Riddick Trilogy
Posted in Movies
Description
Journey to a remote, hostile planet with a group of marooned passengers who learn that escaped convict Riddick isn’t the only thing they have to fear in Pitch Black. Then, see him battle ruthless soldiers of fortune and vicious creatures in renowned animator Peter Chung’s The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury. And finally, Riddick finds himself humanity’s unlikely champion in the special effects-fueled The Chronicles of Riddick. Join Riddick in three times the action, three times the adrenaline and three times the adventure as the Riddick Trilogy makes complete one of the greatest sci-fi epics of all time!Amazon.com
Pitch Black
Owing a major debt to Alien and its cinematic spawn, Pitch Black is a guilty pleasure that surpasses expectations. As he did with The Arrival, director David Twohy revitalizes a derivative story, allowing you to forgive its flaws and submit to its visceral thrills. Under casual scrutiny, the plot’s logic crumbles like a stale cookie, but it’s definitely fun while it lasts.
A spaceship crashes on a desert planet scorched under three suns. The mostly doomed survivors include a resourceful captain (Radha Mitchell), a drug-addled cop (Cole Hauser), and a deadly prisoner (Vin Diesel) who quickly escapes. These clashing personalities discover that the planet is plunging into the darkness of an extended eclipse, and it’s populated by hordes of ravenous, razor-fanged beasties that only come out at night. The body count rises, and Pitch Black settles into familiar sci-fi territory.
What sets the movie apart is Twohy’s developing visual style, suggesting that this veteran of B-movie schlock may advance to the big leagues. Like the makers of The Blair Witch Project, Twohy understands the frightening power of suggestion; his hungry monsters are better heard than seen (although once seen, they’re chillingly effective), and Pitch Black gets full value from moments of genuine panic. Best of all, Twohy’s got a well-matched cast, with Mitchell (so memorable with Ally Sheedy in High Art) and Diesel (Pvt. Caparzo from Saving Private Ryan) being the standouts. The latter makes the most of his muscle-man role, and his character’s development is one more reason this movie works better than it should. –Jeff Shannon
Dark Fury – The Chronicles of Riddick (Animated)
Taking a page from The Animatrix, Dark Fury is part of a new trend of bridging theatrical sequels. As an official product of a franchise, the 35-minute anime benefits from having the original actors voice the characters, including Vin Diesel as Riddick. This story opens with the new action hero and the two other survivors of Pitch Black already caught by a giant spaceship filled with dread. The sinewy leader has a unique–and creepy–jail for master villains and she has her sights set on Riddick. The film–indeed the series–is indebted to animator Peter Chung, who brings his techno style from his Aeon Flux series. His smooth animation for Riddick doesn’t reinvent the character as much as give him a new, appealing fluidity. As anime goes, there’s nothing really new here–plenty of action, cool killers, and dramatic spurts of blood–but it’s a building block for how this genre might enliven movie series and sequels in the future. –Doug Thomas
Tommy E. Cunningham | Apr 27, 2010 | Reply
The trilogy is actually a ploy.
It gives you the appearance of getting 3 movies.
You do not !!!!
Dark Fury is a cartoon that is such poor quality it is laughable.
Pitch Black has extremely vulgar language.
Chronicles of Riddick is a very good movie that has good acting and special affects.
Save your money and just get Chronicles of Riddick only. The other 2 arent worth a nickel
Rating: 1 / 5
James M Park | Apr 27, 2010 | Reply
I have no idea what the movie is about nor do I care it was a gift and it was delivered to me in timely fashion. The end. Gave it great ratings because based on my need only delivery mattered.
Rating: 5 / 5
H. Ramirez | Apr 27, 2010 | Reply
The Riddick in Pitch Black is one of the best characters ever conceived in sci-fi because of his simplicity. There was nothing special about him. He was a hardened criminal making stuff up as he went along, caring for no one but himself. Even his night vision is something he got from a doctor in prison in exchange for 20 packs of cigarettes. The movie itself took place in a corner of the galaxy no one cares about. It was a big breath of fresh air from all the other movies where the entire universe seems to revolve around the characters. Then in Chronicles of Riddick they made him into a Furyan chosen one with magic and mysticism everywhere and now Riddick is a master schemer strategist with a heart of gold. And his night vision got retconned into a supernatural gift in the tie-in videogame(although other than that the videogame was actually good).
Rating: 1 / 5
Coqui2k | Apr 27, 2010 | Reply
This is a great deal three movies for the price of one and excellent cover art.
Rating: 4 / 5
Julian Kennedy | Apr 27, 2010 | Reply
Chronicles of Riddick: 6 out of 10: This movie reminded me very much of Dune. Not because of the opulent sets and costumes but simply because for the first 30 minutes or so I had absolutely no idea what was going on.
Now keep in mind I saw and loved the previous film Pitch Black (And if there was any justice in Hollywood Pitch Black star Rahda Mitchell would be getting 20 million dollar paychecks and Van Diesel would be doing walk on roles in Colin Farrell vehicles) and I saw that 30-minute anime that was supposed to fill in the plot (needless to say it doesn’t).
The film Dune was criticized for its ponderous 15 minute opening narration and while I wouldn’t inflict that particular torture on any other movie some idea of what is going on was clearly in order. Chronicles of Riddick on the other hand starts of mired in confusion. Even for those that had seen the previous film(s).
It then quickly hits a low point with seizure inducing battle flashes and a little girl melting Riddick’s heart in a scene right out of the Grinch that Stole Christmas. But as soon as I was reaching for the eject button the movie strangely morph’s into Alien 3 (or Star Trek VI the Undiscovered Country take your pick.)
See Riddick was going to save Jack the twelve year old girl who pretended to be a boy and now looks and dresses like a supermodel because she is safely located in an otherwise all male prison. Yeah that one kind of lost me too. However the action scenes pick up again and enough back story drifts in so that the biblical/Shakespearian plot comes into focus.
You see Riddick was born on a planet called Krypton, and then he was placed in the reeds to escape the pharaoh or was it King Herod. anyway the guy married to Lady MacBeth. No! Not the one with the Billy Ray Cyrus mullet. He was Lady MacBeth’s lover Lancelot. See clear as day.
Sure the bad guy wears that mask from Amadeus and his troops look like Gwar started a dance troop. But many of the sets and costumes carry the day. The special effects are very well done (with the possible exception of the CGI Hellhounds) and the music certainly could have been worse.
The basic problem is the three main characters left over from Pitch Black have gotten the warm and fuzzies. I’ve explained supermodel Jack above and I understand why the Imam character had to be significantly toned down post 9/11 but why change Riddick?
He hugs puppies (okay Hellhounds) and children. All the appeal of the character from the first movie seems to be missing. He still talks the talk but the walk is very different. Looks like someone lost a pair.
Rating: 3 / 5