Review of Chronicles of Riddick, The (Director`s Cut)

Introduction

Once upon a time, the local fleapit was in decline. The advent of the home video recorder was to blame, with people eager to watch films in the privacy of their own homes. Cinemas managed to pull that around, with attendances recovering, and in the UK even exceeding expectations. Of late though, attendances in the US have been wavering, and the hackneyed cries of movie piracy and the popularity of home video, in this case DVD, have reared up yet again. I can`t help thinking that studios are themselves to blame this time, and have shot themselves in the foot in their attempt to increase profits. The Chronicles Of Riddick is a perfect example. It all comes down to bums on seats, and that is achieved in two ways, a PG-13 rating and a short running time to allow for more performances. With Riddick it meant sanitising much of the violence and sexuality, as well as removing most of the exposition, which pretty much reduces the draw of the antihero character established in Pitch Black. I reviewed the theatrical version last year and found it to be a triumph of style over substance, delicious eye-candy covering up an anorexic story. The Director`s Cut now makes it to Region 2, restores the violence and adds extra scenes to develop the story, as well as a whole new character. What is the point of going to the cinema to watch a butchered family friendly version when the film as meant to be seen will eventually be released on DVD? No wonder US cinema attendances are down. The irony in all this is that while in the US, the theatrical cut was a PG-13 whereas the unrated cut would have been an R, in the UK both versions are deemed by the BBFC to be 15. But will the restored version be enough to salvage The Chronicles Of Riddick?

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 just 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

I could detect no differences between the image quality on this disc and the original release. A sharp and clear 2.40:1 anamorphic transfer shows off the film`s amazing design and splendour to excellent effect, with only the slightest of aliasing in the occasional scene hardly worth mentioning.

Audio

On the original disc, the film and copious extras meant there was little room left over, yet while the sole audio track was a DD 5.1 English track at 384kbps, it was still an impressive track that managed to give all the speakers a workout, conveying the action exceedingly well. With the Director`s Cut of the Chronicles Of Riddick, a second disc has been provided for the extras, and the film resides alone on Disc 1. Almost alone, deleted scenes and an audio commentary have joined it, but still there is copious room for added audio goodness. For this release, we get a DD 5.1 Hungarian track, in addition to the same English track as before, both encoded at 384kbps. Where`s the full bitrate Dolby track? Where`s the DTS track? Don`t get me wrong, I have no complaints with the quality of the sound, but it still feels like a missed opportunity. You also now get a choice of subtitles in seven languages.

Features

If you`ve seen the original disc, then the menus here will be familiar; indeed they are exactly the same as before, with the same choice whether to convert or fight. Absent this time round are the DVD ROM features that I couldn`t get to work on the first disc, as well as the demo for the X Box game. But the extras content has increased markedly from before.

Disc 1

The first disc contains the film naturally, but this time it starts with an introduction from Director David Twohy, who explains the restored scenes and notes that where the film has been re-edited in, there may be the odd jump in the frame. It`s a sneaky way to get viewers to pay attention, as I didn`t notice any such jumps.

New to this disc is the audio commentary provided by David Twohy and actors Alexa Davalos and Karl Urban. It`s a little gappy, but an interesting conversation between the three speakers as they discuss the director`s cut. It`s fairly run of the mill for audio commentaries, informative, but really of interest to fans of the film.

You can also watch eight minutes of deleted scenes, with the option of an audio commentary explaining the scenes excised. There are three scenes in total, and you can see that they were mostly excised for repeated exposition, although Toombs faces a different fate in one.

Finally the Riddick Insider subtitle information track is identical from the previous release.

Disc 2

Repeated from the original release are the Easter Egg, the Virtual Guide To The Chronicles Of Riddick, Toombs Chase Log, Visual Effects Revealed and Riddick`s Worlds. However, there are a greater number of language subtitles and you can hear the Virtual Guide and Toombs Chase Log in French and German, as well as the original English.

New to this release are three featurettes, as well as an Interactive Production Calendar.

Creation Of New Mecca lasts 11 minutes. This focuses on the world and characters of Helion Prime, with interviews with the cast and crew. There are the ubiquitous behind the scenes footage and movie clips, as well as a look at the production design.

