The Chronicles of Riddick [2004] - Universal Pictures Video

Probably the worst film I've ever seen.

Appalling acting - even by Judi Dench - how did she ever let herself be involved.
The is no real story - and what there is is inconsistent between beginning and the end.
Poor special effects.
Dire action sequences. The fights are laughable.
But worst of all the continuity is shot.

Excellent - now buying Director's Cut

I loved Pitch Black and snapped up Chronicles of Riddick when it came out. I must have seen it 50 times or more and am still not bored of it. The film was an underrated masterpiece. If you love sci-fi with a twist, you'll love this film. Having just read about the Director's Cut - I've ordered that now too and am looking forward to finding out just that little bit more about the characters. One not to miss even if it's 4 years old now.

and we're back

after actually making a decent action in man apart vin takes a big step back and stars in this overblown and laughable flick

You keep what you kill

"Pitch Black" was a brilliant piece of sci-fi -- dark, brutal, eerie, bloody and full of moral quandaries.

But even when you don't compare "The Chronicles of Riddick" to "Pitch Black," the vastly different sequel comes out srely lacking. Intent on being an epic blockbuster, this sci-fi epic ends up becoming a ponderous, bloated expanse of special effects and simplistic pseudo-philosophy, with a plot that is stretched to the breaking limit. They're just hoping audiences don't notice.

After killing off some pursuing mercenaries, Riddick (Vin Diesel) finds that someone has put a bounty on finding him -- it's Imam, the man he saved in "Pitch Black."

When Riddick arrives on Helion Prime, Imam and the Elemental Aereon (Judi Dench) explain why: the death-worshiping Necromongers are sweeping through the galaxy, destroying whomever they don't convert. And when the Necromongers invade Helion Prime, Riddick learns that he is a Furian -- and that it was prophesied that a Furian would kill the Necromonger Marshal (Colm Feore), the "Holy Half-Dead."

Captured by the Necromongers and sentenced by their bizarre dead oracles, Riddick manages to escape, and has himself shipped to a brutal prison world where Jack/Kyra (Alexa Davalos) is being held captive. But even with her help, he may not be able to defeat an army of death-worshiping warriors -- or oppose a ruthless pair of Necromonger nobles out to overcome the Marshal.

Basically, "The Chronicles of Riddick" is an extension of the lean, muscular sci-fi story in "Pitch Black," but grown much more bloated, self-important, and intent on turning the story into a space epic. Unfortunately, it has an extremely simplistic plot once you strip away the creepy visuals and CGI -- and an easily predictable end that just feels like "To Be Continued." Basically, you can expect another sequel to pop up eventually.

It has to be admitted, there are some truly great creepy moments -- panoramic views of burning planets, high-octane chases, and the eerie use of half-dead corpses as communicators and oracles (although it gets silly when they start screeching "KILL THE RIDDICK!") and even a couple of Necromongers "kissing" through them. It's weird, freaky stuff, and it's where "Chronicles of Riddick" works the best.

Unfortunately, the extremely overdone CGI is spread as thickly as peanut butter on this movie, and much of it is less than convincing -- at times it simply shores up the blank spots in the storyline. The scriptwriters also got lazy , loading down the dialogue with excruciatingly lame dialogue ("I'll kill you with my teacup") and a distinct lack of plot for long stretches. As for the whole prophecy-about-Riddick, it feels like a hack fantasy cliche was transported here to create a motive for Riddick to attack the Marshal.

And it doesn't help that as usual, Vin Diesel can't act -- he basically smirks and growls his way through, just as he did in "Pitch Black." But he can't, can't, can't pull off some of those cheesy one-liners ("It's been a long time since I smelled beautiful," he informs Thandie Newton), and moments that demand something other than growls, smirks and gunplay end up feeling horribly forced.

The Necromongers aren't much better, although the idea of a death-worship religion is intriguingly original, and would have been great if fleshed out. But Feore is just a basic baddie with a cliched weakness. Thandie Newton is a 2-D vamp who seems to flirt with everything in pants, and an attractively leather-clad Karl Urban just seems totally confused by what's going on. At least there's Judi Dench as an ethereal Elemental, even if she seems as confused as Urban.

"Chronicles of Riddick" is both too much and too little -- too much mindless action and CGI, too little plot and dialogue. Sister, they didn't know what to do with just one Riddick movie.

a decent sequel

I have to admit I do like Vin Diesel movies. Yes his acting is wooden and limited, but then other established action heroes like Stallone, Schwarzenegger were no acting giants either. I strongly believe that Riddick is Diesel's motif, and no-one else could play him. Just as no-one else could play The Terminator, or Rocky. Riddick is as strong a character as any of those, and Diesel plays him more than adequately.

For me it's hard to say which one I prefer - Pitch Black, or The Chronicles of Riddick. I'd like to say that we got to see more of Riddick's character development in TCoR but there wasn't much. Even so, Riddick isn't a manevolent man; he is a good guy, and he cares about people, in particular "Jack", a vulnerable girl he saved in Pitch Black, a relationship which TCoR tries to explore. There's slight discontinuity in that the female who plays "Jack" in TCoR is different from the one who played her in Pitch Black. But apart from that I like Twohy's direction and style. While a third installment is hinted at, given the time that has elapsed since TCoR was released, I seriously doubt it.

Overall TCoR is a visually impressive movie, and can hold its own next to any other movie in this genre; though it is one of those "switch off your brain before watching" movies. However, sometimes there's nothing wrong with that.