In Which A Movie is Probably Over-analyzed

I was watching AMC the other day and doing a bit of cleaning, and I decided to watch the Chronicles of Riddick marathon as a reward to myself. As the sections of my brain responsible for “Hit him again!” and “Shit blew up!” and “Mmm, dat ass!” whirred into life, I seemed to have unwittingly awoken that mad sleeping giant that is the academic part of my brain. And so, I began to analyze the movies and realized, to my delight, that all of my brain could happily enjoy this. Though an action flick is one of the last places you would think to look for an insightful historical allegory, The Chronicles of Riddick is actually a masterfully updated account of the creation and rise of Islam, and the ensuing crusades.

The Necromongers are a strange cult that rapidly grows into a major religion capable of raising a massive empire. They preach the approach of the “Underverse”, a paradise at the end of all things that can only be reached by the most purely devout. They operate simply, conquering and converting, and killing all that stand in their way. They feel that it is their duty to convert the universe so that they can spread the glory of the Underverse, and so that they can populate it.

This is incredibly similar to the Islamic concept of Jihad, that they must each personally spread the word of Islam to others, so that others can find paradise at the end of time.

When the Necromongers come to Helion Prime, they land in the city of New Mecca. They then congregate the leaders of the various religions that worship there and told them to convert or die. This is essentially lifted from the Koran, in the scene where Mohammad tells the worshipers that their pagan gods are false and assaults them in a fit of pious rage. The Lord Marshall, as we see, is challenged by a man who refuses to convert and rips his soul out as an example to the others. In the Koran, Mohammad then goes on to destroy the shrines of the “false gods”, and the Lord Marshall similarly devastates the city, as he has so many others for their mere existence.

Riddick, we discover, is of a race of extremely stubborn and vicious people who are the last hope of the universe. They are deemed a “different evil” than the Necromongers, due largely to their lack of cooperation with each other, but a necessary one as only a Furion can destroy the evil empire, as a prophecy has foretold. Though it almost seems a stretch, we can compare Riddick here to Jesus. His origin story is also incredibly similar to Jesus’. Riddick was one of only survivors of a massive cleansing that focused on new born males to prevent the birth of a prophesied messiah of sorts.

Now take a step back for a moment. In Pitch Black we find a group of people who are questing across the galaxy on a pilgrimage, each for their own reasons. There is even an Imam, questing for New Mecca. The quest, in typical action movie style, goes wrong and they are beset by monsters, and are picked off one by one as they stray from the group and away from the light (literally and figuratively). Riddick must lead them through a valley (of the shadow of death) to bring them to safety so that they can escape the planet. The only survivors are the Imam, who’s faith was pure and unwavering, and a young child, the innocent and most slavishly devoted to Riddick of the group. The captain almost survived and was delivered, but died instead trying to save them all to atone for her earlier sin of almost letting them die to save herself. This tale is essentially the Canterbury Tales, but then quickly becomes derailed with an action movie plot.

When Riddick and the Lord Marchall come into conflict it is indirect, a matter of vengence and fear. The Lord Marshall is terrified of the prophecy and hunts Riddick, and Riddick fights back for himself and his slaughtered people. The crusades that were so popular in the middle ages are much the same. Granted, the crusades began with the Christians attacking the Muslims for control of their holy lands, but since we only see this snippet of their timeline, we can only guess at the past and accept what they tell us. Riddick does meet a Furion that has been converted who tells Riddick of the times past, where Fruions were noble and proud and great, and then kills himsef rather than continue living with the shame of being a convert.

Riddick goes on to defeat the Lord Marshall, and we see at the end of the movie that he has unwittingly accepted the responsibility of ruling these people. The same can be said for the crusades, when Christian nations tore apart the Muslim lands and again later when Christian nations tore apart the Ottoman Empire. They found themselves ruling a similar yet utterly alien culture. Since there is no follow up story we can only guess at how this plays out. We can extrapolate that he went on to become emperor and put an end to the ethnic cleanings and mass conversions, but this is simply guesswork.

So what does this mean? Frankly, I can’t say. I am a noticer of facts, not an interpreter. This could be my personal imposition of belief over facts, or there could have been a deeper inspiration or message behind the movies. But then again, this may be one of the best retellings of history that I have personally seen in a very long time.