The movie
In the Riddick Trilogy, we
have two movies and one short piece nicely packaged together to give
us a wild ride through writer/director David Twohy's imagination. The
Chronicles of Riddick is the star of the collection, but along
with the first film, Pitch Black, and the accompanying
animated bridge piece Dark Fury, the Riddick Trilogy
gives viewers the definitive Riddick collection.
Pitch Black
Pitch Black is a movie that's
not quite "there" by itself, but that's given more merit by
a significantly better sequel (as I discuss below). On its own, Pitch
Black has some excellent qualities, and some very weak points;
what is clear is that they don't average out to a mediocre
movie, but rather a movie that could have been truly outstanding –
but isn't.
The story is fairly straightforward: A
space freighter carrying both cargo and passengers (including a
dangerous criminal on his way to a high-security prison) encounters
difficulty en route and crashes on an arid, apparently lifeless
planet scorched by the constant light of three suns. Of course, the
planet turns out to be much more dangerous, and much more
complicated, than it looks... setting the scene for an
action-adventure movie with some interesting special effects.
The filmmakers get a lot of things
right in terms of setting the scene and creating an atmosphere of a
truly alien planet. The special effects are reasonably well done, but
it's the cinematography that is probably the best part of the
movie. The image is tinted to show how things would look in the light
of the alien suns: sometimes red, sometimes bluish, sometimes a
washed-out yellow. It's dramatic and memorable, and gives a
true feeling of being on an alien world. We'll see more of this
memorable style in The Chronicles of Riddick.
On the other hand, the two story lines
feel like they were simply tacked on to each other, possibly by the
marketing department. The attempt at complexity and meaningful
character interaction falls painfully flat in the absence of good
writing and any real concept of effective characterization. None of
the main actors are particularly convincing, and Vin Diesel seems
especially awkward as the convict Riddick. All in all, we get a movie
with excellent cinematography and special effects, and some truly
imaginative moments, but that falls short in the script and acting
department.
The Chronicles of Riddick
There are so many bad sequels out
there in movie-land that it's worth sitting up and taking notice when
a follow-up is equally successful as its predecessor... so it's even
more of a pleasant surprise when the sequel is better than the first
film. That's the case with The Chronicles of Riddick, a film
that is better than Pitch Black on pretty much every count.
The Chronicles of Riddick is
a weird, thoroughly engaging wild run through a very strange and
interesting science-fictional world. The story itself seems to follow
some standard tropes, with Riddick thrust into the position of being
the only person who can save humanity from the assault of the deadly
Necromongers, but the film persists in taking a slightly off-center
approach. Riddick is the classic anti-hero, as he's a dangerously
violent escaped convict rather than a respectable hero figure, and
he's thoroughly resistant to the idea of becoming humanity's savior;
one of the things that makes the film different is that he doesn't
undergo a renovation of character by the time the end credits roll.
What's even more surprising is that
The Chronicles of Riddick is an original story, because it has
a depth of detail and believability that in my experience generally
comes from an origin in a novel or comic book. The Chronicles of
Riddick gives us a richly textured future world that looks
genuinely lived-in, and that shows signs of a fecund imagination at
work at all levels of detail. There are many little details that
makes us feel that we're in a different time and place, such as the
weird Necromonger way of communicating long-distance, that are not
relevant to the plot; the fact that there's so much incidental
richness of detail suggests that there's a wealth of story material
just off camera.
Everything in The Chronicles of
Riddick seems to be done on a lavish scale, from the costumes and
sets (all very impressive) to the story (which at two and a quarter
hours manages to pack in a lot of adventure, intrigue, and action) to
the cast (which includes the illustrious Judi Dench in a great
supporting part as an "Elemental"). Vin Diesel doesn't do
anything fabulous with his character of Riddick, but with all the
support that he's given in the film, he doesn't really have to: he
does a solid job of going where the story takes him, and being
believable as the slightly creepy, definitely scary criminal who just
might be a little more complex than he seems. (It's saying a lot in
to the film's credit that Diesel can be given lines like "I'll
kill you with my teacup" and have them actually work.)
