Years ago, I ran across The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) while on a trip, rooming with another fencer. We only saw part of it, but I found it riveting and soon tracked down a version on DVD. Since then, every couple of years I watch it again.
Why? Because it appeals to the primal urge that a single person, man or woman, can make a difference, even in the face of overwhelming odds. Granted, the characters in this movie are rarely basic humans, but in the end they are all people motivated by the same concerns, from the most basic to the spiritual.
While this is technically part of a series, through minimal flashbacks it stands on its own while justifying characters from earlier in the series. The plot? Riddick, a man who might be considered to exist without concern for right or wrong, is being hunted at the command of a couple of people trying to save a world, Helion Prime, from an invading force of death-worshipers – they believe he might be their saviour. But Riddick, once roused, believes in being proactive; he comes to the threatened planet to see who calls him. Eventually, after messing with the invading force, he ends up on a prison planet, where he battles his way out and returns to Helion Prime to rescue a friend, where he must face the invading force again, and then it’s either win or die.
Grandiose? Sure. And the meat of the story is rich, complex, even baroque, enough to support this story. The invaders display a well-considered strategy for both winning and then stripping the world of its most precious resource: People. The swirl of power politics is touched on enough to realize this really is another human enterprise. Meanwhile, Riddick is a cipher, decisive, possibly out for himself, until one realizes his motivations appear to have little to do with wealth or sex or power; one is left wondering precisely why he’s a criminal in this society – except, perhaps, for his direct approach to problems. The prison planet once again displays the foibles of humans – both of the inmates and the keepers – and is a fascinating little world of its own.
And the story contains quite suitable attributions of a greater world beyond this story, of civilizations watching this battle with trepidation, yet hope. It’s lessons? We see the karma of lust, of avarice, of power. And we see Riddick. Perhaps that’s enough.
Some may say it’s a boy movie. But I say – Recommended.