Riddick Rises follows the same format, but looks at the Crematoria Slam instead, the inmates and the hellish world design over 14 minutes.

Finally among the featurettes, Keep What You Kill looks at the Necromongers, with interviews with Colm Feore, Linus Roache, Thandie Newton and Karl Urban among others. This lasts 18 minutes, and unsurprisingly follows the same format as the other two featurettes.

The Interactive Production Calendar is a light but interesting extra. You are presented with a 90-day production calendar in the form of three interlocking wheels to navigate. When selected the highlighted dates play brief sound bites and info snippets regarding all aspects of the production. There`s not a lot of information here, but it is enjoyable enough. My only gripe is that if you want to watch the 30 or 40-second clips with subtitles, you have to manually select the subtitle track every time you play a clip.

Finally there are trailers for Pitch Black SE, Dark Fury, Van Helsing and The Bourne Supremacy.

Conclusion

It`s definitely an improvement over the original Chronicles Of Riddick. Most of my original complaints about the original film have been addressed by the footage restored to the Director`s Cut, yet it is undeniably the same film. The brutality of the Riddick character comes across clearly, now that the key battle sequence on Crematoria has been restored in its entirety, gruesome sound effects and all. In addition, the battle between the Mercs and the prison guards is also uncut. This film actually has some exposition; the epic nature of the story is strengthened with a Furyan subplot that gives weight to the events that unfold in the film, that give Riddick a sense of destiny. The spirit of a Furyan visits him in his dreams, Shirah explains what happened to Furya, and reveals just what Riddick was born to do. It also adds another dimension to that confrontation on Crematoria.

Finally, the character dynamic between Lord and Lady Vaako has been restored. I originally lamented Thandie Newton`s performance as insipid and forgettable. The Director`s Cut fixes that and then some. The problem with US censors at the moment is that they have a greater problem with sexuality than violence, as exhibited by the Grand Theft Auto farce. This meant that for the theatrical release of Riddick, any hint of sexuality was excised. Lady Vaako as revealed in the DC is a manipulative, power-hungry, wholly Machiavellian character that uses her sexuality as a weapon, twisting her husband around her finger with ease. The temptations of her flesh are more than enough to strain his bounds of loyalty to the Lord Marshal, and finally seeing what her character was supposed to be strengthens the film. There are other restorations and dialogue changes that add to the characters in the film, and in every way improve the film. Despite the extended running time, the film is actually paced significantly better, with one scene in particular (originally two scenes in the theatrical version) making a whole lot more sense.

While the Director`s Cut is an amazing improvement over the original, my key criticism still remains, and one that no amount of editing could fix. The plot is still wafer thin, and while there has been a degree of improvement in the fleshing out of the characters and the addition of the Furyan subplot, this is still a film that keeps the essential details safely tucked away in the Dark Fury animation, the X Box console game, and the glossary on the extras disc. What is the point of creating a rich history for the Necromongers, designing a rich and variegated universe, imbuing props and sets with age and meaning, when none of that makes it to the screen, requiring you to buy the tie-in material to learn it. The back-story and texture should have been in the film in the first place.

The Director`s Cut makes The Chronicles Of Riddick an enjoyable two hours. It`s a shame that the studios in Hollywood think solely with their wallets, and released the neutered version to theatres. I watched the theatrical version and came away uninspired, dazzled by the eye-candy but hardly satisfied. The Director`s Cut is still not the deepest and most fulfilling of stories, but had I seen this first, I wouldn`t have been averse to more Chronicles Of Riddick, which given that this was supposed to be a franchise for the character is the most tragic thing of all. They should have released the Director`s Cut of The Chronicles Of Riddick in the first place.

This disc puts right a lot of what went wrong, but the improvement in other respects is less tangible. It was going to be hard to improve upon the stellar picture, but I was surprised at the lack of a DTS track, practically compulsory on re-released Special Editions nowadays. Most of the extras are carry-overs from the original release, but the commentary and new featurettes are a welcome addition. I would have expected more though, a dedicated production design documentary, a heftier making of as well. If you have been put off watching The Chronicles Of Riddick by the bad press, then this is the version to go for, and for sorting out the film`s many problems, it`s probably worth a double dip too. Just don`t expect miracles.