"All the power in the universe cannot change destiny."

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004): 5/10

Poster (c) Universal Studios

I always make a note to see movies before their sequels come out. That way, if I want to see a specific movie that's a sequel, I'll be able to understand it. However, I made an exception to the rules when The Chronicles of Riddick came out. Most people had never heard of Pitch Black (the movie on which Riddick is based), so calling the movie Pitch Black 2 would leave much of the audience out. But it drew me in. It looked simply like a brainless thriller, something entertaining. For the most part, it did its job.

Riddick (Vin Diesel) is a hunted man-people go to kill him, as he has a bounty on his head. However, it seems that he his bigger fish to fry. The Necromongers are a Nazi-ish race who are out either destroying or converting everyone in their path en route to a Nirvana they call the Underverse. Riddick's race (of which, of course, he's the only one left) is the only one that can supposedly defeat them, but much like (a little too much like, for my tastes) Brad Pitt in Troy, he works for himself only. He runs around as continuity errors occur and Dame Judi Dench pops in randomly from time to time.

What I went in for I mainly got. It was entertaining in most of the action scenes, until they became repetitive. Diesel may be an atrocious actor, but he's an alright action star, and with the help of MANY special effects, a pretty good ass-kicker. His fighting was entertaining and fun to watch. However, about halfway through the movie, everything seemed to be repeating itself. Something new needed to come into the mix, but nothing did. Since it didn't have a strong plot to tie it all together, it was hard for it to keep my attention towards the end.

Director/writer David Twohy is mainly to blame for most of the things that went wrong. His script is pretty much awful, and he's filling the cliché that every no-holds-barred action hero has to be this sarcastic stand-up comic. It reminded me of Hellboy. Riddick is supposed to be this mean guy pumped full of hate, but I guess he has a heart of gold, so he always has to make light of the situation. Also, Twohy seems to flaunt that after his low-budget Pitch Black, a studio trusted him enough for over $100 million for special effects, so he better use them. Dench's character pops in to use this $100 million. Many of the effects are so cheesy they could be accepted in low-budget movies, but this is for $100 million. And, to make matters worse, in many of the scenes where there's all CGI, Riddick becomes an animated character! How's THAT for acting?

When Riddick and co. land on Crematoria (basically a death row penal colony...cremate...get it? My God, Twohy is so funny!), there appears to be no atmosphere, as the temperature is a straight fluctuation between about 1000 degrees on the opposite sides. Yet the temperature remains normal whenever they go out, and they can survive without atmosphere. Before you say "these are not humans", some of them were. And I'm not going to go into the "outrunning the sun" sequence that's even more far-fetched than the one in Die Another Day. But don't let me dissuade you. If you're for a mediocre but usually entertaining ride, go see Riddick. No one's stopping you.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action and some language.

Review Date: June 18, 2004