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revdorothyl at 07:21pm on 25/06/2004 under movie reviews
revdorothyl at 07:21pm on 25/06/2004 under movie reviewsJust a few (cut for spoilers) thoughts, after seeing The Chronicles of Riddick last night for the second time.
The first time around, I didn't catch the significance of Riddick being referred to by Dame Vaako as a "breeder" (except for the pleasurably salacious images that word conjured in my mind, in conjunction with Riddick/Vin Diesel's impressive physique). I didn't connect that with the phrase which (I think) both the Lord Marshal and 'the Purifier' used in making their appeal for converts on Helion Prime: "We all [or 'Every Necromonger'] began as something else!" [exact wording uncertain, but that was the gist of the line]
The point, of course, was that the Necromongers reproduced or propagated themselves only through converting other people, leaving it to the as-yet-unconverted portions of humanity (like Riddick) to propagate the old-fashioned way, through breeding (thus producing more human fodder to be either converted or killed by the Necromongers in their crusade to the Underverse). Nobody was born a Necromonger, and so every Necromonger had some memories, somewhere, of who and what they had been before the Necromongers messed with their minds. The implication for those they defeated was supposed to be, "We converted, and you're no better than we were (as evidenced by the fact that we so easily defeated you), so there's no reason why you shouldn't convert, too, or your deaths will be on your own heads."
But the point for the character of Riddick was something a little different.
I realized this when (on Crematoria) the Purifier repeated the Necromonger catch-phrase to Riddick, right after revealing the fact that -- like Riddick -- he, too, had begun life as a Furian warrior (a revelation which suggested, furthermore, that turning off the paralyzingly high gravity and freeing Riddick to fight his attackers on the Necropolis, right after the Lord Marshal had ordered Riddick's death, might have been the Purifier's own idea, rather than an implicit part of his master's instructions).
The Purifier, perhaps reminded of who he had once been by the proximity of another Furian, seemed to shudder at the memory of what he had become and the things he'd done ("unbelievable things," he said, and not in a good way) in the name of a faith that was never his own. So, after wishing Riddick good hunting, the Purifier 'purified' himself by walking into the firestorm of Crematoria daytime.
Meanwhile, Riddick proceeded on his own 'conversion' course, running almost exactly opposite to that of the Purifier (from what I inferred). Riddick's earlier life had been one in which he had, by all accounts, done some pretty horrific things, in order to end up being so well-acquainted with the worst maximum security prisions in the universe. But since the pilot died trying to save him in Pitch Black, he has been learning to care a little bit for others, or at least for one other: Jack/Kira. Riddick seems to be searching for a 'faith' that is his own, to enable him to connect with the rest of humanity as something other than the 'animal' or 'monster' he sometimes calls himself.
Which is why, of course, Riddick goes back into the 'belly of the beast', into the heart of the Necropolis, after being given the Lord Marshal's offer to leave him alone if he'll leave the Marshal alone. Even though Riddick's only response to Imam's announcement of imminent destruction of the universe was, "It was bound to happen sometime," and even though he'd described stopping the Necromongers as "Not my fight", Riddick risks everything to rescue Kira, to try to save her from the fate the Purifier had already experienced.
Riddick's motivation for trying to kill the Lord Marshal was revenge for what seemed the spiritual murder of Kira, turning her into another Necromonger zombie without a mind of her own, and for taking Kira away from him, Riddick, leaving him alone in the universe once more. And when Kira demonstrates (by saving Riddick at the cost of her own life, as she ended up impaled on the statuary in almost the same manner that the pilot had been impaled by the monsters who'd carried her into the night in Pitch Black, . . . a definite pattern in Riddick's life, regarding the people who care about him) that, after all, she's still with Riddick -- still on his side, still willing to follow him into Hell and back -- then Riddick really has a reason to promote the Lord Marshal from half-dead to all-dead.
Riddick began as something else at the start of Pitch Black, and he's turned into someone who'll sometimes stick his neck out quite a way for the people he cares about, but what he'll end up as, now that he's got a whole crusading army looking to him for leadership -- well, that's the rest of the story. And I hope they get a chance to film it.
