trinityvixen | Wow, I agree with someone on io9

Apparently, The Chronicles of Riddick, the complete series (two movies and the animated shorts) is now on Blu-Ray. Someone at io9 does a write up of why Pitch Black succeeded where Chronicles did not (spoilers for both movies, including their endings, at that link), and I find myself almost in total agreement. In short, Pitch Black works because it is a very human movie, whereas there is nothing human, intentionally so, about the sequel.

Look, I loves me some Vin Diesel, so I admit I'm biased, but I think the character of Riddick is one of the most nuanced and interesting ever committed to screen. I am totally serious. Vin Diesel can be a very capable and subtle actor (it is just not what he's made of his career, and even he admits that). Pitch Black was before being a muscle-man was his career, and I'm betting it's what made him a muscle-man character actor because he was just so good at portraying this ruthless yet utterly understandable character.

Pitch Black is, in fact, rife with incredibly human characters, and it flinches neither at finding evil in people who are meant to be heroes nor at admitting good can come from an otherwise evil act. It's one of few movies I've seen that treats the stresses and prejudices of unwilling partners in survival without judgment. One survivor shoots another because he popped up out of nowhere and the first guy worried that it was Riddick, who has only been introduced to the group via dire warnings from the man who captured him. The accidental shooting is not dwelt on. When a woman later starts to beat the shit out of Riddick, assuming (wrongly) that he has killed one of the group, she never apologizes or even feels the slightest bit of guilt (nor is she made to) when she is proven wrong. People make shit decisions when they're stressed and working on bad information. Shit happens. Some harm, but no foul. It's an incredible thing that happens despite the turmoil of the main character, who is dealing with the guilt of having tried to kill everyone to avoid crashing with them in the first place. Still, her guilt? Not judged by the film. She changes to deal with it as she needs to in order to soothe her own soul. There are no speeches made that assault her for her cowardice. She is not punished for it. (She really only is punished for being brave, which is an interesting twist.) When someone starts screaming in her face about what she did, that guy is the asshole. The film does not judge her.

As it does not judge Riddick. Riddick freely confesses to being a murderer and he has no shame in it. It's a sort of pride--he's very good at what he does, and the film is almost proud of him, especially as his skills come in handy. While he must be redeemed to a degree in order for audiences to accept him, he remains as he is: violent. Angry. And with good cause. Riddick has had a hard start to life, and he remains hard for it, but he's too smart to be intractable. The fact that he can appreciate a hardness in others and sees fit to use his own toughness in the pursuit of some good is a natural progression of the character that puts anti-hero/villain-makes-good stories since to shame.

I would recommend Pitch Black to everyone. It is incredibly good, despite the standardness of its premise. I find I like it in much the same way I enjoyed Moon. Yes, there are elements to both movies that you've seen before, a hundred times, but each film takes the tropes and finds something human in them. Something worth investigating and thinking about. Pitch Black may be more of an action flick--I won't argue that it's even as thoughtful as Moon--but it has characters, not just archetypes, who shape an otherwise predictable set-up into a transformative story.

Chronicles of Riddick is a brainless bit of action candy. Don't get me wrong, there are some fabulous parts. This one is a particular favorite. Because it's ridiculous, and Vin Diesel has a way of smiling through a scene that lets you know he's aware of how ridiculous it is. A lot of the fun, however, is offset by some bullshit, of the messianic variety, which particularly ruins one part of Riddick's previously sympathetic backstory. And did I mention that Karl Urban had a braided mullet? Because he did. That is a thing that happened. Judi Dench was also in the movie for...reasons. (I'm sure she had, like, a wing on her mansion that was being painted, and she wanted a weekend away.) If I could somehow go back in time and somehow convince myself not to see Chronicles of Riddick (which, really, is the more impossible task, since I always finish things I start), I would. Because it really cheapens Pitch Black. So see that. Skip Chronicles.