FILM REVIEW OF ''RIDDICK" (2013)

You’ve got to like Vin Diesel to enjoy his movies.  Diesel plays the same character or a variation on it in all his movies. He has a narrow range of roles. Generally, he makes crime thrillers. He skewered his image with “The Pacifier” back in 2005.  Diesel dominates his films, but his co-stars occasionally make an impression.  Indeed, the gravel-voiced Diesel stands out in any crowd.  A brawny hulk of a fellow, Diesel maintains a Frank Frazetta physique, sports a Telly Savalas haircut, and pierces you with his gimlet eyes.  Diesel lacks neither nerve nor authority.  Apparently, he splits his time between the “Fast & Famous” franchise and the “Riddick” franchise.  Word is that Diesel has negotiated to appear in a second “xXx” sequel entitled “xXx: The Return of Xander Cage.”  The “Riddick” franchise has not been as financially rewarding for Universal Pictures as the “Fast & Furious” series, but the actor has a soft spot for Riddick. 

In the first Riddick epic “Pitch Black,” our anti-heroic, convict with man-made night vision fought carnivorous, pelican-like dinosaur birds with huge raptor teeth.  Obsessed by its insatiable lust for blood, these flying piranha teeth fowl descended onto Riddick and company like waves of Stuka-bats.  “Pitch Black” concerned survival under the worst conditions against a deadly supernatural predator.  The stranger in a strange land applied almost equally to this creepy sci-fi fantasy because the crash victims were tourists on a planet teeming with “Jurassic Park” predators.  Basically, “Pitch Black” (2000) resembled an old-fashioned Tarzan movie whose setting had been altered to outer space.  Instead of a private plane crashing in a jungle filled with deadly tribes and predators, a commercial cargo vessel plunges to a planet ruled by deadly carnivores.  In a Tarzan movie, the heroes would battle their way to safety after encounters with lions, baboons, elephants, and crocodiles.  Director David Twohy’s original generated considerable suspense with shocks and surprises to compensate for its standard-issue plot.  You knew Vin would triumph.  This same problem plagued the ambitious “Chronicles of Riddick” (2004) that put our protagonist into a completely different plot.  He tangled with human rather than bestial adversaries.  “Chronicles” appeared five years after “Pitch Black.”  Comparatively, “Chronicle” shunned the exotic wildlife and survival-of-the-fittest themes.  Instead, it introduced a race of amoral space marauders named the ‘Necromongers.’  The second Riddick movie looked like “Flash Gordon” meets “Dune” space opera.  As the second sequel in the “Pitch Black” franchise, director David Twohy’s “Riddick” (***1/2 OUT OF ****) shuns the spectacle of “Chronicles” and reverts to survival of the fittest, with exotic, celestial predators.  The “Riddick” predators surpass the “Pitch Black” beasties, and Riddick performs several impressive feats.  Furthermore, “Riddick” ties its two previous movies together in its plot.  Karl Urban appears in a cameo early in the action as Vaako.

