THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK

By
Victoria Alexander
FilmsInReview.com

Sex and sin are definitely back in Las Vegas. Gone as those family-friendly venues where baby strollers were replacing the wheelchair-bound slot aficionados. First up on my weekend field research was drinks at MGM Grand’s ultra lounge Tabu followed by the re-staged Parisian revue La Femme. With seven new numbers, it is the most erotic show on The Strip. Then Saturday night I attended the opening of Beacher’s Madhouse at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s “The Joint.” Beacher’s Madhouse Summer Series is at The Joint until July 23rd. It is an excessive, voyeuristic (or participatory) extravaganza suited to every decadent need. The crowd was gorgeous and eager to entertain. It was as if Federico Fellini’s Ghost staged a live show and handed out Ecstasy tabs. Lollipops were also provided at each table.

In 2000 director/writer David Twohy gave us a pared-down futuristic sci-fi story called PITCH BLACK. A group of space travelers found themselves on a bleak planet with an enigmatic convicted killer named Riddick (Vin Diesel).

A surprise hit, Twohy and Diesel are back. This time, however, Riddick is center-stage. Lurking around in dark sunglasses doesn’t work when you are carrying a movie (and executive producing) so those trademark Riddick shades are often ditched. Riddick has special powers befitting a galactic anti-hero.

The entire production design and special effects clearly show that money was lavishly well spent. The vision of faraway planets and menacing, inhospitable landscapes always engages us when done with such robust vigor. The attention to detail and the richness of the galactic scenery owes a tribute to David Lynch’s serpentine orgy DUNE.

Attempting to build a MATRIX-style mythology, the story is a muddled mess. Perhaps it will take another viewing to sort out the socio-politics of RIDDICK. Twohy has poorly crafted a story that could have been effective had he leaned more heavily on some Biblical source material. You know the one: A pharaoh, fearing his slave population is expanding too rapidly, instructs his subjects to drown all male newborns. His daughter finds a male newborn in a basket and raises the baby in the pharaoh’s household! Pharaoh grew to rue the day he made that pronouncement. The man, like Riddick, killed someone but he had a moral directive and started a revolt and a new religion.

Pharaoh and the man who would challenge him had a close bond setting up, as Freud would see it, a whole “kill-the-father” dynamic.

Unlike Moses, Riddick is not a redeemer and has no agenda except his own survival. Riddick still has a bounty on his head and has been on the run for five years. Because he is one of the last of the race of Furions, Riddick has been targeted for disposal. Since it was prophesied that the Lord Marshal of the Necromongers (Colm Feore) will be killed by a Furion, he has systemically eliminated all of them save one. On his quest for Universe-domination, the Lord Marshall forces entire planets to submit to his religion by some type of painful procedure. Instead of reaching “Heaven,” they must believe in a vaguely outlined concept known as “Underverse” (I think).

Lord Marshall’s hegemony has a sound, historical basis: Most Earth religions (except perhaps the Buddhists and I haven’t heard about the Mormons ever “strong-arming” anybody) used a “join us or else” system of recruitment. (This probably goes back even further than Akhenaten (ca. 1364-1347 B.C.E.) who outlawed the worship of all gods except his personal favorite Aten. The exclusive worship of Aten became the official state religion.) Lord Marshall does have a really neat power that might rightly acknowledge him as a god: Besides being half dead he can pull the soul right out of a person! I think his messiah complex should have been delved into more. Why was his plan so wrong? He’s the only half-alive/half-dead person with a really big vision of architecture and neat magical powers. Perhaps he should be viewed as a god. Maybe he was “converting” lawless planets.

A fascinating, floating creature, an "Elemental" named Aereon (Judi Dench), does the explaining. Shouldn’t Riddick have been clued in a lot earlier to the race-specific problem hanging over his head by someone?

I assume that all those unwilling to submit to the Necromongers religion are sent to Cemetoria, a prison planet. Cemetoria is such a hostile planet that it is dangerously too hot during the day and too cold at night for any type of survival. The prisoners are in a deep, yet vast, hole.

When bounty hunters finally catch Riddick he is sent to Cemetoria where he meets up with a female friend with issues: Kyra (Alexa Davalos), who has a running kill tally with Riddick. Kyra is very angry and tougher than the criminal brutes of Cemetoria. You must see what a 110 lb. woman is capable of doing!

Riddick escapes and is captured again. Sent to Lord Marshall’s opulent headquarters he meets a vixen (Thandie Newton) who is married to the Lord’s top lieutenant. She is a real Lady Macbeth troublemaker.

Instead of fearing the man who was prophesied would kill him, Lord Marshall is rather haughty. Twohy loves the character he has created and places Riddick in environments where he incongruously stands out in his modern tight black clothes and muscle T. Diesel is such a strong visual presence that he requires, and does best in, a big story and extravagant arena.

Somehow through muddy dialogue, Riddick is told the whole universe and all its living beings are in jeopardy from Lord Marshall. A king without subjects? What will Lord Marshall rule over? Buildings and furniture? Sometimes raising the stakes this high reduces the impact and is just plain silly.

Regardless of the flawed mythology, the entire production is first-rate and enthralling in its depiction of the planets. As a sci-fi franchise, RIDDICK is on the right track. I liked the ending.

Victoria Alexander can be reached by visiting FilmsInReview.com or, directly, at [email]masauu@aol.com[/email].