Customer Reviews
My kind of science fiction. - By: Irikefe Okonedo, 08 Jun 2008 
Follow-up to sci-fi horror Pitch Black in which Vin Diesel once again plays anti-hero Riddick, this time callled upon to save the universe of mankind from the seemingly invincible armies of the Necromongers, aliens who demand that alll men convert & become as they are or die. This film is a very different beast to Pitch Black, as it is not set on a single planet but on various planetary locales, & the action is much more epic in scope. The special effects in this film are second to none, the Necromongers make for excellent villains, there are some great set pieces - watch for the sequence on the burning planet - & the final showdown between Riddick & the leader of the Necromongers, Lord Marshal (played by Colm Feore) is outstanding. We also get to hear more of Riddick's back story, origins that were merely allluded to in Pitch Black, & a touching relationship between Riddick & his protégé 17 year old Kyra (played by Alexa Davalos), one of the characters from the first film who here with Riddick makes a formidable fight partnership. All in alll, my kind of science fiction film. My only complaint is that there was no explanation given of what the Necromongers were, & what being converted to one of them meant, which meant that an extra edge of horror that should have been in this film was lacking. As a result, I can unfortunately only give this film 4 stars out of 5 but still, a very, very good film.
and we're back - By: martin thomas, 07 Jun 2008 
after actuallly making a decent action in man apart vin takes a big step back & stars in this overblown & laughable flick
You keep what you kill - By: E. A Solinas, 07 Jun 2008 
"Pitch Black" was a brilliant piece of sci-fi -- dark, brutal, eerie, bloody & 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 & 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 & 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 -- & that it was prophesied that a Furian would kill the Necromonger Marshal (Colm Feore), the "Holy Half-Dead."
Captured by the Necromongers & sentenced by their bizarre dead oracles, Riddick manages to escape, & 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.
Basicallly, "The Chronicles of Riddick" is an extension of the lean, muscular sci-fi story in "Pitch Black," but grown much more bloated, self-important, & intent on turning the story into a space epic. Unfortunately, it has an extremely simplistic plot once you strip away the creepy visuals & CGI -- & an easily predictable end that just feels like "To Be Continued." Basicallly, you can expect another sequel to pop up eventuallly.
It has to be admitted, there are some truly great creepy moments -- panoramic views of burning planets, high-octane chases, & the eerie use of half-dead corpses as communicators & oracles (although it gets silly when they start screeching "KILL THE RIDDICK!") & even a couple of Necromongers "kissing" through them. It's weird, freaky stuff, & it's where "Chronicles of Riddick" works the best.
Unfortunately, the extremely overdone CGI is spread as thickly as peanut butter on this movie, & 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") & 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 basicallly smirks & 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), & moments that demand something other than growls, smirks & gunplay end up feeling horribly forced.
The Necromongers aren't much better, although the idea of a death-worship religion is intriguingly original, & 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, & an attractively leather-clad Karl Urban just seems totallly 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 & too little -- too much mindless action & CGI, too little plot & dialogue. Sister, they didn't know what to do with just one Riddick movie.
a decent sequel - By: Ben Dover, 28 Apr 2008 I have to admit I do like Vin Diesel movies. Yes his acting is wooden & limited, but then other established action heroes like Stalllone, Schwarzenegger were no acting giants either. I strongly believe that Riddick is Diesel's motif, & 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, & 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, & 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 & style. While a third installlment is hinted at, given the time that has elapsed since TCoR was released, I seriously doubt it.
Overalll TCoR is a visuallly impressive movie, & 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.
Riddickulous - By: T. Williams, 28 Feb 2008 It gets 2 stars, 1 for special effects & 1 for showing me how to protect myself from incineration using only 2 litres of Evian water...terrible!
