Dark Fury - The Chronicles of Riddick (Animated)

Rating:
Summary: Essential Part Of The Riddick Series
Review: "Pitch Black"/"Chronicles Of Riddick" fans, do NOT pass this one up just because of its short running time and animated nature! A gem of the Asian style of animation, this underseen chapter covers events between "Pitch Black" and "Chronicles", picking up almost immediately after the former. Tells a more compact tale, meaning the apprx. 30-minute running time is not a hindrance (although if you want to talk price, then yeah, it could be argued that it should be a little less expensive for its brevity. Makes up for it by being just plain better than most 2-hour entries in the Action/Sci-Fi field). The ship carrying the first movie's survivors is picked up by what at first appears to be just another merc ship but turns out to have a much weirder, more original, and more interesting nature; also brings into play some visually astounding alien lifeforms.

Eclipses "Chronicles Of Riddick" and equals, perhaps surpasses "Pitch Black" A must for fans of the series or of such animated fare as "The Animatrix", "Galerians: Rion" or "Blood: The Last Vampire".

Interesting sidenote: this isn't star Vin Diesel's first foray into animation. Also check out the more child-friendly and seriously under-appreciated "Iron Giant" from 1999, where Diesel voices the title character.

Rating:
Summary: Good but too short
Review: As a bridge to Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick, Dark Fury serves its purpose, as it will shed light on Chronicles' vague references on the past.

Peter Chung and team's animation doesn't disappoint. It's fluid, and full of action. However, as a consumer, I rather balk at paying full price for such a short content. The main feature itself is just around 35 minutes. While the Extras are mostly about the animation process. It would've been a better value if the creators of Riddick's world included some background info on different planets of the series' universe, some character bios, and other stuff that would flesh out the Riddick mythos. Sure, it may be asking too much but that's because Dark Fury DVD is too little.

You'd be better off moneywise renting, buying used or waiting for it to be packaged in a bundle pack/gift set rather than buying it stand alone and brand new.

Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly Surprised
Review: I picked up this DVD while hunting the unrated director's cut of its predecessor, _Pitch Black_. For ten dollars I considered the short film a worthwhile risk, as I am a fan of Vin Diesel's work with the Riddick character and of Peter Chung's animation.

Thankfully my brave curiosity was well-rewarded. While a tad short for my tastes at thirty-five minutes in duration, _Dark Fury_ nevertheless held my interest and impressed me with its clean, dark, mature style. Use of the original voice talent from Twohy's _Pitch Black_ helped perpetuate a sense of continuity and the strange ship and its crew, though related to neither the monsters of the first film nor the Necromongers of the second, was appropriate and well-suited to the Riddick universe in its own weird way.

As a bridge between _Pitch Black_ and _Chronicles of Riddick_, _Dark Fury_ does its duty with gusto. It picks up immediately after the end of the first film and carries the characters through the introduction of Toombs, Riddick's mercenary nemesis in the second film, and hints at the parting of the ways between Riddick, Jack, and Imam. It sets the mood for Twohy's second film and initiates the expansion of the series' scope of vision into the galactic scale.

My only real complaint was that the feature seemed overly short. Other than this, I highly recommend _Dark Fury_.

Rating:
Summary: Nice bridging, cool anime
Review: I was a big fan of the bizarro Aeon Flux back in the 90's and director Peter Chung brings that wonderful style to the universe of Riddick (much like he did in The Animatrix).

Dark Fury is a small story set between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick (which I haven't seen) in which Riddick, Jack and Abu dock their scout vessel with an ominous and evil ship filled with frozen Mercs and run by a vicious female overlord with a perverted idea of imprisonment.

The whole thing is basically an excuse for some quick violence but it's entertaining and expands upon the Riddick universe in interesting ways. I can see why Vin Diesel chose this franchise over TFATF and xXx.

The DVD is in non-anamorphic (!) 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound and a bunch of whogivesadamn extras.

