Tweekums
A militaristic cult, the Necromongers, is sweeping through a series of planets; the people of those planets are given a choice; convert or die. Riddick, having survived the events in 'Pitch Black' has been in hiding for the past five years but mercenaries have now caught up with him. He beats them and takes their ship and heads to New Mecca to find the man who employed them; the Imam he had saved. Here he meets Aereon, an Air Elemental, who tells him about the Necromongers. They soon arrive and take over the planet and Riddick kills one of their best men before being captured. Later their leader discovers that Riddick is a Furyan; a warrior race who have been prophesied to kill him so orders his death. He escapes and is promptly caught by the mercenaries who take him to the prison planet Cremetoria; a world where the daytime is over 700 degrees and the night time is well below freezing. Here he finds the girl he saved in 'Pitch Black' and once again starts to plan an escape
while the Necromongers are closing in on them.Having enjoyed 'Pitch Black', which I found genuinely scary I was optimistic that this would be pretty good too. Unfortunately while it isn't bad it is nowhere near as good. In many ways it feels like a film that just happens to feature the same protagonist rather than a sequel. The story is somewhat confused; it felt as though the creators came up with a variety of ideas they wanted to include then struggled to find a good way to justify their inclusion. The Necromongers weren't as threatening as they should have been; at no point did I feel Riddick was in any real danger. There special effects are fairly obvious CGI for the most part. There is some good action at times and I liked Alexa Davalos's performance as Kyra; it was better than some more well-known actors. Overall I'd say this is an okay main-in-neutral film; certainly not a must see unless you are s serious Vin Diesel fan.
bowmanblue
The Chronicles of Riddick was probably always going to be a hard sell. It's a sequel that was spawned off the back of a blatant B-movie which - somehow - exceeded all expectations and became a sleeper classic, ie. Pitch Black.Chronicles of Riddick is set five years after space convict Riddick escaped the last prison transport (and a planet full of monsters) and has now found himself not only hunted by mercenaries but also charged with the task of bringing down an empire of intergalactic nasties.Personally, I quite enjoyed it. It has great action, some witty dialogue from Riddick himself and decent (if a little too CGI) special effects.However, it's worth noting that it didn't perform as well as it was predicted at the Box Office. I'm guessing that was because it doesn't really seem to know what sort of film it wants to be. Its predecessor, Pitch Black, was an out and our sci-fi horror. Chronicles waters down the fear factor in exchange for a lower rating (in order to draw more younger viewers in) which annoyed its core fanbase. Plus there's only ever really Riddick to root for. He works alone and this is proved by the fact that he barely ever meets up with 'a gang' so to speak of. He just goes from planet to planet, briefly interacting with one set of locals after another. Then you have the baddies. Yes, the costumes and sets are great, but they're pretty clichéd and one dimensional. Ooh, a Bristish bad guy - there's a shock.All in all, Riddick is fun, but the bottom line is that it's little more than a remake of the eighties (so-bad-it's-good) classic Flash Gordon, only with better special effects.
mjbset
This is what action movie is supposed to be. I lament how we undervalue a multi-layered story and Hollywood caters to the intellectually least of us when they make a lot of SiFi. If the characters don't have convincing motivations to fight you don't have a good story. I think the people who don't like this film can't appreciate all the factions and their motivations. I could understand every choice the major and minor characters made and that is amazing in any kind of story telling. It is the very reason people study Shakespeare. I have watched a lot of Science Fiction movies but very few have made me think about being in each characters shoes like The Chronicles of Riddick did.
krycek19
Not that I like her, but for her to have a small supporting role in a Vin Diesel picture is just weird.As for the movie itself, it sucks serious ass. Vin Diesel is not even the problem here. He delivers a decent performance, in spite of the material.The fact that this crap get 10/10 from certain users, tells me, there are more pimpled 13 year old boys on IMDb, than there are adult users.Apart from the rating (Vin Diesel is thrown around and is taking a serious ass kicking and he only bleeds a little bit. When people are stabbed, there is no blood etc. But the awful CGI is the movies biggest problem.It's even worse than in the Star Wars prequels. Whether its a landscape or a spaceship, it looks completely fake. And that's not good enough even for a 10 year old movie. I can make more convincing effects with apps on my iPhone.And the spaceships look like giantbath-tubs and heaters. And the badguys wears armor, like medieval times with a futuristic twist. Actually they just look gay and they all speak like they're in a Shakespearian play.Avoid this!!
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