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| Vin Diesel reprises his role as enigmatic anti-hero, Richard B. Riddick, previously seen in the cult classic Pitch Black.
Riddick finds himself on the Planet Helion, home to a progressive multi-cultural society that has been invaded by the Lord Marshal (Colm Feore), a despot who targets humans for subjugation with his army of lethal warriors known as the necromongers.
Exiled to a subterranean prison where temperatures range from deathly freezing nights to blistering, volcanic days Riddick meets a face from the past in Kyra (Alexa Davalos), the lone survivor from an earlier chapter in his life, now a hardened convict. Riddick plots their escape only to unwittingly lead them to the Necromonger command ship and an apocalyptic confrontation with the Lord Marshal, which will determine the fate of the universe.
Written and directed by the critically acclaimed David Twohy, The Chronicles of Riddick features a stellar supporting cast including Thandie Newton as Dame Vaako, the beautiful and ruthlessly ambitious wife of Commander Vaako, Dame Judy Dench as Rereon, an ambassador for the mysterious race of Elementals and Karl Urban as Commander Vaako, a loyal warrior whose loyalty to the Lord Marshal is tested by his manipulative wife.
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Here's what our members thought of this title. 5 stars = very good, 1 star = poor.
 |  | All the power in the universe can't change destiny.
Bigger is better in The Chronicles of Riddick, the epic sci fi sequel to the unexpectedly awesome Pitch Black. Small but perfectly formed, the original did incredible things for next to no money. Riddick had no such limitations. While the first restricted itself to a single scary planet and a handful of actors, the second had the budget to go wherever the hell it wanted, deeper, further and yes, even wider than before, from multiple worlds to all the space in between. That’s an awful lot of room to play with, and Riddick makes the most it.
This is what happens when a filmmaker has a bit of cash in his pocket and a few good ideas about how to spend it. The story is huge. The sets are colossal. The size of the cast, quantity of effects and overall ambition of the project dwarfs its predecessor on every count. This is space opera, as grand and melodramatic as it can manage, yet within it beats the heart of an action movie, so besides all the serious stuff there’s plenty of violence too. Lots of fighting and running about, brutal punch-ups and major explosions, that sort of thing.
Vin Diesel returns as lethal anti-hero Riddick, a silver eyed psycho with a leaning towards the heroic, hunted and feared throughout the galaxy which, ironically enough, he’s called upon to save in the sequel. It turns out that there’s something out there even worse than him, a traveling band of religiously motivated marauders known as the Necromongers. Twisted and merciless, their crusade to convert or kill all humans is too extreme even for Riddick, who is eventually persuaded to stand up, be counted and kick a lot of extremely well equipped and exotically armoured butt. This involves a fair bit of space travel with multiple stop offs on fiery prison planets and the like. And guess who he gets to hang out with? Judy Dench of all people, the film’s most impressive casting coup, flitting about as a kindly ethereal with nothing nice to say about the dreadful Lord Marshal (Colm Feore) and his million-plus henchmen. Those crazy Necromongers...time for Riddick to take them down a peg or two...
Think David Lynch’s Dune and you’re not far off. Riddick shares that earlier movie’s ambition, its unrestrained production values, multiple characters and multi-layered storylines. It’s pacier though, with lots more action and even the odd funny line. Plus we get to see Riddick killing a bad guy with a tea cup. You don’t want to miss that.
Regardless of the film’s enormous scope, one man is always at the centre of things. Diesel dominates as Riddick, his gravelly, robotic voice, cynical sensibilities and willingness to hurt people combining to create a character you won’t want to take your eyes off. Because you never know what he’s going to say or do next. Credit is due not only to Diesel but also to writer/director David Twohy, who besides helming Pitch Black made the eerie but overlooked underwater chiller Below. Twohy is really going for it here, filling his movie with big ideas, unforgettable visuals and lots to get your heart racing. It’s a kitchen sink spectacular with everything imaginable thrown into the mix. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy it. Then wait impatiently for Riddick number three.
Film © 2004 Universal Studios. All Rights reserved. Artwork © 2004 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
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