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#646 - The Chronicles of Riddick
David Twohy, 2004
Five years after barely escaping from a dangerous alien planet, a wanted criminal earns the unwanted attention of a death cult while searching for his fellow survivors.
In my review of Pitch Black, I noted that, while I didn't think Pitch Black itself was particularly great, I would have been interested to see how later films would have developed the mythology of this particular universe. Well, you know what they say, "Be careful what you wish for", etc. The Chronicles of Riddick takes place five years after the events of Pitch Black, with Riddick (Vin Diesel) starting the film trying to evade some bounty hunters before eventually making his way to a different planet in search of his fellow survivors from the previous film. After finding one, he becomes intent on finding the other, even though various factors threaten to complicate matters such as said other survivor being trapped in one of the worst known prison-planets or the presence of a militant death cult that seeks to oppress any possible opposition through either death or indoctrination. Here is where The Chronicles of Riddick differs greatly from Pitch Black in that it abandons its predecessor's fairly tight focus on alien horror in favour of providing a somewhat ridiculous-looking space-opera that briefly delves into prison drama during its narrative's progression.
The space-opera elements are what threaten to sink The Chronicles of Riddick, whether it's Judi Dench's ultimately inconsequential appearance as an enigmatic mystic or the various ornate warrior-like elements that come to define the army of fanatical antagonists. Things don't get much better even when the film returns to the grim sci-fi elements of Pitch Black by having Riddick spend a large chunk of time on a prison planet with a decidedly lax approach to the scientific realities of a planet with lethal rays of sunlight. Even the inevitable reveal of what happened to his fellow survivor lacks any serious resonance within the context of this narrative except to serve as one of two very tenuous connections to the original film, though this can be credited to the unfortunate combination of sub-par acting and bland writing. The upgraded budget does seem promising but it results in a neutered product as it trades in the dark and bloody thrills of its predecessor for a film that tries to go for some very straightforward action instead, emphasising rapid close-quarters fighting with the odd chase or spaceship scene thrown in for good measure. Even point-of-view tricks such as Riddick's distinctive night-vision eyes or the enemies that see in Predator-like infrared don't make much positive difference. The flashy and elaborate art direction is a good idea in theory but it goes too far in trying to differentiate itself from its utilitarian predecessor and somehow ends up being blander. As a result, The Chronicles of Riddick ultimately ends up being a very passable excuse for a film that is offered the chance to expand its universe in an interesting manner yet its attempt to do so ends up being a fundamentally hollow experience that is reliant on genre clichés and lacks excitement or intrigue. Despite this film's considerable shortcomings, I still hold out some hope for follow-up Riddick, but we'll see if that film manages to make up for the tiresome space-fantasy that's on display here.
David Twohy, 2004
Five years after barely escaping from a dangerous alien planet, a wanted criminal earns the unwanted attention of a death cult while searching for his fellow survivors.
In my review of Pitch Black, I noted that, while I didn't think Pitch Black itself was particularly great, I would have been interested to see how later films would have developed the mythology of this particular universe. Well, you know what they say, "Be careful what you wish for", etc. The Chronicles of Riddick takes place five years after the events of Pitch Black, with Riddick (Vin Diesel) starting the film trying to evade some bounty hunters before eventually making his way to a different planet in search of his fellow survivors from the previous film. After finding one, he becomes intent on finding the other, even though various factors threaten to complicate matters such as said other survivor being trapped in one of the worst known prison-planets or the presence of a militant death cult that seeks to oppress any possible opposition through either death or indoctrination. Here is where The Chronicles of Riddick differs greatly from Pitch Black in that it abandons its predecessor's fairly tight focus on alien horror in favour of providing a somewhat ridiculous-looking space-opera that briefly delves into prison drama during its narrative's progression.
The space-opera elements are what threaten to sink The Chronicles of Riddick, whether it's Judi Dench's ultimately inconsequential appearance as an enigmatic mystic or the various ornate warrior-like elements that come to define the army of fanatical antagonists. Things don't get much better even when the film returns to the grim sci-fi elements of Pitch Black by having Riddick spend a large chunk of time on a prison planet with a decidedly lax approach to the scientific realities of a planet with lethal rays of sunlight. Even the inevitable reveal of what happened to his fellow survivor lacks any serious resonance within the context of this narrative except to serve as one of two very tenuous connections to the original film, though this can be credited to the unfortunate combination of sub-par acting and bland writing. The upgraded budget does seem promising but it results in a neutered product as it trades in the dark and bloody thrills of its predecessor for a film that tries to go for some very straightforward action instead, emphasising rapid close-quarters fighting with the odd chase or spaceship scene thrown in for good measure. Even point-of-view tricks such as Riddick's distinctive night-vision eyes or the enemies that see in Predator-like infrared don't make much positive difference. The flashy and elaborate art direction is a good idea in theory but it goes too far in trying to differentiate itself from its utilitarian predecessor and somehow ends up being blander. As a result, The Chronicles of Riddick ultimately ends up being a very passable excuse for a film that is offered the chance to expand its universe in an interesting manner yet its attempt to do so ends up being a fundamentally hollow experience that is reliant on genre clichés and lacks excitement or intrigue. Despite this film's considerable shortcomings, I still hold out some hope for follow-up Riddick, but we'll see if that film manages to make up for the tiresome space-fantasy that's on display here.