The Chronicles of Riddick is a sequel to Pitch Black.
Pitch Black is a good sci-fi horror which I recommend if either of those two genres appeal.
Chronicles of Riddick is a somewhat peculiar sci-fi/fantasy/action melange. That is not the problem with it. I would be completely cool with it. In fact, it would even be quite fun. It's just that to bridge the gap between the two films they kill off characters we've grown to like in the first one. Which is not cool. They replace them with characters who are less interesting than the previous ones (one thing that Pitch Black did well was sketch characters given the minimum of time they were working with).
The one character they don't kill off to replace her ... I, listen, I have tried to keep the ranting to a minimum in this list, but I cannot conceive of anyway that Jack, who I liked a lot, turned into Kyra, who I can't stand. I don't think I would have liked her anyway, but as a development of Jack, I don't like her and I don't believe in her.
And I know one character, who is not even a main character, should not affect my opinion of a film this much, but it does.
The Scene Itself:
I have not gone with the Teacup of Death scene, despite it being a fantastic set-piece (although I shall give you a link to it because it is the teacup of death.
I have instead gone with quieter scene.
Crematoria, the planet that the above fight scene takes place on, also has two suns, as the planet in Pitch Black also has, but it has the opposite problem. In Pitch Black, the darkness is what kills you, on Crematoria, it's the light, because it's so hot it kills on contact.
Riddick is knocked out and left on the surface of Crematoria to die.
He is rescued by the Purifier, which is a shock given that he's a high up in the Necromonger ranks.
Scene ensues.
First it conveys how terrified the Lord Marshall is of Riddick, if he's willing to send one of his senior officers to send the message, and willing give someone in a viciously back-biting hierarchy that kind of ammunition.
And it shows why the Lord Marshall is terrified of the Furyans if they're willing to go this far to prove a point.
Now the Purifiers appear to be some sort of cross between captains and Inquisitors, who make sure everyone else is keeping the faith (and what a faith it is). So you've got to consider how a forced convert became one, and what he did. And it answers, in a wonderful show, not tell way, what happens to the people who choose to convert rather than be killed, and why it might not be a better option.
And Linus Roache plays the dualism of the character so well. Because he is a Furyan, but rather than getting killed like all the rest of them did, converted and therefore disgraced the name (the Furyans having a reputation). And he is a Necromonger, he's a Purifier for the Lord Marshall, it's hard to get more Necromonger-ish than that, but he's failing at that too, because he's following the Lord Marshall's plan, rather than having him killing for failing the Necromonger faith, and because he wants Riddick to beat them.
Roache also captures the sheer hatred that the Purifier has for the Lord Marshall, and the amount of time he must have spent plotting if not this, then some other way (at least part of my theory being that the Purifier was remarkably weedy for a Furyan and it lead to both his conversion and to his inability to kill the Lord Marshall). And it makes more sense of scenes previous to it, which is always good for a twist.
So the Purifier takes the only option he has left, which is this glorious striding out into the sun to get burnt, and carrying on even as he's disintegrating, and I love him, sorry.
There's also the thing of 'we all began as something else' which is as much a reference to 1) Riddick becoming a criminal after the destruction of Furya, 2) him redeeming himself in Pitch Black and 3) the whole Jack/Kyra thing, as it is to the Purifier's situation and I do like it when a film goes for its themes so wholeheartedly.
It's also a glorious prophecy twist, that if the Purifier hadn't been sent to give Riddick the message, then Riddick wouldn't have survived and the prophecy did only say 'a male Furyan' it didn't specify which. And I do like prophecy twists.
I think part of the problem is that the rest of the film is full of serious characters who come from cultures and/or situations where you don't show any emotion so there suddenly being a (wholly unexpected) character gets to do it, it stands out.
(Also casting Linus Roache in things always helps. Really!)
The Chronicles of Riddick is a sequel to Pitch Black.
Pitch Black is a good sci-fi horror which I recommend if either of those two genres appeal.
Chronicles of Riddick is a somewhat peculiar sci-fi/fantasy/action melange. That is not the problem with it. I would be completely cool with it. In fact, it would even be quite fun. It's just that to bridge the gap between the two films they kill off characters we've grown to like in the first one. Which is not cool. They replace them with characters who are less interesting than the previous ones (one thing that Pitch Black did well was sketch characters given the minimum of time they were working with).
The one character they don't kill off to replace her ... I, listen, I have tried to keep the ranting to a minimum in this list, but I cannot conceive of anyway that Jack, who I liked a lot, turned into Kyra, who I can't stand. I don't think I would have liked her anyway, but as a development of Jack, I don't like her and I don't believe in her.
And I know one character, who is not even a main character, should not affect my opinion of a film this much, but it does.
The Scene Itself:
I have not gone with the Teacup of Death scene, despite it being a fantastic set-piece (although I shall give you a link to it because it is the teacup of death.
I have instead gone with quieter scene.
Crematoria, the planet that the above fight scene takes place on, also has two suns, as the planet in Pitch Black also has, but it has the opposite problem. In Pitch Black, the darkness is what kills you, on Crematoria, it's the light, because it's so hot it kills on contact.
Riddick is knocked out and left on the surface of Crematoria to die.
He is rescued by the Purifier, which is a shock given that he's a high up in the Necromonger ranks.
Scene ensues.
First it conveys how terrified the Lord Marshall is of Riddick, if he's willing to send one of his senior officers to send the message, and willing give someone in a viciously back-biting hierarchy that kind of ammunition.
And it shows why the Lord Marshall is terrified of the Furyans if they're willing to go this far to prove a point.
Now the Purifiers appear to be some sort of cross between captains and Inquisitors, who make sure everyone else is keeping the faith (and what a faith it is). So you've got to consider how a forced convert became one, and what he did. And it answers, in a wonderful show, not tell way, what happens to the people who choose to convert rather than be killed, and why it might not be a better option.
And Linus Roache plays the dualism of the character so well. Because he is a Furyan, but rather than getting killed like all the rest of them did, converted and therefore disgraced the name (the Furyans having a reputation). And he is a Necromonger, he's a Purifier for the Lord Marshall, it's hard to get more Necromonger-ish than that, but he's failing at that too, because he's following the Lord Marshall's plan, rather than having him killing for failing the Necromonger faith, and because he wants Riddick to beat them.
Roache also captures the sheer hatred that the Purifier has for the Lord Marshall, and the amount of time he must have spent plotting if not this, then some other way (at least part of my theory being that the Purifier was remarkably weedy for a Furyan and it lead to both his conversion and to his inability to kill the Lord Marshall). And it makes more sense of scenes previous to it, which is always good for a twist.
So the Purifier takes the only option he has left, which is this glorious striding out into the sun to get burnt, and carrying on even as he's disintegrating, and I love him, sorry.
There's also the thing of 'we all began as something else' which is as much a reference to 1) Riddick becoming a criminal after the destruction of Furya, 2) him redeeming himself in Pitch Black and 3) the whole Jack/Kyra thing, as it is to the Purifier's situation and I do like it when a film goes for its themes so wholeheartedly.
It's also a glorious prophecy twist, that if the Purifier hadn't been sent to give Riddick the message, then Riddick wouldn't have survived and the prophecy did only say 'a male Furyan' it didn't specify which. And I do like prophecy twists.
I think part of the problem is that the rest of the film is full of serious characters who come from cultures and/or situations where you don't show any emotion so there suddenly being a (wholly unexpected) character gets to do it, it stands out.
(Also casting Linus Roache in things always helps. Really!)