All told, The Chronicles of
Riddick is vastly more successful than Pitch Black; the
first film was acceptable action-adventure fun, but the second takes
the fun and delivers it with a better spin and a much more
substantial helping of style and energy.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark
Fury
The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark
Fury is a short animated feature (35 minutes) that bridges the
gap between the feature films Pitch Black and The
Chronicles of Riddick. I actually think that The Chronicles of
Riddick is improved by the sense of mystery and unanswered
questions surrounding it, and especially with the extra footage in
the extended edition, the film doesn't really need further
explanations. On the other hand, if you like tying up loose ends or
just are intrigued by the questions of what Riddick might have been
up to before we see him again in The Chronicles of Riddick,
then Dark Fury will be a fun short adventure. Vin Diesel and
others from Pitch Black provide the voice acting for Dark
Fury.
Extended editions
Both Pitch Black and The
Chronicles of Riddick are presented here in their unrated
versions, giving us more footage than in the theatrical versions. For
Pitch Black, that's fairly insignificant, with only about
three minutes of additional material being added. In the case of The
Chronicles of Riddick, though, we get a more genuine "director's
cut," with material that was originally intended to be in the
film. The extended cut of The Chronicles of Riddick includes
several scenes that help the film as a whole make more sense; we get
more action in some scenes, more development of the backstory, and
more fleshing-out of the Necromonger plot threads as well.
The DVD
The Riddick Trilogy is a
two-disc set with quite attractive packaging.
Video
Pitch Black
The picture quality is excellent.
It's an anamorphic transfer with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Images
are sharp, with good color, giving full justice to the gorgeous
cinematography in the planet's sunlit phase, and providing good
contrast in the eclipse phase. The movie does include some
challenging scenes in terms of image quality: on the one hand, there
are scenes of full, flooding light with almost no shadows, and on the
other hand, there are scenes with small sources of intense light
surrounded by complete blackness. The transfer copes very well with
both circumstances, and shows good detail.
The Chronicles of Riddick
Again here we get a very nice
transfer. The 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen image is clean and nicely
detailed, with the various colors and textures of the alien worlds
captured very well. As in Pitch Black, there's good use of
colored light filters to evoke the atmosphere of different planets,
but with a somewhat subtler touch here than in the earlier film.
Contrast is handled well, and overall it's very pleasing to the eye.
Dark Fury
The animated short feature is
presented in a non-anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen transfer. Colors are
bright and clean, and overall it looks fine.
Audio
All three films are presented here
with Dolby 5.1 soundtracks. For Pitch Black, that's a bit of a
letdown, since the earlier release that I'd seen had a DTS track as
well as a 5.1 track. Overall, though, there's really nothing to
complain about: the 5.1 surround sound is used effectively in the
films, with action scenes feeling intense and involving. The dialogue
is clear and clean, and the music is well balanced with the rest of
the tracks.
Extras
For Pitch Black, two
full-length audio commentaries, are included, one by director David
Twohy and actors Cole Hauser and Vin Diesel, and another by producer
Tom Engelman and visual effects supervisor Peter Chiang. Apart from
that, we get promotional-style material: a 4-minute "Making of
Pitch Black" segment and "A View into the Dark,"
another 4-minute promotional featurette covering essentially the same
ground. There's also a 1-minute clip promoting the Dark Fury
piece, a Chronicles of Riddick Visual Encyclopedia, and the "Johns
Chase Log."
The Chronicles of Riddick has
more interesting material on the whole. We get a commentary from
director/writer David Twohy and actors Karl Urban and Alexa Davalos,
along with optional director commentary on an interesting 8-minute
section of deleted scenes. Another commentary option is to turn on
the "Riddick Insider," which pops up trivia and facts
on-screen during the film. In "Visual Effects Revealed," we
get a 6-minute peek at the special effects, and in "Riddick's
Worlds," viewers can pan through views of eight different sets
used in the film. Lastly, we get a "Virtual Guide to the
Chronicles of Riddick" and "Toombs' Chase Log."
Dark Fury includes a few
special features as well. An 8-minute piece on "Bridging the
Gap" provides some interesting material on why they chose to
make the animated feature, and "Peter Chung: The Mind of an
Animator" (5 minutes) offers interview footage with Dark Fury's
director/animator. Lastly, "Into the Light" (5 minutes)
offers a few thoughts on the making of the sequel.
Final thoughts
The Riddick Trilogy is a
solid package, with two feature films, one animated short film, and a
generous helping of additional material. Pitch Black is a fun,
if flawed, adventure; The Chronicles of Riddick is a highly
entertaining and wildly creative adventure that's definitely worth
the price of admission. The fact that both films are presented in
their unrated, director's cut forms is another plus. I'll give this
set a solid "recommended" rating.
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