The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

David Twohy

Writers (WGA):

Jim Wheat (characters) &
Ken Wheat (characters) ...

Release Date:

11 June 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

All the power in the universe can't change destiny

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.

Plot Keywords:

Warrior | Planet | Necromongers | Prison Planet | Leader

Awards:

3 nominations

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
Terry Chen	...	Merc Pilot
Christina Cox	...	Eve Logan
Nigel Vonas	...	Merc

Also Known As:

Pitch Black 2 (USA) (working title)
Pitch Black 2: Chronicles of Riddick (USA) (working title)
Riddick (USA) (working title)
The Chronicles of Riddick: The Director's Cut (USA) (director's cut)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action and some language. (edited for re-rating)

Runtime:

119 min | USA:134 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIA | Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | Malaysia:18SG | New Zealand:M (director's cut) | South Korea:12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) (original rating) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Ontario) | Canada:18A (Manitoba) (director's cut) | New Zealand:R13 (original rating) | Germany:16 (director's cut) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (edited for re-rating) (certificate #39510) | USA:R (original rating) | USA:Unrated (director's cut)

Filming Locations:

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The fighting style used by Riddick is a messy variation of the martial art Kali. Kali is characterized by straightforward, powerful attacks, and often is used with blunt weapons like a staff or two pieces of bamboo (called Kali sticks).

Goofs:

Continuity: When the criminals are running through the clouds of falling ash, they get it all over their clothes and their hair, then an instant later, all the ashes are gone.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Aereon: They are an army unlike any other... crusading across the stars toward a place called UnderVerse, their promised land - a constellation of dark new worlds. Necromongers, they're called. And if they cannot convert you, they will kill you. Leading them, the Lord Marshal. He alone has made a pilgrimage to the gates of the UnderVerse...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: David Spade/Jack Johnson (#30.14)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Getting Away With Murder

I liked this movie and so did most of the rest of the audience!!

I just saw this film and I really enjoyed it. Sure, it is not the same a "Pitch Black" which I think was also a good film in its own right. "Chronicles of Riddick" is a big budget summer blockbuster film and on that level it succeeds. Sure it is silly in parts but we are not discussing a project based upon a Pulitzer Prize winning novel. It is action packed science fiction. I think Riddick DID stay true to the character he played in "Pitch Black". While the Riddick in that film was a brutal, self-centered opportunist, I think we see by the end of that film that he had good characteristics as well. The Riddick in this film is still brutal, self-centered and opportunistic (see the full size statue of Riddick shown during the end credits) but we see more of the decent aspects of his character as well. The action scenes in this film were great! I especially enjoyed the "topside" chase scene on Cremetoria. And Thandie Newton was a really good "baddie"!

The thing that pleased me the most was that there were people of color in central key roles who were not stereotypes. The main hero was not the buff blue-eyed white man out to save humanity that we have been feed by Hollywood. And the female characters seemed to have more sense at times than the male characters. Thandie Newton's character had a much better grasp of court politics than her husband and Dame Judith's character wasn't just the stereotypical "wise mystical being", she was politically savvy as well.

The only problem I had with the film was the lack of development for Linus Roche's character. I just did not believe his actions toward the end of the film. But, that is trivial.

All in all, it was a good way to spend about an hour forty five on a Saturday evening!