Rating:
Summary: Better than the live action movie!
Review: I was very surprised this wasn't longer. I am a follower of Chung's work on Aeon Flux and was hoping for a two hour movie. Like one reviewer said; don't pay more than $9.99 to see it. It's only 35 minutes but it's much better than the actual live acition movie. Now why didn't they make a direct to video animated movie that's two hours? If you like lots of sci fi action, it's in the same vein as Aeon. While I don't pretend to understand Riddick the character; he reads as a neo Swartzennegger type. Only he has more of a chance of breaking into better roles. If he doesn't try to look like Arnold and finds his own way; it'll be a successful series.

Rating:
Summary: A connecting story
Review: Pitch Black introduced us to Riddick, merciless killer with surgically enhanced eyes so he can see in the dark. This feature takes place after Pitch Black in which Riddick, Jack, and the Preacher have escaped. Their ship gets captured by a a giant merc ship and Riddick is forced to fight for the entertainment of the demented captain. The captain has a nack of taking killers and cryogenically turning them into statues. Eventually Riddick defeats the opposition and they escape to Hellion Prime (the setting for Chronicls of Riddick).

From an Animation standpoint this is pretty good. The style is done in that of Aeon Flux or Reign the Conqueror. In the end all this really does is show the beggining of what happened to Jack in Chronicls of Riddick as well as introduce us the Merc who plaques Riddick in the beggining.

Rating:
Summary: Great action, not much else
Review: Riddick first appeared in "Pitch Black" (2000.) which was directed by David Twohy. Vin Diesel was a perfect casting for such an antihero type and he does a good job unlike the performances he gave in some of his earlier movies ("XXX"> or "Fast and Furious"). In "Pitch Black" Riddick is introduced as a dangerous criminal who reluctantly becomes a hero and saves a girl named Jack (Rhianna Griffith) and Imam (Keith David) from a planet inhabited by flesh eating aliens. The aliens only come out of their hiding during the solar eclipse which happens only once in many years hence the title "Pitch Black". The movie ends with Riddick, Jack and Imam leaving the planet in a small space craft.
"The Chronicles of Riddick" happens five years after the events in Pitch Black and a lot has changed in that time.

Dark Fury was created as a bridge between the two movies and to allow the authors to delve a little deeper into the universe of Riddick. The movie only partially succeeds in that attempt. Dark Fury is only 35 minutes long and it is not enough time to explore something deeply. The movie starts right where Pitch Black left off. Riddick and his companions are in a small ship but are being captured by mercenaries. Riddick attempts to hide his identity but doesn't succeed as the mercenaries have a lot of advanced technology on their ship. The enigmatic mercenary leader (Chillingsworth) orders that Riddicks ship be brought in and occupants captured. Riddick resists and in a pretty bloody sequence kills a lot of mercenaries but again shows weakness when Jack's life is threatened.
Chillingsworth is fascinated by death and shows Riddick her collection of captured killers who are displayed like exhibits in a museum. But she has something more planned for Riddick who is a crown jewel in her collection. Riddick is to become a living exhibit, but he manages to escape and again save the lives of Jack and Imam.
Action sequences in this movie are exciting and well choreographed in a Japanese anime style which is to be expected since the director is Peter Chung ("Animatrix: Matriculated"). But for an American cartoon they are pretty bloody and not suitable for children. Visually "Dark Fury" is pretty impressive looking with some of the best computer generated imagery I've seen. Most of the environment was rendered on a computer but the majority of characters were drawn by hand.
But, other than the visuals there is little to be enjoyed in the movie. Nothing new is added to the Riddick universe that we already don't know. Riddick's mysterious origin is just reinforced and not the least bit explained. Only thing we learn is why Riddick is separated from Imam and Jack and the character of Toombs is introduced which will play a big role in "The Chronicles of Riddick". It would be nice to see some of the Riddick universe and not just a collection of, admittedly very good, action sequences.

