The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Everything about this film is visionary, groundbreaking and darkly imaginative. There is poetry in its brutal phantasm, and it gets better and better with every viewing. I have watched it over 20 times now, and I'm in complete awe of its otherworldly context. And yet, as bizarre as the Necromonger Empire appears to be, it exists in an orderly and consistent universe that pits human consciousness against both artificial and animal intelligence in a terrifying -- albeit highly entertaining -- lexicon. The cast is as top-notch as David Twohy's screenplay and direction, with Vin Diesel delivering a Riddick one could hardly anticipate from Pitch Black. Thandie Newton, Karl Urban, Linus Roache, Judi Dench, Keith David, Nick Chinlund, and especially Alexa Davalos, all contribute in ways that you couldn't possibly expect because there is nothing conventional about this movie.

Plot; Fugitive Richard B. Riddick inadvertently becomes wrapped up in the galaxy-wide struggle against an army of zealots.If Pitch Black was inspired by films like Alien, Frank Herbert's Dune series seems to be the muse for Chronicles of Riddick. If that seems like a hard right turn, it is, but the latter still feels as if it's taking place in the same universe created in the former. Though the story at large is about prophecies and destiny and grand, sweeping struggles, the sinew of the movie remains the grimy underbelly of the galaxy where the monsters who hide in the shadows aren't half as dangerous as the ones who hide in the light.Chronicles is an ambitious movie. Too ambitious for its own good truth be told. Its attempts at world building are often ham-fisted and head scratching. I can tell a lot of thought went into creating the galactic politics on display here, but their explanation often feels like when my 8 year old nephew tries to tell me about his field trip to the zoo "And then we saw the giraffes who were, because there were these monkeys making a lot of noise, but then when we got to feed the elephants...". The story holds together on the margins, but the finer points often fray like an old cloth. The ambition doesn't stop at the storytelling. Director David Twohy attempts to create epic scale, but is too often betrayed by f/x that were shoddy even by the standards of the day.The cast is uniformly strong. It would be wrong to dismiss the character of Riddick as a monosyllabic quip machine. Oh there is that, but Diesel adds a layer of humanity hidden beneath the folds of Riddick's sweaty muscle-tees. Also strong are Thandie Newton as the deliciously manipulative Dame Vaako, playing puppet master to get her husband (played by Karl Urban) on the throne, Colm Feore, suitably theatrical as the Lord Marshall, and Nick Chindlund as the sleazy mercenary Toombs. Heck, even Dame Judi Dench shows up and scores points for not looking embarrassed (though I suppose I was embarrassed enough for her to make up for it).Despite its weaknesses, Chronicles is actually pretty good in fits and starts, but the larger story gets put on ice in the second act while Riddick and Co. play prison break. It's solidly done, but it goes on for far, far too long and all of the drama comes screeching to a halt to accommodate it and never recovers.

A militaristic cult, the Necromongers, is sweeping through a series of planets; the people of those planets are given a choice; convert or die. Riddick, having survived the events in 'Pitch Black' has been in hiding for the past five years but mercenaries have now caught up with him. He beats them and takes their ship and heads to New Mecca to find the man who employed them; the Imam he had saved. Here he meets Aereon, an Air Elemental, who tells him about the Necromongers. They soon arrive and take over the planet and Riddick kills one of their best men before being captured. Later their leader discovers that Riddick is a Furyan; a warrior race who have been prophesied to kill him so orders his death. He escapes and is promptly caught by the mercenaries who take him to the prison planet Cremetoria; a world where the daytime is over 700 degrees and the night time is well below freezing. Here he finds the girl he saved in 'Pitch Black' and once again starts to plan an escape… while the Necromongers are closing in on them.Having enjoyed 'Pitch Black', which I found genuinely scary I was optimistic that this would be pretty good too. Unfortunately while it isn't bad it is nowhere near as good. In many ways it feels like a film that just happens to feature the same protagonist rather than a sequel. The story is somewhat confused; it felt as though the creators came up with a variety of ideas they wanted to include then struggled to find a good way to justify their inclusion. The Necromongers weren't as threatening as they should have been; at no point did I feel Riddick was in any real danger. There special effects are fairly obvious CGI for the most part. There is some good action at times and I liked Alexa Davalos's performance as Kyra; it was better than some more well-known actors. Overall I'd say this is an okay main-in-neutral film; certainly not a must see unless you are s serious Vin Diesel fan.

Not that I like her, but for her to have a small supporting role in a Vin Diesel picture is just weird.As for the movie itself, it sucks serious ass. Vin Diesel is not even the problem here. He delivers a decent performance, in spite of the material.The fact that this crap get 10/10 from certain users, tells me, there are more pimpled 13 year old boys on IMDb, than there are adult users.Apart from the rating (Vin Diesel is thrown around and is taking a serious ass kicking and he only bleeds a little bit. When people are stabbed, there is no blood etc. But the awful CGI is the movies biggest problem.It's even worse than in the Star Wars prequels. Whether its a landscape or a spaceship, it looks completely fake. And that's not good enough even for a 10 year old movie. I can make more convincing effects with apps on my iPhone.And the spaceships look like giantbath-tubs and heaters. And the badguys wears armor, like medieval times with a futuristic twist. Actually they just look gay and they all speak like they're in a Shakespearian play.Avoid this!!