Overblown, badly written, poorly edited and just downright boring, this is, in a word, Riddickulous. Good special effects, though.
Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:155
Fresh:46
Rotten:109
Average Rating:4.6/10
Consensus: As an action movie, Riddick offers some thrills, but as a sequel to Pitch Black, it's a disappointment.
Runtime: 2 hrs 15 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: The sequel to cult sci-fi hit PITCH BLACK sees Vin Diesel enthusiastically returning to his role as Richard B. Riddick. Director-writer David Twohy is on board again, building on themes established... The sequel to cult sci-fi hit PITCH BLACK sees Vin Diesel enthusiastically returning to his role as Richard B. Riddick. Director-writer David Twohy is on board again, building on themes established in the first movie, and expanding his vision with some incredible special effects work. Twohy opens the movie with Riddick on the run from a group of bounty hunters. He escapes them with ease, then seeks information from an old friend named Inam (Keith David). Inam informs Riddick that he has been singled out by an Air Elemental, Aereon (Judi Dench), as the one man who can stop the evil Necromongers from taking over the Universe. Suddenly, the Necromongers arrive on the planet, causing mayhem and destruction. They capture Riddick. He soon escapes, only to fall into the hands of the bounty hunters he so deftly eluded at the start of the movie. They take Riddick to a rogue prison planet where he is met by scorching heat, an underground penitentiary, and his female companion from PITCH BLACK, Jack (who is now called Kyra, and played by a different actress, Alexa Davalos). They plan their escape from the planet, and vow to bring down the Necromongers. Things don't go according to plan however, leading to a suspense-filled climax to the film, and an eyebrow-raising ending that suggests Twohy may have plans for further installments in the story. [More]
Starring: Vin Diesel, Judi Dench, Colm Feore, Alexa Davalos
Starring: Vin Diesel, Judi Dench, Colm Feore, Alexa Davalos, Karl Urban, Nick Chinlund
Director: David Twohy
Director: David Twohy
Screenwriter: David Twohy
Producer: Vin Diesel, Scott Kroopf
Composer: Graeme Revell
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for Chronicles of Riddick
The sequel baton pass at the finale is pretty nifty, but it’s surely asking too much to think the filmmakers could leave us wanting more. Come to think of it, much, much less would have been best.
It’s no Battlefield Earth, but it’s no Dune either. And, no, before you ask, it’s not destined to be a cult classic.
Diesel is an imposing screen presence even when growling risible dialogue.
In throwing out wit and intelligence for mindless action, Twohy ends up with a noisy, chaotic, over-serious mess.
Although The Chronicles of Riddick offers its share of solidly entertaining moments, it doesn't hold together as a single, coherent motion picture experience.
Writer-director David Twohy has a much bigger budget than he did for Pitch Black, but he makes the all-too-common mistake of believing money can substitute for imagination.
The Chronicles Of Riddick is never dull, but it's far, far, far too pretentious.
Fans of the cult fave will be happy: The story concepts are grander, the scope of the settings are infinitely enlarged, and the casting was kicked up a notch.
Much like a William S. Burroughs novel, the film could be cut up and reassembled and make just as much sense.
Combining elements of Hamlet, Dune and Vin Diesel running in slow-motion; Riddick essentially becomes William Shakespeare's first video game.
It’s all really just a series of episodes where metal weapons clang, firearms spew, and there is much manly grunting of he-men engaged in ferocious combat
Plenty of interplanetary fighting and outwitting, but mostly it's video-gamish special effects that overwhelm the senses rather than entertain them.
The Chronicles of Riddick doesn't hark back merely to the classic horror or science fiction canon but to nearly every single cinematic genre in the book, from westerns to film noir to sword-and-sandal epics.
Space opera, a prison breakout, spectral zealots and an anarchist anti-hero - dumb, maybe, but this film has enough in it to make you see the light.
Latest News for Chronicles of Riddick
August 26, 2008:
Diesel Promises a Double Shot of Riddick ![]()
His latest movie, "Babylon A.D.," might be running at a woeful 0 percent on the Tomatometer, but Vin Diesel has bigger fish to fry; according to a recent interview with MTV, the... More...
July 12, 2008:
Exclusive: del Toro on Why Wind in the Willows Went Away
Following revelations earlier in our exclusive Dinner and the Movies conversation with Hellboy 2 director Guillermo del Toro that he'd passed up chances to direct movies like... More...
July 10, 2008:
Exclusive: Guillermo del Toro on Creating an International Animation Studio
Guillermo del Toro plans to start up an international animation studio when he's finished work on The Hobbit film(s), he told RT during our exclusive Dinner and the Movies... More...
November 20, 2007:
A Third Installment for The Chronicles of Riddick?
Despite the underwhelming reviews and receipts that greeted 2004's Pitch Black sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, writer/director David Twohy still hopes to film a third... More...
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