If you haven’t seen “The Chronicles of Riddick,” you may find yourself at a considerable disadvantage.  “Riddick” opens on a hostile planet where our protagonist has been left to perish.  Richard P. Riddick (Vin Diesel of “xXx”) is in pretty bad shape.  The opening scene with a repulsive space vulture that Riddick traps in his fist epitomizes his dire predicament.  The double-crossing Necromongers have abandoned Riddick on the wrong planet and triggered an avalanche where he breaks his leg.  Jamming his foot in a crack in the rocks, he straightens out of his injured appendage.  “Riddick” shows how Riddick is as resourceful as Sylvester Stallone’s “Rambo” protagonist.  The funniest incident occurs when Riddick fakes off a snarling alien jackal.  Designated “Dingo Doggies” by other characters, these beasts are huge, Great Dane hounds with black stripes crossing their dark orange fur.  Eventually, Riddick finds a puppy and trains it.  Our rugged hero discovers that he is on a part of the planet that he cannot leave without sloshing through a small mud pond.  Remember the fairy tale about the troll who lived under a bridge?  Lurking in this harmless puddle is a poisonous “Mud Demon” creature.   These predators perambulate on two legs, possess a long, scorpion-like tail with snapping pincers, and prefer to wallow in mud.  Riddick studies a Mud Demon” and observes how it submerges part of its body.  This fiend distracts you with its cobra-like, scorpion tail while the rest of its body—concealed by the mud—moves in for the kill with a head shaped like the “Alien” monster to seize its prey.  Once Riddick has contrived his strategy, he slays the creature and finds his way to an outpost established by space mercenaries for emergencies.  Space mercenaries are typically bounty hunters.  Riddick activates a signal beacon like the little girl warrior did in “Hanna.”  Promptly, two teams of bounty hunters respond.  The reward on Riddick’s head is doubled if the bounty hunters kill him.  Santana (Jordi Mollà of “Blow”) and his well-armed but unsavory crew arrive first, while Johns (Matt Nable of “Killer Elite”) and his team follow.  Johns promises Santana that he will let him operate with a free hand.   Indeed, Johns is related to the Johns that had captured Riddick in “Pitch Black.”

"Pitch Black" rarely gave us crystal clear views of its predators.  “Riddick” provides us with a front-row seat to appreciate the Mud Demons in all their menace.  “The Chronicles of Riddick” contained only one scene with caged animals.  Our hero is back in his element in “Riddick,” and he has his hands filled throughout the film’s veritable two hour running time.  Mind you, “Riddick” never wears out its welcome.  Specifically, Riddick unfolds in three acts.  Initially, Riddick adapts and recuperates on the planet after the evil Necromongers have abandoned him.  He studies his number one enemy, and this predator returns in greater numbers later when a massive storm provides it with conditions ideal to its migration.  Riddick amounts to a space Rambo.  He moves on phantom feet, and you rarely know where he is since he is so clandestine.  Riddick and Santana are at each other’s throats throughout “Riddick,” and Santana qualifies as a thoroughly obnoxious villain.  He murders a defenseless woman after he releases her and later cites his growing attachment to her as his justification.  Santana vows to collect Riddick’s head in a box.  The pay-off to this intense rivalry resembles something from a 1980s’ Arnold Schwarzenegger actioneer.  For sheer diversity, Johns’ team features a battle-hardened lesbian, Dahl (Katee Sackhoff who played ‘Starbuck’ in “Battlestar Galactica”), with an affinity for firearms.  David Twohy, who has helmed all three Riddick epics, slips in surprises galore. Altogether, “Riddick” tops “Pitch Black,” but it is neither as spectacular nor as multi-layered as “Chronicles.”  If “Riddick” marks your first exposure to the “Pitch Black” franchise, you are probably going to be lost when references to the previous installments occur.  Meanwhile, Riddick fans will appreciate Twohy’s efforts to impose continuity onto the trilogy. Here’s hoping we won’t have to wait another decade for another “Riddick” sequel.

FILM REVIEW OF ''STAR TREK: INSURRECTION" (1998)

No, “Star Trek: Insurrection” (*** OUT OF ****) is not as good as “Star Trek: First Contact.” Nevertheless, the ninth entry in the long-lived but prosperous space odysseys of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise still has what it takes to boldly go. Director Jonathan Frakes, who helmed “First Contact,” shifts the emphasis away from the usual swashbuckling heroics in this otherwise predictable but entertaining installment. Instead, Frakes focuses on the camaraderie among the Enterprise crew. Character dominates action in “Insurrection.” Although younger “Star Trek” fans may complain about the scarcity of photon torpedo dogfights, the old guard will applaud “Insurrection” because the entire crew rather than Picard alone influences the outcome.

