"The Chronicles of Riddick"
Vin Diesel launched his career as an action hero with
the release, in 2000, of the popular sci-fi adventure,
"Pitch Black." He has made a false step or two since
then but is clearly in control as the adventures of
Richard B. Riddick enter the second phase in what may
be a franchise in "The Chronicles of Riddick."
Fans of "Pitch Black," and the numbers are
considerable, embraced Vin Diesel and helped propel
him to stardom. The mutated muscle man who can see in
the dark cut quite a figure in the first of the
Riddick films and Diesel established himself as a
going concern as an action star. Richard B. Riddick is
not the kind of guy you want to mess with, whether you
are a vicious, human-eating alien or, as in
"Chronicles," the power-hungry evil Lord Marshal (Colm
Feore).
Lord Marshal has been to the Underverse and back and
is now "half alive and half something else." He has
created an army of converts, called Necromongers, and
is using his minions to begin the 10th Crusade to take
over the universe.
Riddick has been incarcerated on a prison planet for
the past five years to protect "Jack," the young girl
posing as a boy in "Pitch Black." He escapes but soon
a band of bounty hunting mercenaries, led by Toombs
(Nick Chinlund), are hot on his tail and come darn
close to capturing the last of the Furion race. But,
there are only four of the mercs and the super-strong
and smart Riddick bests them easily, takes their
space****p and heads to Helion Prime to confront the
man who may have betrayed him years before – Imam
(Keith David, reprising his role from "PB").
Once on the multi-cultural and religiously liberal
Helion, Riddick learn of Lord Marshal's plans for
domination of the universe just as the evil leader's
throngs of Necromongers – mind regressed former humans
conditioned to do their lord's bidding - descend upon
the peaceful planet and wreak havoc. Riddick battles
the mutant warriors, besting them every time until he
is caught – not by the Necromongers but by Toombs and
his newly recruited mercs. Their plan is to take the
Furion to the prison planet of Crematoria – where the
daytime temperatures soar to 700 degrees – and
exchange their prisoner for a big bounty. The powerful
and cunning Riddick, having learned that "Jack" is
being held there, allows his captors to trans****t him
without killing them - yet.
Lord Marshal, wanting to defeat his last great enemy
(or, better yet, turn him into a Necromonger), sends
his loyal commander, Vaako (Karl Urban), and mutant
army on a mission to find and eliminate Riddick. But,
the Furion of few words (except for the occasional
smart-ass quip) cannot be dealt with so easily and it
all comes down to a battle between the muscular
anti-hero and the main bad guy.
"The Chronicles of Riddick" has the feel, if not the
look, of an old-fa****oned sci-fi flick as it reprises
ideas and actions from a plethora of earlier films,
such as "Predator," "Star Wars," "Dark City,"
"Ghostbusters," "Die Hard," "The Road Warrior," "Flash
Gordon" (without the bright colors) and "Excalibur."
It takes a little time to get rolling as we are
reintroduced to Riddick after our hiatus from the
character since "Pitch Black," but soon things start
rolling along at a good clip.
The action is fast and furious – sometimes a bit too
fast and too furious – as Riddick does battle with the
Necromonger phalanx of regressed converts. Riddick is
a bit like The Bride in "Kill Bill: Vol. 1" as he
takes on all comers all at once. The problem, though,
is that helmer/scribe David Twohy shoots these fight
scenes up close, too close, and the editors (Tracy
Adams, Dennis Hunter and Mark Virkler) display a short
attention span as they cut the action so quickly as to
make the scenes almost incomprehensible at times.
"The Chronicles of Riddick" is a sci-fi actioner and
we get both in ample amounts as Riddick travels from
planet to planet and does in all comers who try to
take him out. Diesel is physically impressive and has
the moves, and the witty one-liners, to keep you
watching. There is, despite the too-tight fight
scenes, a goodly amount of action to please this
particular genre's junkies. The science fiction aspect
of the tale will keep those fans satisfied, too, as
the players jump from one planet to another, facing
strange creatures, violent climates, marauding
space****ps and supernatural enemies.
Of course, and as one would expect, the characters
(except Riddick) take a back seat to the action and
F/X. Diesel, the draw for "The Chronicles," is the
central character and, with his cocky 'tude and
physical prowess, is the glue that holds it all
together. The players around Roddick, though
definitely second banana to Diesel and the production,
do well enough opposite Riddick and the special
effects. Thandie Newton as the slinky, ambitious Dame
Vaark, is exotic and quite stunning as the woman
behind the man, Vaark. Karl Urban, as her
second-in-command husband, is brooding with intensity
as he, though conditionally loyal to Marshal, has a
solid sense of right and wrong that he must suppress
to survive.
The rest of the sup****ting cast does their jobs well
enough despite working in the shadow of the F/X
machine. Colm Feore can always pull a decent bad guy
out of his hat and plays the evil Lord Marshal with
relish. Dame Judi Dench gives her usual classy
performance as the Elemental – an ethereal psychic
held hostage by Lord M. Nick Chinlund makes his mark
as the smart ass bounty hunter and, though he's been
around for a while, could get some real notice for his
Toombs character. Newcomer Alexa Davalos, as Kyra
(formerly "Jack"), is a knockout even under all of the
dirt. The story doesn't treat her character well and I
had hoped for more of her.
The production shows the quantum leap in budget since
"Pitch Black." While the previous film used the dark,
and the monsters lurking there, to good economical
effect, "The Chronicles" spends its bucks and puts
them up onto the screen. The effects are good quality
but do not break much new ground. There is some
thought given to some new and different concepts like
the "Lensers" – mutant creatures that, equipped with a
face mask (the lens), can see their human prey in the
dark, through walls, etc. They are kind of like a
living night scope.
Other production credits are also good quality.
Costume (by Michael Dennison and Ellen Mirojnick),
especially the stylish armor of Lord Marshal and his
Necromongers which is a cross between the Imperial
troopers in "Star Wars" and King Arthur's knights, is
well done. Production design, by Holger Gros, is
varied and each planet has its own unique, sometimes
foreboding, look. Editing, as I said, is a bit too
rapid at times. F/X are, overall, solid – I
particularly like the demon dogs that the warders on
Crematoria send into the prison populace for "feeding
time." Hugh Johnson handles his lensing duties with
skill.
"The Chronicles of Riddick" will reestablish Diesel as
a major action player, a necessity after the terrible
showing in "A Man Apart." This is going to be huge
with the action junkies, sci-fi nuts and Vin Diesel
fans. It starts off a little slow but, as its pace
picks up, so does your attention. I give it a B-.
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
robin@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
37993
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1288474
X-RT-TitleID: 1130966
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X-RT-AuthorID: 1488
X-RT-RatingText: B-
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