Four years ago, a low budget sci-fi movie by the name of Pitch Black delivered an unexpected success by becoming a small (cult) hit. It was also one of the first films to deliver a new action hero: Vin Diesel. Pitch Black was small, had few – but good – special effects, had a relatively unknown cast, only a $20m budget and was shot in Australia. The movie had great contrasts (first half – boiling heat and eye-blinding sunlight; second half – an eerie darkness). Following the path of most Hollywood productions that have become unexpected hits, director David Twohy considered the time ripe for a sequel – this time, with five times the budget of the original. However, what killed part of The Matrix legacy is also what killed some of what was good about Pitch Black…

Killer Riddick (Vin Diesel) returns to the planet, Helion Prime, after successfully saving some of the crew of a crashed prisoner ship from a hot planet inhabited by violent hideous creatures (the storyline of Pitch Black). That is about all there is link-wise to Pitch Black. In this sequel, Helion Prime is invaded by an evil race, the Necromangers. The Necromangers already have destroyed most of Riddick’s race and it turns out Riddick is the only person who can stop them. Duh! These plans are interrupted when Riddick is kidnapped and brought to a prison on the planet Crematoria (I am not kidding).

Pitch Black had hardly any story at all (which was good). The Chronicles of Riddick has too much. It eagerly tries to establish a dynasty as varied and wide as say The Matrix or the Star Wars saga and even David Lynch’s Dune. Now there is nothing wrong with that, but Chronicles drops you off somewhere in the story and tries to ride too much on the success of Pitch Black. The great thing about Pitch Black is that it didn’t explain the background or origin of its characters. Chronicles tries to attempt all of this in a two-hour movie. The character development is hardly there, but maybe that is not to be expected from such a movie.

The visual and sound effects, however, are quite impressive, but have clearly been copied from The Matrix sequels and the recent Star Wars movies. It is all a bit too much and the action is filmed fast and messy. And, personally I don’t see the use of adding a quality actress such as Judi Dench to the cast. She is one of the few lights, cast-wise, but then again: she has never truly disappointed me. Diesel’s character provides the usual funny moments, though this never gets annoying. Judged on its own merits, The Chronicles of Riddick is a pretty much okay movie, but it has hardly anything at all to do with Pitch Black, except for three characters, of which one dies pretty early in the movie and another is hardly recognizable.

Directed by: David Twohy
Starring: Vin Diesel, Colm Feore and Judi Dench
Runtime: 115 minutes
Release Dates: US 11 June, UK 27 August, The Netherlands 19 August.
Official Website

Be Sociable, Share!

•