The Rick Berman & Michael Piller scenario has the Enterprise thwarting the forced relocation of 600 helpless colonists from their Eden-like planet whose properties make it a fountain of youth. Picard (Patrick Stewart) and crew find themselves drawn into an interstellar blood feud when android Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner) runs amok while participating in a Federation mission on the Shangri-La home planet of a gentle people called the Ba'ku. The Ba'ku live simple, uncomplicated lives comparable to the Quakers and the Amish. Shunning technology, these self-sufficient folks grow their own food and produce by hand their own clothes, tools, and art. According to the Ba’ku, when you create a machine to do a Manos work, you take something away from the man. Over 300 years have passed since the Ba’ku encamped on this unique planet in an unstable quadrant of space designated 'the Briar Patch.' Moreover, this Caucasian race of humans has weathered the ravages of centuries. The 'metaphasic radiation' emanating from the planet’s rings has given them perpetual youth.

Meanwhile, suffering a dire reversal of fortune, the Federation has grown weak. The Borg and other enemy aliens have taken their toll, and the Federation has formed an uneasy alliance with the Son'a, a dying but technologically advanced race of fascists who dress like a cross-between of the Mummy and Marvel Comics' Dr. Strange. You know the Son’a are the bad guys the moment you see them because they look hideous. The Son’a endure constant face-lifts, like the cosmetic surgery in the Terry Gilliam movie “Brazil,” because they cannot keep their wrinkled and rotting skins wrapped tightly enough. These devious dastards have teamed up with the Federation, and they are observing the unsuspecting Ba’ku before they pack them off the planet.

Dressed in orange outfits which enable them to pass sight unseen among the inhabitants, Son’a and Federation scientists both study the planet and plan for the removal of the Ba'ki. When the Son’a fire without provocation on Data, the pale-faced android short-circuits and destroys the cloaking device concealing the expedition from the Ba’ku. Suddenly, the Ba’ku find themselves surrounded by intruders. Hijacking a starship, Data opens fire on the Son’a flagship from which the Son’a chieftain, Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham, who played the evil Salieri in “Amadeus”), and Star fleet Admiral Dougherty (Anthony “License to Kill” Zerbe), coordinate the mission.

Dougherty contacts Picard during a diplomatic ceremony and requests Data’s schematics. When Picard offers to help, Dougherty politely declines. Pointing out that the Enterprise has been assigned elsewhere, Dougherty assures the inquisitive captain that Ru'afo and he can handle Data. An incredulous Picard decides to check things out for himself; he cannot believe that Data would turn rogue without a good reason. As they chart a course for the far side of the galaxy, Picard invites Worf on “Deep Space Nine” to accompany them. When Picard's navigator indicates that the Ba’ku planet is in the opposite direction of what they have been ordered, Picard shrugs it off as if it were nothing.

When the Enterprise enters the 'Briar Patch,' the age reversal harmonics of the Ba’ku planet affect the crew. Cmdr. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Lt. Cmdr. Troi (Marina Sirtis) rekindle a long-dormant romance. Soaking by candle-light in a tubful of bubbles, Troi shaves off Riker's beard. Not only does Cmdr. La Forge (“Roots” LeVar Burton) regain his sight without the aid of technology, but also he experiences his first sunrise. Lt. Cmdr. Worf (Michael Dorn) suffers an outbreak of Klingon acne as well as a blood lust for combat. Finally, Picard himself dances to mambo music in his own quarters. When he beams down to the planet, Picard falls in love with the sensuous Anij (Donna Murphy), a 350 year old Ba’ku dame who doesn’t look a day over 40 thanks to the regenerative particles in the planet’s rings. Sadly, Frakes and his writers leave Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) hanging without a mini-subplot of her own.

