Special Edition
Recently I bought myself a copy of Chronicles of Riddick, the extended two disk edition, and happened upon a horrible possibility that until this disastrous purchase had never even crossed my mind.
See, usually when you get a special edition it’s because there are deleted scenes that get polished up and added, and it fills in the gaps. Perhaps the most famous special editions/directors cuts are Blade Runner (because of the weak ending originally imposed), and Aliens, (because of the huge amount of additional plot material which the original desperately needed). However, what happens if the director isn’t as competant? What happens if it worked in the cinema mostly because all the junk that the director wanted was cut out for time reasons?
Well, in that case you get a massacred version of the film with an entire pointless additional plot which serves to weaken the main one, a clumsy ‘romance’ scene which is both uncomfortable to watch and spoils the old time 70s style of the original movie, and you get a number of weak scenes which are so lamely try-hard that they make the rest of the film seem weak as well. I’ve never had it happen before with any other special edition, but the Chronicles of Riddick was a tightly paced really nice piece, it’s key attraction being the older style of sci-fi, rather like dune. The special edition manages to nicely remove a lot of the good dialogue, destroy the feel and in general make the whole film seem incredibly B-grade. There is a reason why the original costs a whopping $2 more than this pathetic unspecial edition. But it’s still better than those hideous star wars prequels…
July 20th, 2005 at 9:47 pm
You’re doing a better job of keeping up with the blogging thing than me, but then, oh yeah… you’re on a six month holiday.
I must admit when I watched Riddick I fell asleep. That doesn’t happen very often, but I’m willing to put it down to exhaustion (though I watched it when I was on my six month holiday). I love the prequel (Pitch Black), but I recall when listening to the director on the DVD, he came across as a bit of an idiot, really.
July 21st, 2005 at 12:34 am
That is the real problem, the cinema version was a very tight and lovely piece, but sticking an introduction of yourself speaking about how this version has additional footage at the start of the actual movie (not in a quiet menu where no-one has to be forced through it), really is the indication of the quality of this release. I intend on buying the proper version and I suggest you avoid all others until seeing it the way it should have been, but unfortunately, even that will be tarnished by this lack of any ability
September 9th, 2005 at 3:55 am
[…] After accidentally purchasing the hideous special edition of Chronicles of Riddick, I saw the original, unmutilated version for far too high a price at Target yesterday. But, for whatever strange reason, I just haven’t seen it cheaper anywhere than about $34. Anyway, being the type to waste money on things impulsively, I bought it. […]
September 9th, 2005 at 6:31 pm
What have you done internet!!!! Stop messing up my site!
September 13th, 2005 at 4:40 pm
Teehee, it’s sent a pingback to itself