The special features on the "Dark Fury" DVD are:
From Pitch Black to Chronicles of Riddick is an 8 minute basic promotional documentary the likes of which can be found on almost any DVD out there. It features a brief look at making of the animated film and is not very interesting.
Animatic to animation is a look at edited storyboards for the full length of the movie.
Peter Chung - The Mind of an Animator is an interview with the director. This is actually interesting as it provides an insightful look at a creative process of an animation director. It is only 5 minutes but Chung makes some interesting comments about his style of making animated movies.
Into the Light is an extended trailers for "The Chronicles of Riddick" and contains a lot of spoilers so beware.

Visually the movie is stunning. It is presented in widescreen anamorphic format 1.85:1 and the picture is gorgeous. Colors are vibrant and the animation is smooth. All the characters look alive and the voices of the original cast from "Pitch Black" is a big plus. But other than that and great action there is no meat to the story, the universe of Riddick is not explored to it's potential. We see mercenaries but that was established in the movie "Pitch Black". We learn nothing about "Necromongers" which are the enemies of Riddick in "The Chronicles of Riddick".
If you are a fan of Riddick and love action than this is recommended, otherwise don't buy it.


Rating:
Summary: There's Really Not Much Here.
Review: THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK: DARK FURY is the latest in movie publicity that was begun by the ANIMATRIX. The trend is this: action movie sequels often have gaps from the first film to the second, and therefore to fill in the gap an animated film is made to tell what happens. DARK FURY supposedly fills in part of the gap between where PITCH BLACK ends and THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK begins.

DARK FURY begins almostly immediately where PITCH BLACK left off. Riddick, Jack, and Imam have just blasted off from the planet of darkness when they are pulled into a Merc ship. The Merc leader on the ship, Chillingsworth, is thrilled at the "capture" of Riddick, the most wanted man in the universe. She has captured and collected many of the universe's most notorious creatures. She sees them as works of art and has transformed many of them into living and breathing statues. However, with the capture of Riddick she has an opportunity to see an "artist" such as Riddick in action.

There isn't much of a story here, though DARK FURY does explain why Riddick left Imam and Jack on Helios. But for a 35-minute cartoon, that's not much. I was expecting more--what did Jack do after Riddick dropped her off with Imam, for example could have been an issue to explore. However, Riddick and not Jack is the focus. The animation isn't all that extraordinary and there really isn't anything spectacular here.

DARK FURY includes a featurette that gives a look at the making of DARK FURY, an interview with animator Peter Chung, a preview look at THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, and a sequence of moving storyboards that illustrates how DARK FURY went from paper drawings to final product.

I'd recommend this DVD only for fans of the Riddick universe. Other than that, you're not missing anything, nor will you gain any great understanding.

Rating:
Summary: great dialogue, decent animation, okay boarding, okay story
Review: The title says it all, but I just want to say that I enjoy the stylistic choices peter chung makes and his rendition of the live action characters are very nice.

Some great quotes from the character Riddick appear in this and I'd just like to share some that were of particular delight to me:

"I cannot see!"
"You don't . . want to."-Ihman and Riddick

"I want to see your masterpiece."
"I get out, you'll see it again . . . this close"-Mistress and Riddick

"Call off your lapdog, before his trying to impress you gets him killed."-Riddick

"I shall pray."
"Not for me."-Ihman and Riddick

Rating:
Summary: Is the Price worth it?
Review: This DVD reinforces the reason why people should read the information on the back of the box.

I paid close to $20 for this DVD, and it was the a big waste of money. After watching this movie and realizing that it only gave me 30 minutes of entertainment, I relized that I was seriously jipped.

There aren't really any bonus features worth checking out on this DVD either.

If you NEED to add this DVD to your collection, I seriously recommend you NOT paying anymore than $9.99 for it.

Believe you me, you'll thank me later.