Nevertheless, “Insurrection” qualifies as an ensemble effort with everybody getting into the act, even if they don’t have a subplot to distract their actions.
Admiral Dougherty isn’t happy when Picard arrives and requests clearance to deal with Data. “Insurrection” gets off to rip-snorting start as Picard and Worf pursue Data on a hair-raising chase and try to transport him out of his spacecraft. When aggression fails, Picard opens the audio channels between ships and warbles a Gilbert & Sullivan tune from a play that Data was rehearsing before he left for the Ba’ku mission. Before Data realizes Picard’s subterfuge, the Captain docks with Data’s ship, Worf sneaks on-board and incapacitates the mutinous android. Beaming down to the planet, Picard frees the expedition who had been taken hostage, and learns first hand about the Ba’ku. Admiral Dougherty has trouble concealing his rage; he acts as the liaison between the evil Ru’afo and virtuous Picard. While Picard noses around on the planet, La Forge discovers the truth behind Data’s inexplicable demeanor. Geordi explains his theory that the Son’a fired first on Data, and Picard takes Data back to the planet to reconstruct the incident. Their investigation, with Anij and the Ba’ku leaders in tow, reveals the presence of a half-built holodeck that resembles their village. Gradually, a conspiracy rears its ugly head, and an angry Picard demands an explanation from Dougherty.
An uncomfortable Admiral Dougherty reveals that the Ba’ku are going to be relocated, so that the Son’a can harvest the 'metaphasic' particles in the planet that constitute a fountain of youth. Picard protests in the name of the Primary Directive, which prohibits the Federation from interfering with other alien cultures. “The darkest chapters in my world can be traced to the forced relocation of a small group in order to satisfy the demands of a large group,” Picard comments, dredging up memories of the Jewish Holocaust, African-American slavery, and Native American Indians.

Dougherty retorts that the Federation has endorsed the mission and that the Ba’ku do not fit the Prime Directive because they are not indigenous to the planet. Naturally, Capt. Picard doesn’t like it and refuses to stand by while a helpless race of people are abused. Picard’s insubordinate behavior recalls Capt. Kirk’s equally insubordinate attitude in previous “Star Trek” escapades.
The Rick Berman & Michael Pillar script hearkens back to those venerable 1930s’ Lone Star westerns with John Wayne where the city slicker bad guys try to steal the mineral rich ranch lands from under the naive pilgrims who don’t realize the wealth that lies beneath their lands. Like John Wayne, Capt. Picard decides to intervene. Already deeply in love with Amij, who has shown him the eternal beauty of a single moment in time, Picard disobeys Admiral Dougherty’s orders to clear out. Amij reciprocates and supports Picard when he reveals that the Son’a are going to destroy their way of life.
Shucking his insignia, Picard gathers an arsenal of weaponry and tries to sneak off the Enterprise, but the crew catches him as he is loading up the captain’s yacht. When Picard explains his intentions to help the Ba’ku, his loyal crew join sides with him. “Saddle up,” says Data in his best John Wayne impersonation as he shoulders a phaser rifle, “Lock and load.” Meanwhile, the impatient Ru’afo has grown as weary of Picard’s meddling as he has of Dougherty’s dawdling. Ru’afo wants to obliterate the Enterprise and harvest the rings. The mining process will also wipe out the Ba’ku and turn their planet into a wasteland. Ru’afo, it seems, doesn’t have long to live, and nothing can quell the blood lust boiling in his toxic veins.

F. Murray Abraham wears an occupational sneer throughout as the despicable Ru’afo. Unfairly, Abraham shoulders the burden of villainy. Surrounded as he is by an army of aliens, Ru’afo never assumes the kind of villainy of a Darth Vader. The Son’a never mount a wholesale attack like the Storm Troopers from “Star Wars.” Instead, the Son’s prefer to deploy technological devices, so that “Insurrection” never lingers long on battle-scarred action sequences. Despite all of the fireworks, only a handful of characters actually die. “Insurrection” lacks the massacre and mutilation of “Starship Troopers.” Although he proves his murderous aims when he kills Dougherty on a skin-stretching rack, Ru’afo is really the only character who suffers a horrible death that he deserves for this fiendish forays.

