Cast:-
Vin
Diesel .... Riddick
Colm Feore .... Lord Marshal
Thandie Newton .... Dame Vaako
Judi Dench .... Aereon
Karl Urban .... Vaako
Alexa Davalos .... Kyra
Linus Roache .... Purifier
Yorick van Wageningen .... The Guv
Nick Chinlund .... Toombs
Keith David .... Imam
Mark Gibbon .... Irgun
Roger R. Cross .... Toal
Christina Cox .... Eve Logan
Plot:-
5 years after
Pitch Black, the wanted criminal Riddick arrives
on a planet called Helion Prime, and finds himself
up against an invading empire called the Necromongers,
an army that plans to convert or kill all humans
in the universe. Riddick, now a hunted man, finds
himself in the middle of two opposing forces in
a major crusade. Colm Feore plays Lord Marshal,
a warrior priest who is the leader of a sect that
is waging the tenth and perhaps final crusade 500
years in the future. Judi Dench is Aereon, an ambassador
from the Elemental race. She is an ethereal being
who helps Riddick unearth his origins.
What the critics
say:-
Just the fact
that The Chronicles of Riddick even exists is something
of a triumph. It's endearing to see a franchise
explode into such a large scale when its roots were
so humble: Pitch Black was a pleasant little surprise
in the winter of 2000, a smart sci-fi thriller that
had the tools and the talent to use its derivative
elements to its advantage. It also made a star out
of Mr. Vin Diesel, and Hollywood has since been
struggling to find the perfect vehicle for him.
They'll be hard pressed to find a more appropriate
fit than Richard B. Riddick.
Riddick opens
five years after the events of Pitch Black, with
the notorious fugitive being chased across the galaxy
by all kinds of mercenaries looking for the big
pay day with his capture. However, once again, there
is an even bigger threat than Riddick himself: the
Necromongers (possibly inspired by Unicron from
The Transformers: The Movie? - we can hope), a conquering
army that travels from planet to planet, destroying
the cities and converting the inhabitants to its
own peculiar higher-power philosophy and religion.
Legend has it that the only a Furyan can defeat
the Necromongers, and Riddick might very well be
the last of this dying race.
Writer-director
David Twohy's mythology is sprawling and aggressive,
making Riddick the muscle-bound older brother of
Pitch Black. The film takes such unbridled joy in
its own existence - and is so eager to share its
vision with the audience - that you can't help but
be completely submerged in its universe. Certainly,
the design and characters obviously are inspired
from existing sci-fi franchises such as Star Trek
and even Dune, but the story moves along at such
a fast and furious (heh heh) pace that you scarcely
have a second to contemplate that you've seen some
of it before - a trick that Pitch Black pulled off
as well.
If the film has
a major flaw, it's that it moves a little too fast.
Clocking in at a minute shy of two hours, the film
- or whoever was responsible for the final cut -
has something of a short attention span. A character
is introduced, semi-developed and then dropped as
we move on to the next character (and there are
many). Certainly, most of them are charismatic and
leave lasting impressions, but you're left with
the desire to get to know them better, even if it
meant dropping another action scene (and there are
many). For example, there is a Macbeth-Lady Macbeth
relationship between Vaako (Karl Urban) and Dame
Vaako (Thandie Newton) as they plan to overthrow
the Lord Marshall of the Necromongers (Colm Feore),
who is introduced and developed on only the most
superficial level. This might be a tug of war between
Universal, which probably wanted a fast-paced slam-bang
summer movie, and Twohy, who probably wanted a more
contemplative, deliberately-paced sci-fi film (his
first cut apparently ran two hours and 50 minutes).
However, the
film is ultimately very satisfying - it's visually
stunning, intense and exciting, which is more than
can be said for many of its peers. This is Vin Diesel's
show - he could play no other role but Riddick for
the rest of his life and consider his career to
be a successful one. He's always seemed a little
awkward and uncomfortable in the big action movies
that have been thrown his way since Pitch Black,
such as The Fast and the Furious and especially
xXx. But as Riddick, he is full of authority and
confidence, never reducing his more than morally
ambiguous character to self-conscious histrionics.
He shines particularly in his scenes with the returning
characters from Pitch Black, including Keith David
as Imam and Alexa Davalos as the grown-up version
of Jack (who often looks startlingly a lot like
her predecessor, Rhianna Griffith). Riddick confirms
Diesel as a charismatic action star powerhouse.
