Pitch Black (2000), and The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

[Anthony G Williams]

I hadn't seen Pitch Black before, but it kept appearing on the TV schedules with reasonable ratings so I decided I'd give it a look. Warning – this review contains spoilers.

The basic plot is hardly new: a spaceship crashes on an uninhabited desert planet, with a small number of survivors. Just to liven things up, they include a convicted killer who had escaped from jail, and the bounty hunter who was bringing him in. When they explore, one man dies while investigating a cave and it is clear that dangerous things live underground. A mineral prospectors' base, which had been abandoned over twenty years earlier, provides more mystery. The survivors are tormented by the brightness and heat (the system has three suns, bathing in the planet in almost perpetual sunshine) but an orerry in the base reveals that from time to time there is a total eclipse that can last for quite a while. Needless to say, the eclipse occurs and all of those nocturnal creatures emerge from underground, very hungry…

There are no real surprises in this rather simple story, the main points of interest being guessing who's going to die next and who might still be standing at the end. We know of course that the criminal Riddick will survive as Vin Diesel has a sequel to make, but the rest are literally up for grabs. Despite the lack of originality, this isn't a bad film (as long as you don't examine too closely the mechanics of the eclipse); there's quite a strong cast featuring Radha Mitchell as the pilot, and it's nice to see Claudia Black, then in the process of becoming famous as Aeryn Sun in Farscape.

The Chronicles of Riddick is a direct sequel, but is a very different kind of film. Instead of being a pared-down horror thriller, it aims for epic fantasy status. Instead of just being a criminal who can fight well, Riddick becomes a survivor of a race of formidable warriors and the only chance of defending humanity against the ravages of an army of religious extremists, the Necromongers.

It is obvious that this was made with a much bigger budget than the original film, as it is packed with special effects and takes place a wide range of different settings. It also includes some class actors; Judi Dench, Thandie Newton and Colm Feore. Despite this, it doesn't really gel; it seems too concerned with emphasising the dramatic images, especially the iconography of the Necromongers whose mysterious religion never made much sense to me. The constant violent action means that there is no time for developing the characters (Vin Diesel was nominated for a Razzie award for Worst Actor), and a coherent plot is another casualty. Best regarded as a curiosity, and only worth watching if you have time on your hands. I gather that there is a third film in the series now out, but the reviews I've read do not encourage me to watch it.

(An extract from my SFF blog: Science Fiction & Fantasy)

 

[svalbard]

I enjoyed both movies.

 

[Rodders]

Me too, although I definitely preferred Pitch Black. I have yet to see the third instalment and am quite looking forward to it.

 

[alchemist]

Riddick always felt like two potentially good films patched together to make an unsatisfyng whole i.e. alien invasion and prison escape. But it wasn't the worst thing I've seen, the visuals are good, and there's a really good film to be made in this universe.

 

[Mouse]

I've seen Pitch Black (and enjoyed it. I love Claudia Black) but never seen the sequels and don't think I'll bother now!

 

[steve12553]

I don't know if it was credited but the concept of nearly perpetual day and eventual total darkness was from an Isaac Asimov story Nightfall.

Although the result was a bit different.

 

[Moonbat]

I have seen all three Riddick films and although Pitch Black is probably the best I enjoyed them all.
For the third film they have gone back to basics with a film much closer to pitch black than to the chronicles of Riddick. they are not great films, but the two simpler ones are good examples of sci-fi fantasy films that don't try to be a galaxy spanning epic, they take place on a single planet that has some twist of nature/biology that makes for a dangerous place and only Riddick (who is so animal that he can out animal animals) can survive. Bu they have inventive creatures that show some originality.

 

[Anthony G Williams]

Byron dealt with a similar theme, in what was perhaps the first SF poem (witten c. 200 years ago), and which may have inspired Asimov:

DARKNESS, by LORD BYRON (GEORGE GORDON)

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went—and came, and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread
Of this their desolation; and all hearts
Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:
And they did live by watchfires—and the thrones,
The palaces of crowned kings—the huts,
The habitations of all things which dwell,
Were burnt for beacons; cities were consum'd,
And men were gather'd round their blazing homes
To look once more into each other's face;
Happy were those who dwelt within the eye
Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch:
A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;
Forests were set on fire—but hour by hour
They fell and faded—and the crackling trunks
Extinguish'd with a crash—and all was black.
The brows of men by the despairing light
Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits
The flashes fell upon them; some lay down
And hid their eyes and wept; and some did rest
Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smil'd;
And others hurried to and fro, and fed
Their funeral piles with fuel, and look'd up
With mad disquietude on the dull sky,
The pall of a past world; and then again
With curses cast them down upon the dust,
And gnash'd their teeth and howl'd: the wild birds shriek'd
And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,
And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes
Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawl'd
And twin'd themselves among the multitude,
Hissing, but stingless—they were slain for food.
And War, which for a moment was no more,
Did glut himself again: a meal was bought
With blood, and each sate sullenly apart
Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left;
All earth was but one thought—and that was death
Immediate and inglorious; and the pang
Of famine fed upon all entrails—men
Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;
The meagre by the meagre were devour'd,
Even dogs assail'd their masters, all save one,
And he was faithful to a corse, and kept
The birds and beasts and famish'd men at bay,
Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead
Lur'd their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,
But with a piteous and perpetual moan,
And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand
Which answer'd not with a caress—he died.
The crowd was famish'd by degrees; but two
Of an enormous city did survive,
And they were enemies: they met beside
The dying embers of an altar-place
Where had been heap'd a mass of holy things
For an unholy usage; they rak'd up,
And shivering scrap'd with their cold skeleton hands
The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath
Blew for a little life, and made a flame
Which was a mockery; then they lifted up
Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld
Each other's aspects—saw, and shriek'd, and died—
Even of their mutual hideousness they died,
Unknowing who he was upon whose brow
Famine had written Fiend. The world was void,
The populous and the powerful was a lump,
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless—
A lump of death—a chaos of hard clay.
The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still,
And nothing stirr'd within their silent depths;
Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,
And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropp'd
They slept on the abyss without a surge—
The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,
The moon, their mistress, had expir'd before;
The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air,
And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no need
Of aid from them—She was the Universe.

 

[Kellerbustinout]

The third Riddick isn't that bad. I will say the acting is a little cheesy and the dialogue is debatable. One great thing: Starbuck from battlestar galactica was in it( and no not that shitty 1970s version, the much better newer one)( just kidding about it being shitty, but lets face it i cant stand older scifi) But the newest one went back to the basics and did some interesting realistic survival-ism.

 

[Rafellin]

Love all three. First is a classic, second remains a sweeping visual feast with some moments of genius, the third is a return to basics with anachronistic speech for ease of access to C21 sheeple.
Here's to the fourth being the return to Furya at last.

 

[alternicity]

Also in the canon is Dark Fury, which is noteworthy for it's bad guys, creature, music and final fight imo. The animator was the original Aeon Flux guy. The Story connected the first two films.

Dark Fury Trailer

There was another (barely) animated entry leading into the third film, but I forget the name of that one.

 

[Rafellin]

Yup, the animated film Dark Fury sits between Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick. Best regarded as 'something funny happened to me on the way to...'

The 'motion comic' prequel to Riddick is called Riddick: Blindsided. It deals with how the Necromongers binned him, but is covered far better in-film in the extended cut of Riddick.

 

[biodroid]

Liked both movies very much but the third one was a disappointment.