Chronicles Of Riddick

Following the Vin diesel character from the original cult classic Pitch black, the film, opens with an interesting set piece as Riddick is pursued across a frozen waste land, this is the first of many entertaining set pieces.

Riddick the anti hero of the title is a killer and an escaped convict. We later find out that he is the last of a race known as the Therions which some how dictates why he is special(not special duh.. but Xmen special0 the remainder of his race was annihilated by the evil crusaders the Necromongers, who are crusading towards the promise land, crushing all human systems in their path.

Riddick of course takes it upon himself to find out who was responsible for the mercenary hiring (?) and gets drawn into the conflict by an elemental played by Judi Dench., all manner of coincidence and deaths of friends leads him into open conflict with the necromongers.

The film rattles along at a pace with one set piece after another, and it does exactly what it says on the tin, it gives no insight into the human condition and is well executed escapism. Special note really should go to the design which I think is excellent and is more than just a nod to David lynches Dune.

However the story does seem to have a certain tagged together feel, particularly the middle of the film, when Riddick gets captured by the Mercenaries and gets returned to prison. Where he conveniently meets Jackie from Pitch black, in an attempt to give it more than just passing continuity to the original, Jackie is in the film for about half and hour before she gets killed by the Necromongers.

Don’t get me wrong it is an entertaining film, it does nothing new, looks nice has a bit of ropey direction and acting but the major flaw with the movies is that I can’t shake the sneaking suspicion that the story was written and then they looked for a character to tie in to it. If it was a stand alone vehicle for vine diesel I could have forgiven it a lot more, but as it stands as a sequel to a film I really enjoy and actually own, it is a diversion and I have nearly forgotten about the ‘Subtleties of it already’