As cheery and good-natured as “Insurrection” is, this “Star Trek” has its share of problems. Although “Insurrection” generates warp-speed momentum in story-telling, too many things are left unexplained. Director Jonathan Frakes along with Berman and Pillar jettisoned a lot of exposition that would have shed more light on the blood-hate between the Son’a and the Ba’ku. Rarely do you find a movie that needs to exceed its running. “Insurrection” could have gone on a good 45 minutes without wearing out its welcome. The filmmakers rely on the yucky looks of the Saran-wrap-skinned villains who bleed when they become enraged, but Frakes never explains why the Son’a resemble burglars with pantyhose stretched across their faces.
Happily, Frakes and his writers reveal enough to keep the action going at full-tilt. Although the first hour or so is largely devoted to talk, the last half-hour provides an exciting dogfight in space and Picard’s showdown with Ru’afo on board a satellite that will mine the planet’s rings. Jerry Goldsmith’s familiar “Star Trek” tune livens up this last reel confrontation between hero and villain. The trick that Picard and crew pull on Ru’afo to spoil his plans is foreshadowed early in the plot but so well integrated into the story that you only realize it in retrospect.
No, you neither have to be a Trekkie nor a Trekker to appreciate “Insurrection,” but it wouldn’t hurt. History will record “Insurrection” as more of a more crew intensive adventure.

FILM REVIEW OF ''THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL" (2008)

The landmark 1951 science fiction fable “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (**** out of ****) concerned an extraterrestrial emissary named Klaatu (Michael Rennie of TV’s “The Third Man”) who came to Washington, D.C., in a flying saucer to warn Earthlings that they must not “apply atomic energy to spaceships that will create a threat to the peace and security of other planets.” In the dreary, special effects laden remake, the intergalactic Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) shows up in a huge sphere in Manhattan’s Central Park to warn Earthlings that they have treated the planet with the same lack of respect that they treat each other and have wrought so much damage that they must be obliterated. Hmn, hasn’t Al Gore already said that without a spaceship and a monstrous robot in his recent documentary "An Inconvenient Truth?"

Environmentalists will no doubt applaud the remake for its global warming message, but popcorn-minded audiences aching for thrills and chills galore may find this high-minded but heavy-handed remake bland to the bone. Mind you, “Exorcism of Emily Rose” director Scott Derrickson and “Last Castle” scenarist David Scrapa have loaded “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (*1/2 out of ****) remake with more action than its relatively tame predecessor. Nevertheless, this superficial sci-fi saga generates little drama or suspense in what amounts to an anemic disaster movie with top-tier special effects. The 8 foot robot Gort that accompanied Klaatu now towers 28 feet tall and it boasts another weapon in it arsenal along with his molten laser beam eyeballs. The filmmakers stage several over-the-top aerial raids on the sphere that recall similar tactics in Roland Emmerich's "Independence Day." Unfortunately, these pyrotechnical displays add little substance to an already insubstantial film.

Pretty Jennifer Connelly gives the best performance, while Keanu Reeves remains as inarticulate as ever as the alien who wants to address world leaders. He was a hundred times better in last year’s shoot’em up “Street Kings.” Kathy Bates gives her best Hilary Clinton impersonation and dresses as tastefully as Sarah Palin. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” springs no surprises with its ecological message.

“The Day the Earth Stood Still” contains a prologue that the original lacked. In 1928, a lone mountain climber (Keanu Reeves of “The Matrix”)in India discovers a shimmering globe in the snow and touches it. When he awakens later from the shock that the object dealt him, he finds a hole has been burnt in his glove and a tiny patch of skin has been removed. The nasty sphere came to harvest the mountain climber's DNA so that it could clone a human body. The action fast-forwards to contemporary times as a military communication satellite detects an object streaking towards Earth with a crash point 78 minutes away in Manhattan. The government assembles an elite team of scientists to deal with the aftermath of this catastrophe since they cannot prevent it. Ignorant government agents come banging on the door of Princeton astrobiologist professor Dr. Helen Benson (Oscar winning Best Actress Jennifer Connelly of “A Beautiful Mind”) and hustle her off to a helicopter and flight to New York City. Initially, the military briefing sequence reminded me more of Ronald Neame's "Meteor" (1979) Michael Bay's "Armageddon" (1998), Mimi Leder's "Deep Impact" (1998)

