Review of Chronicles of Riddick, The

Introduction

The sequel is a tricky business. It`s only the rare sequel that expands and improves on the first film. The average sequel takes the original as a template and chooses to follow the winning formula faithfully, and is at heart a remake, giving audiences what they desire most, Lethal Weapon would be a prime example of this. Rarer are those sequels that take the characters from the first film, but insert them into a different genre completely. While the first Alien was a horror film, Aliens was a stonking actioner. This is the path that has been taken with The Chronicles Of Riddick franchise. Riddick was the gravel voiced antihero of Pitch Black, an effective sci-fi horror that became the surprise hit of 1999. 5 years on, Universal saw a potential franchise on their books, and a sequel was commissioned. Not only that, but in preparation for the release of a blockbuster event movie, the original film was re-christened as The Chronicles Of Riddick: Pitch Black and re-released in Special Edition form. A Chronicles of Riddick computer game was unleashed, as was a half hour animation, The Chronicles Of Riddick: Dark Fury that filled in the gap between the two films. When The Chronicles Of Riddick was finally released amidst all this hype, it was an epic sci-fi fantasy that looked amazing. Looks aren`t everything though, and it`s now that it makes its DVD debut that I get to see what all the fuss is about.

Five years have passed since the events of Pitch Black and Riddick is living in self-imposed exile on the dark planet of UV6. A massive bounty has tempted bounty hunter Toombs to track him down, much to his eventual regret, as it isn`t long before Riddick is taking his newly acquired Skiff to track down who wants him that badly. The trail leads to Helion Prime, and a familiar face. Imam has made his home on Helion, and it is he who arranged for the price on Riddick`s head. The universe is facing the deadly scourge of the Necromongers, a race of warriors who deal in death, searching for their prophesied Underverse. The choice is simple, convert or die, and when their Conquest Icons have the power to destroy whole worlds, the decision become a simple one. Another prophecy tells of the extinct race of the Furyans, and when Imam told the elemental Aereon of Riddick, Aereon realised that Riddick, as the last surviving Furyan may be the only one with the power to defeat the Necromongers. Riddick isn`t convinced though and he`s about to leave when Imam reminds him of Jack. After Riddick left, Jack felt abandoned and went searching for him, in the process she was captured and sent to the high security Slam, Crematoria. Before the guilt trip has a chance to take effect, the Necromongers arrive in strength, overwhelming Helion. Riddick will have no choice but to fight back.

Video

About half an hour in, there was a scene where in the background I could see a set of paved steps climbing in the distance. There was a hint of moiré on the paving stones. I mention this, as this was the only flaw that I could find on this otherwise pristine transfer. The 2.40:1 anamorphic image is crystal clear, and reproduces the colours with stunning vibrancy. With recent films like this, it becomes exceedingly difficult to find fault, and perhaps the only really jarring moments were that of some ill judged CGI, and an occasional poor choice by the director. A case in point being a strobe lit action sequence that was decidedly indistinct.

The design of Chronicles Of Riddick is certainly special, from the worlds to the technology and the costumes. I loved the planets in this film, from the sheer alien-ness of UV6 to the fiery if implausible hell of Crematoria. Through tints and shades, each world takes on a character of its own, and each is as unearthly as you can imagine. You can tell that in the five years between films, The Lord Of The Rings has come and gone, as the Necromongers take the best of fantasy in their design. Chainmail and armour from the middle ages informs their costumes, and the look of their ships and technology also looks backwards instead of forwards. The towering totems that are their Conquest Icons is perhaps the most obvious reflection of Peter Jackson`s movies, but set in the fantastical world of Riddick, I was strongly reminded of a Linkin` Park video. When it comes to eye-candy, Riddick certainly doesn`t disappoint.

Audio

There is only a DD 5.1 English track on this disc, but it is a powerful one that makes plenty of use of the surrounds and the LFE to convey the oodles of action in The Chronicles Of Riddick. From hand to hand combat to whooshing spaceships and deafening explosions, this is a film that thrives on action and the sound is more than acceptable in that respect. The music is unmemorable but drives the story and action well. English subtitles are provided.

Features

Inserting the disc, you get to choose between two menu schemes depending on whether you wish to Convert or Fight. Both present the same options.

