The Chronicles of Riddick (PG)

The Chronicles of Riddick. Very stylish film, one of the most beautiful to watch in the sci-fi genre. If you like Sci-Fi this is a must see film.

The Chronicles of Riddick - OK, none of the over-indulgent, supercillious film reveiwer's language here. This film is terrible. Even before we get to the inadequacies of the story, you have to ask yourself why Riddick is a wanted criminal. All he seems to do is save people's lives and make moral decisions. I thought he was suppossed to be the Galaxy's most wanted murderer or something? Apart from Riddick not being a believable bad guy, the whole plot of this film leaves you asking, "Why?" There are so many inconsistencies and cheap plot twists (as well as a whole host of stock cliches), I felt like leaving the cinema. Fair enough, if you want to sit through a no-brainer action film and dribble at the prospect of spaceships getting blown up, then this is the film for you. If on the other hand you have an IQ above 7, go and see something a little more engaging.

Vin Diesel is the star of The Chronicles of Riddick. He also helped in the producing. Other actors that you may recognize are: Thandie Newton (Mission Impossible 2), Judi Dench ("M" in the recent James Bond movies), and the guy who was Rowdy Roddy Piper's buddy in "They Live". Where has he been hiding? Where's Roddy for that matter?

This movie is the sequel to "Pitch Black". Don't worry though, if you haven't seen the first film - there is hardly any connection to the two movies. Only three of the characters make it from the first to the second film: Vin, the boy/girl named "Jack", and Rowdy Roddy's buddy, the black "holy man".

Just to let you know going in, this movie looks like it was made either from a video game, or for a video game to be created from it. Nice graphics, but a little too over the top.

The film begins 5 years after the first. Vin's character, Riddick has been on the run since then. He has a bounty on his head of about 1 - 2 million dollars, so he is always being hunted by mercenaries.

Riddick is some sort of assassin. From the first movie, he wanted to be better at his job, so he had an operation done - which enabled him to see in the dark. That makes his eyes sensitive in daylight, so he must wear sunglasses, or goggles. There were way too many scenes in this movie of him "ripping off the goggles", to give someone a "look".

The movie starts as a spaceship of mercenaries is hunting down Riddick on some snow covered planet. Riddick is a one man wrecking crew, and ends up stealing the ship. He takes it back to where the offer of the bounty came from, and is surprised when it was put on him by the "holy man". Riddick had saved his life, why would he put out a contract on him?

Since Riddick has been running for his life, he hasn't had much time to keep up with current events. There is a race of people known as "Necromongers", and their leader is Lord Marshall. He is a half human/half dead person who has traveled to this place called the "Underverse" and returned with mighty powers. He is on a mission to take over the entire "universe", and then take him and all of his converts to the "underverse". That concept really didn't make too much sense to me. If you already own the universe, why even go back to the underverse? He and his army have been destroying planets, gaining converts (against their will through use of torture), and leaving huge monolithic statues behind as evidence of their dominance.

The 'holy man' had done his research, with the help of Judi Dench, and found out that only Riddick could help stop Lord Marshall. Riddick comes from a line of people known as "Furians". They are thought to be extinct. This is because when Lord Marshall was younger, he went to see a fortune teller. This seer told him that he would meet his demise at the hands of a Furian. When Lord Marshall attained power, he waged war on the Furian planet and throughout the universe has tried to kill any Furian that can be found. He thought that he had killed them all.

The Necromongers arrive at the planet, and destroy almost everything, and take over. They end up capturing Riddick. The inside of their master ship, looks like a small city. Per the women in the ship, it looks like thin females with larger breasts will be popular in the future, as well as today.

Riddick escapes, only to be found by more bounty hunters, who take him off world to a maximum security prison. He had found out earlier that "Jack" from "Pitch Black" was at this prison. Jack is now known as Kyra, and she is a young hottie. Oh sure, that makes sense - run with it.

The prison is underground on this planet. This is because during daylight, the surface of the planet can get up to 700 degrees fahrenheit.

Turns out that the prison and the bountyhunters can't agree on a price for Riddick, so they have to stay a few days and haggle. Meanwhile, in prison, Riddick realigns with Kyra, and they start to formulate a plan of escape.

Meanwhile, back in "Necromonger" land, there is a conspiracy brewing. The second in command, Lord Vakko has visions of becoming the supreme leader. His significant other is played very well by Thandie Newton. She is a total schemer, and could care less about Vakko, but she wants to have the power as the right hand to the future leader of the people.

They want Riddick to injure or wear out Lord Marshall, so that Vakko can kill him. Their main rule of society is that you "keep what you kill". Therefore, if you can kill the king, you become the king.

The action and special effects in this movie border on the ludicrous. Of course to anyone who has seen Vin in his movie "XXX" - that shouldn't be a surprise. When exactly did moviemakers begin sacrificing storylines for more and bigger special effects? It's time to get back to the "writing". Stop putting the cart before the horse, Hollywood!!!

Let's fast forward to the end. Vin and Kyra get off the prison planet and back to the Necromonger mother ship. There is a battle royale between Riddick and Lord Marshall. As Lord Marshall begins to look weak, Lord Vakko comes in for the kill. I am not going to tell you how it ends - but it was so pathetically set up for another sequel that it sickened me. The ending was weak.

Vin's movies are reminding me of Arnold Schwarzenegger's in his early years - except that he couldn't speak English. Let's hope that someday Vin can progress to make some entertaining movies as Arnold eventually did. I give this movie a 7.5/10.