Quiet, but effective
Vin Diesel returns as the ass-kicking Furian named simply Riddick. This time around he’s up against the strongest force in the galaxy. The Necromongers have it all, the power, the willingness and especially the brutal nature to either convert people to their religion or kill people who refuse to convert. By killing people they mean to destroy entire planets. Riddick has to find a way to stop the Necromongers and has a bit of motivation to find that way. The motivation? The Necromongers were the reason why the Furians no longer exist.
The third movie in the Riddick story is probably one of the more complicated ones. It’s certainly a definite ending to the series, but it’s also a very ‘odd-man-out’ kind of story. With Pitch Black and the animated sequel, the bridge between those were seemless. You could see the story continuing, no real flaws in the way things were put together. Pitch Black was especially impressive, as it worked by itself quite well. There wasn’t a need for a sequel, it was a cool movie with a cool concept. That single concept was converted into a bigger story and the mystery surrounding Riddick’s character was added to the mix. This third film, The Chronicles of Riddick was the deepest story out of the bunch. Regretfully, it added way too much in a short amount of time. The audience had to learn about Necromongers, had to find out their origin, and had to deal with the weird connection between Riddick’s past and their culture. On top of this, they had to find out what happened to two main characters from Pitch Black (Kyra and Imam) and have their short stories told in a very small amount of time. Finally, the movie had to wrap all of this together and fit Riddick’s role as savior into it. That’s a ton of stuff for one story and that might have been the ultimate downfall to the film.
If you ask your audience to piece A to B to C to D to E then you’re already asking them to process way too much. This story should have been spread out a bit more. Necromongers should have been mentioned in the first film. There should have been some sort of sign that was building up within each movie that pointed to the next. That’s how you make a cohesive, successful trilogy. By putting too much in one film, story-wise, you’re officially forcing a trilogy into a single film. You shouldn’t have to do that because this type of film could have probably worked better on its own. There was no need to waste characters like Kyra, whose sole purpose was to be used as a device to push the movie along. Characters aren’t devices, they shouldn’t be devices. Most screenwriters don’t get that, you can’t simply write a character into a film so that it becomes a bridge rather than a character. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this movie is a failure, but if you put it with the other two films, it’s a rough fit.
On the brighter side of the tracks, the film is very entertaining. If you’re looking for badass action, intense scenes then look no further than The Chronicles of Riddick. Vin Diesel should always and forever do action films. It makes sense for him, it’s a natural fit. He brings the toughness, the moxy that it takes to make his character stronger than any other character on screen. He’s fun to watch and fun to connect with as an audience member. You know he’s going to lead the charge against the bad guys and he’s got bounty hunters, Necromongers and a few other people to put in their place. The best way to describe him in this film is that he’s the ‘Sci-Fi Conan the Barbarian. From start to finish, you have a heaping, helping of pure action. You won’t be disappointed one bit with that. Diesel brings the goods.
Black and Blu
Action films are fantastic to the eyes and ears on a Blu-ray format. You get so much more out of them. The range of colors in this film really stand out in HD. When Riddick and company are running through the fire planet while ash is raining from the sky, it’s simply gorgeous. It helps put you into the film and in the mood to keep watching. Very impressive on so many different levels. As for the audio, top-notch! Again, action films benefit greatly from the audio upgrade. Hearing this film in 7.1 is just music to the ears. You will be placed, audibly, in the action and you won’t be happier.
As for features, you get a wide range of features to accompany the film. You get a creepy introduction to at the beginning from director David Twohy, who is almost apologetic to fans about the film quality of the director’s cut. I’m not sure why he’s this way, but I can tell you that I didn’t notice the rough cuts put into the film, they worked seemlessly. My old speech teacher in college always told us that you shouldn’t apologize before making a speech because people will notice the flaws. Twohy should live by that rule, the director’s cut was flawless. As for the other features, you get some great featurettes that bring you closer to the production and what they were shooting for during the production. The visual effect feature was particularly cool, as there were quite a few effects in this film (surprised?). The BD-Live material helped to compliment the wide variety of goodies.