The Virtual Guide To The Chronicles Of Riddick is a little video glossary that has character voice-overs explaining the meaning and background to several of the terms, worlds and characters in the film. Each of the items is presented in the form of a hologram with images from the films and artwork.

Toombs Chase Logs lasts 10 minutes and it consists of a series of graphics and a roughly digitised image of Toombs, with the characters voice-over explaining his hunt for Riddick up to the point where he found him on UV6.

Riddick Insider is a subtitle trivia track. As you watch the film, various snippets of information are provided regarding the production as well as the background of the characters and the story.

Visual Effects Revealed is a 6-minute featurette that gives a glimpse at the greenscreen work and the CGI used in the film.

Riddick`s Worlds, begins with a 3-minute tour of the otherworld sets as presented by Vin Diesel. There are also 8 of those nifty 360° photographs that let you explore 8 of the sets from the film with your remote control.

You can play the first level of the X-Box Chronicles of Riddick game, if you have an X-Box that is. I don`t.

There are trailers for Pitch Black, Dark Fury, Van Helsing, The Bourne Supremacy and Billy Elliot: The Musical.

Finally there is the DVD-ROM content. I`d like to take a moment to express my hatred of Interactual. I don`t think that I have ever had a hundred percent functionality of any Interactual content, and The Chronicles Of Riddick provided the worst experience by far. While the player loaded, try as I might I couldn`t get any of the extra material to work. All I can tell you is that aside from the film, there is 178 MB of data on this disc. If you can get it to work, congratulations.

I almost forgot, there is an Easter Egg secreted away, 45 seconds of footage that is a bit of a kick in the teeth.

English subtitles are available when necessary.

Conclusion

The Chronicles Of Riddick is fun but little more than that. If mindless entertainment is what you desire, then this film will give you plenty of nail biting action, beautiful visuals and adventure. It fulfils the blockbuster requirement quite happily, and doesn`t achieve anything more than being the generic thrill ride it is. Unfortunately it has pretensions for much more. The script, the story and the characters attempt to paint a picture that is intricate and detailed on a vast canvas. This is with a dwindling supply of paint, and with paintbrushes 5 sizes too large. The Chronicles Of Riddick attempts to occupy the same sort of ground as Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars and The Matrix. These are all films and franchises that have lush back-stories, they are richly drawn and each of the characters and situations has a presence that extend beyond the screen. Riddick fails to emulate this. Watching this film, you get the feeling that the story and characters exist for this film only, and it`s stretched tenuously thin at that.

The trouble with Riddick is that the exposition is poor indeed. There is no attempt at colouring in the history or the characters beyond what you see on screen, the script is efficient to the point of Spartan, where a few throwaway lines could have added some dimension. The creators expect us to have all seen Pitch Black, played the computer game, seen the animation, and made use of the extra material on this disc, as well as watching the film in conjunction with the trivia track. Maybe then there would be a sense of a tangible universe. Which is a complete waste of time of course, when the back-story and texture should have been in the film in the first place.

Riddick is one of the few iconic characters to have come out of cinema in recent years, and Vin Diesel certainly makes the best of him despite the thin script. Indeed he is perhaps one of the few memorable things about this film. It`s just a shame that the story doesn`t live up to the character. The rest of the cast is quite frankly wasted, especially Judi Dench as the elemental Aereon brought to vivid CGI life. Her character is there primarily as an exposition device, but as the exposition is so poor, her absence wouldn`t have registered. Poor Karl Urban seems to be destined for a career in plate steel after Lord Of The Rings, and Thandie Newton continues a career of insipidness with another forgettable performance as Dame Vaako.

Despite an interesting premise, reminiscent of the Hades myth, The Chronicles Of Riddick fails to register beyond any level but the immediate. Almost two hours of eye-candy and action will certainly entertain, but make as much impression as a damp sponge on concrete. This disc boasts impressive visuals and sound, but the extras are light indeed, and don`t add much to the film. It may be worth waiting to see if the Unrated Cut will be released here, or just importing the Region 1 disc instead. Surely anything added to the anorexic story can only be a good thing. But if you want to put your brain in neutral and just coast along looking at the pretty pictures, this release will suffice.