The first time around, I didn't catch the significance of Riddick being referred to by Dame Vaako as a "breeder" (except for the pleasurably salacious images that word conjured in my mind, in conjunction with Riddick/Vin Diesel's impressive physique). I didn't connect that with the phrase which (I think) both the Lord Marshal and 'the Purifier' used in making their appeal for converts on Helion Prime: "We all [or 'Every Necromonger'] began as something else!" [exact wording uncertain, but that was the gist of the line]
The point, of course, was that the Necromongers reproduced or propagated themselves only through converting other people, leaving it to the as-yet-unconverted portions of humanity (like Riddick) to propagate the old-fashioned way, through breeding (thus producing more human fodder to be either converted or killed by the Necromongers in their crusade to the Underverse). Nobody was born a Necromonger, and so every Necromonger had some memories, somewhere, of who and what they had been before the Necromongers messed with their minds. The implication for those they defeated was supposed to be, "We converted, and you're no better than we were (as evidenced by the fact that we so easily defeated you), so there's no reason why you shouldn't convert, too, or your deaths will be on your own heads."
But the point for the character of Riddick was something a little different.
I realized this when (on Crematoria) the Purifier repeated the Necromonger catch-phrase to Riddick, right after revealing the fact that -- like Riddick -- he, too, had begun life as a Furian warrior (a revelation which suggested, furthermore, that turning off the paralyzingly high gravity and freeing Riddick to fight his attackers on the Necropolis, right after the Lord Marshal had ordered Riddick's death, might have been the Purifier's own idea, rather than an implicit part of his master's instructions).
The Purifier, perhaps reminded of who he had once been by the proximity of another Furian, seemed to shudder at the memory of what he had become and the things he'd done ("unbelievable things," he said, and not in a good way) in the name of a faith that was never his own. So, after wishing Riddick good hunting, the Purifier 'purified' himself by walking into the firestorm of Crematoria daytime.
Meanwhile, Riddick proceeded on his own 'conversion' course, running almost exactly opposite to that of the Purifier (from what I inferred). Riddick's earlier life had been one in which he had, by all accounts, done some pretty horrific things, in order to end up being so well-acquainted with the worst maximum security prisions in the universe. But since the pilot died trying to save him in Pitch Black, he has been learning to care a little bit for others, or at least for one other: Jack/Kira. Riddick seems to be searching for a 'faith' that is his own, to enable him to connect with the rest of humanity as something other than the 'animal' or 'monster' he sometimes calls himself.
Which is why, of course, Riddick goes back into the 'belly of the beast', into the heart of the Necropolis, after being given the Lord Marshal's offer to leave him alone if he'll leave the Marshal alone. Even though Riddick's only response to Imam's announcement of imminent destruction of the universe was, "It was bound to happen sometime," and even though he'd described stopping the Necromongers as "Not my fight", Riddick risks everything to rescue Kira, to try to save her from the fate the Purifier had already experienced.
Riddick's motivation for trying to kill the Lord Marshal was revenge for what seemed the spiritual murder of Kira, turning her into another Necromonger zombie without a mind of her own, and for taking Kira away from him, Riddick, leaving him alone in the universe once more. And when Kira demonstrates (by saving Riddick at the cost of her own life, as she ended up impaled on the statuary in almost the same manner that the pilot had been impaled by the monsters who'd carried her into the night in Pitch Black, . . . a definite pattern in Riddick's life, regarding the people who care about him) that, after all, she's still with Riddick -- still on his side, still willing to follow him into Hell and back -- then Riddick really has a reason to promote the Lord Marshal from half-dead to all-dead.
Riddick began as something else at the start of Pitch Black, and he's turned into someone who'll sometimes stick his neck out quite a way for the people he cares about, but what he'll end up as, now that he's got a whole crusading army looking to him for leadership -- well, that's the rest of the story. And I hope they get a chance to film it.