Intelligent Science Fiction...Does it Have a Chance?

There was a flash of hope in 1999 that science fiction was about to take a giant leap forward. The 90's had a few truly good sci-fi showings such as Dark City and The City of Lost Children. But they were few and far in between. Then 1999 came along and it seemed as if it would be an average year. I was visiting Nomad and the family on their yearly vacation and he told me about this new movie just out that I had never heard of. We went to the theater and I experienced the Matrix. The movie shocked me, it mixed intelligent drama, science fiction, and action together better than nearly anything I had seen since Star Wars. I, and other sci-fi fans, thought that the sky had become the limit over night. Sadly, the concluding chapters of the Matrix trilogy proved to be the source of great disallusionment on my part. The sequals resorted to old science fiction cliches that should not have seen the screen again. Some have felt that the collosal failure of the Matrix movies under their own weight means that the time of intelligent science fiction is gone again.



But I have hope, and it is not unfounded. A couple of years ago, Nomad (I owe him a lot of credit don't I?) told me about another small sci-fi horror movie that had barely registered on the charts. It stared a previously virtually unknown actor as a shady, murderous convict. Pitch Black snuck onto the scene staring Vin Diesel and the movie was good. It was genuinely different in its approach, its production values, its anti-hero, and its beautiful visual effects. I became an instant fan but the movie remained under the radar until Vin became a big star. Now, the Chronicles of Riddick has been released and I am again hopeful for the future of science fiction. I saw it opening night (last night) and I have to say that the movie is very good. Once again, it charts its own course and the end is unlike anything you will expect. The visuals are even more amazing and the characters are compelling. Of course, this leads to the eventual third part of the series which will prove its true value. Without "Revolutions", the Matrix series was still redemeable. We will have to see where the third in the Chronicles trilogy takes us. But if it's half as good as the movie now playing, I believe that intelligent science fiction (can you believe that I'm using the word 'intelligent' to describe anything to do with Vin Diesel?) might actually be able to redeem its fallen place yet.