When Helen isn’t teaching, she is a single mom to her adorably obnoxious African-American stepson Jacob (Jaden Smith of "The Pursuit of Happyness") who hasn’t gotten over the death of his father in combat. Jacob sasses his mom, wears his hair in tassels, and hinders more than helps her later in the action. Of course, everything is forgiven in the fourth quarter when he realizes the error of his ways. Anyway, everybody reacts with shock when the alien spacecraft touches down without turning New York City in a colossal crater. Like his classic predecessor, Klaatu emerges and a trigger-happy U.S. Army soldier pumps a slug into him just as he approaches Helen in a Hazmat outfit, splattering red alien blood on her mask. About that time, a gargantuan robot named Gort emerges from the sphere and emits a laser beam blast that turns all weapons into dust. Klaatu halts Gort from further destruction and lets the authorities rush him to a top-secret surgical suite where a doctor digs out the slug. The doctor informs them all that an embryonic human is swaddled beneath layers of placenta. This human matures rapidly into Keanu Reeves, though the filmmakers neglect to bring up the fate of 1928 mountain climber. In the remake, Klaatu enjoys greater powers than his predecessor. He can use his mind to incapacitate his captors and he does so during a lie detector scene that is prominently features in the trailer. Happily, Klaatu's interrogator is the same size as the alien so Klaatu can don his suit and don and saunter off the military installation.

Since the president and vice president have been evacuated to an undisclosed location, Secretary of Defense Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates of “Primary Colors”) greets Klaatu and refuses to turn him loose despite his having done nothing wrong. Instead, the scientists rush him off for a lie-detector test, but the resourceful Klaatu engineers an easy escape and hits the road with Helen. Jacob joins them and does everything that he can to undermine his mom and Klaatu. Eventually, Helen takes Klaatu to meet Nobel Prize-winning Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese of “Monty Python” fame in a cameo) who received his accolades for biological altruism. The blackboard scene from the original is replicated here, but Klaatu’s dialogue with Barnhardt focuses on the welfare of planet Earth not the escalating arms race. According to Klaatu, there is a shortage of planets for sustaining life and humans have devastated the Earth too such a degree that they must be wiped out. Barnhardt pleads with Klaatu for the future of humanity; he argues that the brink of destruction will prompt humans to change their ways.

Meanwhile, the military abduct Gort, imprison the robot in a silo, and try to cut through its impervious biological skin with a diamond drill. They fail miserably, but the gigantic robot spawns the synthetic equivalent of locust and the locust spread in clouds to destroy mankind and man-made structures. In the original, Gort acted as a policeman for the aliens, while he can reduce himself into a swarm of locust. The military were able to encase Gort but they didn't take him off to a secret army base.

Okay, neither Robert Wise’s “The Day the Earth Stood Still” nor Derrickson’s remake adhered to author Harry Bates’s original pulp short story “Farewell to the Master.” Of course, Wise’s “Earth Stood Still” served as a cautionary anti-Cold War tale about the paranoia of nuclear proliferation as well as an allegorical Christ tale. After all, Klaatu called himself Mr. Carpenter and rose from the dead. Derrickson’s spin has little in common aside from the bare bones basics of Edmund North’s screenplay. Keanu Reeves is ideally cast as the monosyllabic Klaatu and he knows how to deal with nosy traffic cops, but his Klaatu seems a little behind the 8-ball when he realizes that his strategy may not be best. While “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is new, this Keanu Reeves rehash is not an improved version of the timeless original.