Chronicles-of-Riddick

The Chronicles of Riddick

~Leaves the audience in the pitch black~

By Todd Karella
June 11, 2004

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In a summer full of sequels, The Chronicles of Riddick fails to capture any of the elements that made Pitch Black such a cult classic.
While the acting and dialogue wasn't great in the original, it's far worse in the sequel. The storyline is jumbled and confusing leaving the audience wondering what the plot really was.

It's rumored that the film was heavily edited losing nearly an hour to give it a PG-13 rating to appeal to a mass audience. With all of the plot holes, no character development and missing explanations it's quite possible that the heart of the film was left on the cutting room floor.
Instead you are left with characters you don't care for, no understanding of who the Necromongers are, why they're intent on destroying mankind and

what in the world is the underverse?
   The action picks up five years after we saw Riddick (Vin Diesel) leaving the desolate planet with the other two survivors from the first film.
   Once again he is a hunted man and is being chased by a group of Mercenaries. Instead of the desert planet he escaped from he is now on a frozen planet. The bounty on his head must be tremendous as the captain of the ship has his men strapped to the wings in order to capture Riddick.
   After taking over the ship, Riddick discovers that the bounty has originated from the planet Helion. The only person who knew

where he was hiding was the old clergyman Imam (Keith David) whom he had saved in the earlier film.
   Arriving on Imam's doorstep Riddick learns that it's an ancient race known as the Elementals that is looking for him. Aereon (Judi Dench) informs him that an evil group of people called the Necromongers is heading for the planet and they need his help to stop them.
   Riddick is unimpressed and wants nothing more to do with them. He's only concerned with her removing the bounty from his head.
When he discovers that Jack, the girl pretending to be a boy in Pitch Black, is in prison on Crematoria he gets involved.
   As Lord Marshal (Colm Feore) conquers the planet, Riddick allows himself to be captured by bounty hunters and taken to Crematoria.
   Having escaped from many prisons, there is no doubt that he will be escaping

this one as well. The main difficulty in escaping this prison is the planet itself. It's located so close to a sun that the temperature on one side of the planet is over 700 degrees and the other is -300 degrees.
But in the world of science fiction anything is possible, so when the big escape scene comes Riddick and his followers run across the planet surface.
Evidently, a black tank top is impervious to all effects of the elements, and thank goodness the air is breathable. The group manages to outrun the sun as the planet rotates, and when it finally

does manage to pin them down, hiding behind a rock is even better protection than just a shirt.
Riddick rescues Jack who now calls herself Kyra (Alexa Devalos) and finds that she is a killer just like him. In five years she has become incredibly attractive and can kick butt almost as good as he can, more because it says so in the script than any real plausible plot thread.
While the two argue about Riddick's failure to protect her, the Necromongers are searching for him. Why? Because out of the blue Aereon announces that there is a prophecy that a Furion will kill Lord Marshal. A Furion is a race of humanoids, but other than that not much is explained about them. And guess who just happens to be a Furion?

Kyra-Alexa Devalos & Riddick-Vin Diesel

Vaako-Karl Urban

Riddick, what glowing eyes you have

Dame Vaako-Thandie Newton

Lord Marshal-Colm Feore

Aereon-Judi Dench

This new revelation is completely pointless since we already know Riddick's going to take him out from the beginning. Instead of adding to the film it detracts as it causes more plot problems.
   Since Lord Marshal has wiped out every Furion he's come across because of the prophecy, why does he have a Furion as one of his top commanders? And when Riddick finally confronts him why does he tell his men not to kill him, but instead goes mano a mano with him?
   In the original film the monsters and fight scenes are difficult to see because they are in complete darkness, but in The Chronicles of Riddick it seems that director David Twohy is covering up the action scenes for a reason
   Not only is there strobe lights and blue lights thrown into most of the action scenes, but it looks like the cameraman is afflicted with Parkinson's, while

standing on the epicenter of an 8.0 earthquake.
Not only is it quite common to sit through five minutes of action having no idea what has just transpired on the screen in front of you, but you'll also find yourself watching the ending credits wondering the same thing about the entire movie.