Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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Solid Entry for Action Sci-fi Franchise Riddick (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS Writer/Director David Twohy is alright by me. Historically, he has delivered acceptable material for below-the-radar low-budget fantasy franchises such as Warlock and Critters 2. This is a guy that may never be a Hollywood big shot. However, he will continue to put out watchable stuff on a pretty regular basis. For fans of the Chronicles of Riddick franchise, Riddick (119 minutes) provides more of the same anti-hero antics that we have come to expect from the escaped murderer/ convict with a heart of gold. The film ties directly to both Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick, and manages to focus on series continuity in a way that the first live-action sequel did not. Picking up about five years after The Chronicles of Riddick, Riddick (Vin Diesel) is turning out to not be such a good Necromonger leader. Unsuited to his role as Lord High Marshall of the Necromongers, he strikes a deal with Commander Vaako (Karl Urban) to get him back to his home planet of Furya. However, he failed to take into account the notorious unreliability of evildoers with stupid names, so he is surprised when the planet he is escorted to is not his home world. Even though I find it highly unlikely that a character designed to be the ultimate survivor would so easily be ambushed, at least he takes out most of his opponents before being half buried in a landslide. He wakes up at the bottom of a mountain with what looks like a compound fracture, and then plays with the local wildlife. Eventually he resets his leg and limps off in search of water. There are some pretty neat ruins filled with "mud demons" and he finds a pet (amusingly, the bounty hunters call it a dingo dongo) during a sandstorm. Once he and his dingo dongo have immunity to the mud demon venom via repeated improvised injections, he sets off to search for a way off-planet. He finds a mercenary way station stocked with tasty MREs and big steel traps. He quickly figures out that more mud demons are spawning and sends out an emergency signal that identifies him as one of the galaxy's most wanted. Then he has fun setting some traps and leaving messages for whoever shows up. The first bunch of mercenaries to show up are a bit ragtag, with the obligatory innocent religious guy (Nolan Gerard Funk) to play foil to the obligatory bloodthirsty warmonger (Jordi Molla). Also, there are a bunch of nameless guys wearing metaphorical red shirts. Just as the first team is settling in, another team arrives. The second ship includes Boss Johns (Matt Nable) and Dahl (Katee Sackoff). Boss Johns is the father of William Johns, the mercenary who held Riddick captive in Pitch Black. Overall, it was an almost painfully slow start — just Riddick, a desert, some ruins and a bunch of CGI monsters jumping around and fighting. The central plot point — that Riddick can lure a couple of bounty hunter teams to his location and then take his pick of ships leaving the planet — was engaging and held my attention, but I wish that Twohy had spent more time exploring it. How fun would it have been to watch Riddick play the two teams off of each other for a while? Instead, they went with CGI monsters. How innovative. Now showing at Wynnsong HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing 7, Carmike 12 and Carmike Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandMarket Fair 15. comingweekly.com. Best Photography Studio Jennifer McLeod, Sonographer 6516 Dental Ln. Suite B Fayetteville, NC 28314 Thank You for Voting Us Best Photography Studio for naming us BEST of Fayetteville 2013 MILLSTONE 14 910-354-2124 3400 Footbridge Ln . We truly value being able to bring you a memorable experience – seeing your unborn baby for the first time! www.LittleMiracles4D.com 40 UCW SEPT. 25 - OCT. 1, 2013 Camden Rd. off of Hope Mills Rd. www.StoneTheatres.com Get More Out of Life. Go See a Movie. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM