Pitch Black did not seem like a movie that deserved a sequel. It was a serviceable action-horror sci-fi picture that was basically an okay Alien clone. It had a unique action hero at the center, but his power was specific. Monsters came out when the planet was dark. He could see in the dark. Okay.
Buy The Chronicles of Riddick 4K UHDBut star Vin Diesel and writer David Twohy are big nerds. So, they made a big backstory for Riddick, the one man who could readily survive on the Pitch Black planet. When Pitch Black was successful enough to warrant a sequel, the two went whole hog. That included giving it the absolutely terrible title, The Chronicles of Riddick. Because everyone remembered the name of the character from the moderately successful film.
But the major surprise here is that… this is a fun movie. I don’t know if it’s good, but it’s fun. And despite the portentous trailers, it is just as much of an action sci-fi thriller as its predecessor.
The film begins with bounty hunters tracking down our villain (Riddick isn’t a hero), but he kills or strands them on an ice planet. Then he tracks down the one man who could have given up his location.
That’s Keith David, whom he’d saved in the last film. But he had a good reason: the Necromongers, a death cult obsessed with converting or killing the people of the galaxy, invaded his planet. And Riddick the Furya is one of only known survivors of this scourge.
I think. The mythology is confusing, though maybe less so in the director’s cut, which I’m basing my review on. In that version of the film, Riddick has visions of a surviving Furya who makes his mission clear.
Kind of. He invades a planet, refuses recruitment into a resistance, survives the invasion, contacts the invaders (the Necromongers, bad guys), and then gets captured by bounty hunters who send him to a prison planet. Which just happens to be the place where he wants to go. After all, the girl he rescued in Pitch Black is imprisoned there.
It’s all comic book stuff. The Chronicles of Riddick is a comic book movie, but it’s not Marvel or DC. This is more like Heavy Metal magazine. Despite being a far-future world, everyone’s armored like Romans or Carthaginians. There’s quasi-religious shtick with all of this. And the Necromongers have armors and weapons that seem more reminiscent of ancient Persian weapons than something future based.
In the middle of the film, Riddick goes back into a prison, and we get about 30 minutes of what seems a completely different film. It ignores the politics of the Necromongers, where Count Yaggo (Karl Urban), spurred on by an entirely too enticing Dame Vaako (Thandie Newton) schemes to overthrow his boss. It’s overcooked, but in a completely comic book way which left me entertained.
Because The Chronicles of Riddick is just like a story from Heavy Metal magazine. It’s a little overwrought, maybe overdesigned, but always entertaining and fun. A Heavy Metal story would have also had some nudity, but c’est la vie.
This 4K release shows the beauty of the original filmmaking, and unfortunately shows the limitations of early full-CG shots. To my eye, they look like PS3-era animations, but the filmmaking is sound. Happily, both versions of the film, theatrical and the director’s cut, are available on 4K in this release.
I hadn’t seen The Chronicles of Riddick before watching this 4K release and had always assumed it would be an overblown debacle, mistaking the appeal of the original. It is certainly a different film, but I found it very entertaining. The political intrigue, the fights, and the mystery of Riddick’s origins propel a forceful narrative that, to me, never got dull. It’s a surprising sequel to what I found a decent but uninspiring first film.
The Chronicles of Riddick has been released on 4K UHD by Arrow Video. The release includes three discs, all with 4K releases of the film: the theatrical cut, the director’s cut, and the theatrical cut in an alternate 1.78:1 aspect ratio.
Extras on the theatrical cut include four new video extras: “Ambition on Another Scale: Chronicling a Blockbuster Sequel” (74 min), a documentary on the making of the film; “Realizing Riddick” (14 min), an interview with David Twohy; “Back to Black” (11 min), an interview with storyboard artist Brian Murray; and “Chronicles of a Cult Film Celebrity” (10 min), an interview with Keith David. There are also some trailers.
The Directors’ cut’s extras are all archival. That includes two commentaries: with David Twohy and Vin Diesel, and with David Twohy, Karl Urban and Alexa Davelos. Video extras include an “Introduction by David Twohy” (1 min); “Creation of New Mecca” (11 min); “Riddick Rises” (14 min); “Keep What You Kill” (18 min); “Visual Effects Revealed” (6 min); “Interactive Production Calendar” (25 min); “Production Vignettes” (34 min). There are also some deleted scenes (6 min) and the “Virtual Guide to The Chronicles of Riddick” (8 min).
On the third disc there is a compilation of cut scenes from the video game “Escape from Butcher Bay” (34 min) and a television special to promote the film’s release, The Lowdown (22 min).
