Chronicles Of Riddick

By James C. Hess

I was recently asked why it is I don't reveal my actual age when asked for it. There are reasons for why this reluctance on my part exists. One, of course, is a measure of vanity. Another is because I want to see how close people can guess my age, based on my appearance from one day to the next: If I shave close I have been taken for as young as eighteen or nineteen. If I don't shave, a curious bit of light colored hair shows on one side of my chin--white? gray? blonde?--and I am taken for being in my mid-thirties.

Then there is the academic reasoning for not providing my actual age: If people knew my actual age they might go to demonstrate a certain prejudice towards me: In the United States the older a person is the less respect they tend to merit. Just ask President George W. Bush.

But in the end, I confess, I like to see the expression revelation of my actual age provokes, because it goes to prove a point for me, again and again:

Things are rarely, if ever, what they seem.

In the movies, more so.

In the movie "Chronicles Of Riddick", in the opening moments, there is a character named Aereon, who effectively says the same thing, but with different motives and intentions: In normal times, evil should be fought by good, but in times like this, well, it should be fought by another kind of evil.

Another kind of evil? What does that mean? What should it mean? In order to understand you need to do two things: Be willing to sit through "Chronicles Of Riddick" without making snide remarks and be willing to believe Vin Diesel, who plays Richard B. Riddick, is more than an action star in the making: He is also a classically tragic figure within a futuristic battle between a fascist and a fascist master race.

If you can do these two things then you can achieve what may otherwise be the impossible: Make "Chronicles Of Riddick" a cult film by attending, and come to understand certain things about people in general:

They will accept almost anything, they will believe almost anything, just so long as it is presented in a way and manner that does not require great mental effort on their part, and anything that does will be meet with discrimination and disdain.

Consider "Chronicles Of Riddick" as proof: Vin Diesel is the star. Because he is this movie will be paid lip service, will suffer demeaning, debasing, rude, insulting, prejudicial, bigoted, and unnecessary remarks and criticism. Because it is a science fiction movie any respectability and credibility its story might otherwise muster will be negated and disregarded.

Unfairly, I must add.

"Chronicles Of Riddick" is an action flick, featuring an action hero of sort. It is a sci-fi movie, as well. But at the same time it is much more: It is a message film (the intent of which I will leave you to discern.). It is Shakespeare and Chaucer, German opera and Italian melodrama, set not to traditional music but a cacophony of effects all but overwhelming. It is a showcasing of anti-hero in the tradition of Mad Max but, yet, it is, well something else: Clever. Intelligent. Smart. Sophisticated.

All centered on one man, a man with named Riddick. Richard B. Riddick. He is one of a few remaining (dare I say 'surviving', given the environments he exists in?) Furions: Fierce warriors whose numbers are constantly diminished because they have been captured and confined under the auspices of the Necromongers.

The Necromongers have one goal: They want to make everyone a Necromonger. Of course, Riddick has other ideas and opinions on the matter, and wastes no time pursuing them: He defeats a Necromonger fighter ship, killing all aboard.

In case you wonder, because you did not know, yes: Riddick is a known character: He first made an appearance in the film "Pitch Black", which was also directed by David Twohy. But don't take that to mean this movie is a sequel. It really isn't. What it is, well: The fast and easy explanation: "Chronicles Of Riddick" is what "Pitch Black" should have been, could have been, but failed to be.

But I digress: The Necromongers side with the Lord Marshal (Colm Feore), who has visited the Underverse, from which he has returned, acccording to the aforementioned Aereon: Half alive and half. . . something else.

Something else. One of those things best left for your discovery, for attempts on my part to explain would only serve to frustrate and irritate.

But getting back to Aereon: She is a very informed but not very intelligent sort, who, of course, needs Riddick to some extent, as does a little girl named Ziza (Alexis Llewellyn), who keeps asking of if he intends to slay the monsters.

Does he? The answer to this question is for you to find out.

I admit there isn't much in the way of character development in "Chronicles Of Riddick". I admit the effects tend to overwhelm and subvert the acting and the plot. But keep in mind what was already noted: This movie is not what it seems. Nor is Vin Diesel.

Will "Chronicles Of Riddick" find a following in the fashion and manner "Lord Of The Rings" and "The Matrix" did? I cannot say. Unlike those efforts, this movie is a smart one, but, perhaps too smart for its own good.

About the Author:

James C. Hess graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature, with an emphasis on Editorial Journalism and Film Studies.

Hess currently makes his home along the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies.

Article courtesy of http://www.suite101.com.