The Chronicles of Riddick, 2004.
Directed by David Twohy.
Starring Vin Diesel, Thandiwe Newton, Karl Urban, Colm Feore, Linus Roache, Keith David, Yorick van Wageningen, Alexa Davalos, Nick Chinlund, and Judi Dench.
SYNOPSIS:
Arrow Video is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Pitch Black follow-up The Chronicles of Riddick with a three-disc 4K Ultra HD set that includes three versions of the movie — theatrical, open matte theatrical, and the director’s cut — along with tons of new and archival bonus features and a booklet. Highly recommended for fans of the film.
I can’t blame David Twohy and Vin Diesel for wanting to capitalize on the success of 2000’s Pitch Black by turning its anti-hero, Richard B. Riddick, into the star of his own franchise. And I know many people have maligned the sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, for creating a convoluted mythology for the main character, but you know what? I’m going to buck conventional wisdom and tell you that I think the follow-up is a lot of fun.
Opening five years after the first film, The Chronicles of Riddick reintroduces us to the main character en media res: he’s on the run from a crew of mercenaries who want to capture him for the price on his head. He manages to get out of the jam, of course, and heads to the planet Helion Prime, where the bounty originated.
One thing leads to another, and Riddick finds himself captured by a group called the Necromongers, who have been enslaving one planet after another and turning their populations into converts for their cause. They’ve also nabbed Aereon (Judi Dench), an Elemental whose main purpose in the story seems to be the delivery of exposition.
The Necromongers look like leftovers from the House Harkonnen casting sessions for David Lynch’s Dune, but, honestly, I’m not saying that to mock them. I really don’t mind that Twohy and Diesel decided to go all-out with this sequel, rather than just having Riddick live in some vanilla future universe. Why not toss in some religious undertones and have your characters speak in grandiose language?
Anyway, Riddick gets free of the Necromongers after they’ve discovered that he’s a Furyan, which is bad news for their leader, but he’s captured again and taken to a prison world, Crematoria, which is where he wanted to go anyway to reunite with Jack, who was a kid in the first movie.
Jack turned out to be female, and she’s now all grown up and going by the name Kyra. She’s also proven to be a bad ass who’s just as good as Riddick at surviving harsh environments.
The bulk of the rest of the story takes place on Crematoria as Kyra, Riddick, and a few other convicts try to escape. The planet experiences scorching days and frigid nights, so, of course, we get another spin on the day versus night thing as the group tries to literally outrun the coming daybreak and get to the hangar where a ship is stored.
Okay, yeah, can you really outrun a sunrise? And we’re told that the planet gets as cold as something like negative 200 degrees at night, but the group is running around with minimal clothing and doesn’t seem to be bothered by such intense cold.
So, yes, the whole thing is a bit silly, but I have to admit I’m one of those people who was able to go for the ride in Chronicles of Riddick and have fun with it. (Hence the disparity between my film and movie ratings for this one.)
If you’re a fan too, then I assume you’ll want to grab this new 4K Ultra HD release from Arrow, which serves up new 4K restorations of the theatrical and director’s cuts of the film, as well as the open matte, or 1.78:1 aspect ratio, version of the theatrical cut. The director’s cut is unrated and features some more brutal scenes that were excised to get a PG-13 rating for the theatrical release.
Each of those versions of the movie gets its own platter, and you’ll find a nice big batch of new and archival bonus features on each one. The first disc, which is the home for the theatrical cut, serves up Ambition on Another Scale: Chronicling a Blockbuster Sequel, a 73-minute documentary that explores all the ins and outs of making the movie, as any good documentary should.
You also get a trio of new interviews on that disc with Twohy, storyboard artist Brian Murray and actor Keith David, who brought his trademark gravitas to the same role he had played in Pitch Black. Two trailers round out the platter.
Disc two houses the director’s cut, along with the biggest batch of extras found in this set, starting with a short introduction to the movie by Twohy. You’ll also find a pair of very worthwhile commentary tracks, one with Twohy and Diesel and the other with Twohy and actors Karl Urban and Alexa Davelos. Both chats are must-listens for fans.
Here’s the rest of what you’ll find on this disc, all of it of the archival variety:
• Creation of New Mecca (11:10): A view into the design of Helion Prime.
• Riddick Rises (13:25): Our star gets his turn in the spotlight here, with a specific focus on his exploits on Crematoria.
• Keep What You Kill (17:28): A look at the Necromongers. The title of this featurette comes from a line of dialogue that pops up multiple times during the movie.
• Visual Effects Revealed (6:02): Sure, the special effects look a bit dated 20 years later, but they still hold up, and here’s a look at them.
• Interactive Production Calendar (24:38): A batch of short films made during the production.
• Production Vignettes (33:59): These were repurposed from the 2009 Blu-ray release, back when studios were trying tricks like picture-in-picture supplements in which participants would talk about the scene currently on the screen. In a way, 4K Ultra HD is a throwback to original DVDs, just with way better picture quality and much more storage, of course, so it makes sense to just package up those old supplements in this way. I get the sense that most physical media buyers these days just want a movie with great visual quality and bonus features they can just watch without having to jump through hoops.
• Deleted scenes (7:43): A trio of cut scenes with optional commentary by Twohy.
• Virtual Guide to The Chronicles of Riddick (7:52): This is an animated excursion to the various worlds in the movie, with the film’s actors reading some voice-over along the way.
Everything I’ve just detailed would probably be good enough for most fans, but Arrow one-upped their game here with the third disc that has the theatrical version in 1.78:1 aspect ratio. That’s how it was shown on TV, so I get that it’s an interesting curiosity, but I don’t know if it’s that important to most fans.
That third and final platter has a pair of bonus features: a big batch of cut scenes (33:42) from the 2004 video game The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay and a 22-minute TV special called The Lowdown that was created to promote the movie’s theatrical release. The former is an interesting bit of history for Riddick fans, but the latter is the kind of fluffy material that, honestly, I don’t think most fans would miss if it wasn’t included.
Arrow also took a page from Criterion’s playbook by including a booklet that contains an essay by film critic Walter Chaw, production notes, and an overview of the film’s characters and planets.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★★ / Movie: ★★★★
Brad Cook
