Rating: 
Summary: The Chronicles of Riddick - Hot!
Review:
"Pitch Black" was one of my favorite movies, and after that I knew that I had to watch "The Chronicles of Riddck", and it was not a disappointment. Although the story was a bit dry and hard to catch on at the beginning, once you get into it, it's quite fascinating. The ending was especially goood. Plus, Vin Diesel is hot, that's alway pleasant for the eyes. =)
Rating:
Summary: Much better than the reviews led me to believe.
Review: After reading the review in my local paper (one star) I almost decided not to see this movie. However, being a Vin Diesel fan I decided to go anyway. I'm glad I did. This movie is not the "greatest movie ever made". It won't win an Academy award. But, it was an entertaining movie that held my interest and was about what I expected. The visuals are stunning- a great deal of computer time and effort went into creating the many worlds of this film. Diesel's character, Riddick, was true to the character he created in Pitch Black. Yes, he generally speaks in "one liners" as many reviewers have criticized. But- his character is supposed to be a hardened criminal who has spent the majority of his life alone and hunted. When would he have the opportunity to develop social skills? It would be out of character for Riddick to be exceptionally talkative. Vin Diesel did a nice job in this role. He displays the tightly controlled emotions you would expect from Riddick and does a great job in the action sequences. Go see this movie. Buy a big bucket of popcorn and a soda and just immerse yourself in the story. You'll have a good time.
Rating: 
Summary: A popcorn flick that requires really good popcorn.
Review: As an action movie, The Chronicles of Riddick was mediocre, barely standing out from the sea of action flicks to come before it.
As a sci-fi flick, it was without merit or draw. Many of the concepts behind it were stale at best.
And as a film, it wasn't worth the ticket price.
If you liked Pitch Black, you'll probably be dissapointed with The Chronicles of Riddick. It sheds everything that made Pitch Black memorable and fun in trade of cheesy one-liners and eye-rolling action scenes. Rent this one.
Rating: 
Summary: The Good and Bad of The Chronicles of Riddick
Review: Chronicles of Riddick is a Science Fiction movie about one mans fight to stop the evil relentless Necromonger whose goal is total domination of all humanity and oblivion for dissenters.In case you don't know it, Chronicles of Riddick is ostensibly a sequel to a very good movie called Pitch Black with Vin Diesel playing the part of Riddick. The only connection to Pitch Black that I can see is that Riddick reprises the same character, starring the same actor (Diesel). Unfortunately even though it has some good points the weak convoluted story merits only three stars The cast is a strong point of the movie. Besides Diesel leading the way we have good casting and good performances by Colm Feore as the nefarious, Lord Marshal, Thandie Newton as the ever scheming, Dame Vaako, Judi Dench as the evanescent Elemental, Aereon, Karl Urban as Lord Marshals ambitious Lieutenant, Vaako and Alexa Davalos as Kyra, once rescued by Riddick. Special Effects were excellent, not up to Lord of the Rings excellent but excellent none the less. They set the futuristic tone perfectly and gave us plenty action, which by the way was another strong point. C.O.R. is an action packed movie from beginning to end and I highly recommend it for action junkies.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Action Sci-Fi DUNE rip-off ever!
Review: David Towhy has a knack for knocking off movies, yet putting enough differences in them to still kick ass. Pitch Black, as i origionally thought, was an ALIEN rip-off, yet it was so artistic (The cinematography) and bad ass (riddick) that i LOVED the movie, and is still one of my favorite movies. When i saw Chronicles, i was just as impressed. This movie is a rather clear DUNE rip off, though its not too similar that its stupid (SOUL PLANE), and it adds its own elements Vin Diesel is in full form as his best character, and still envokes Bad-Ass envy in every guy (much like the Punisher). I loved the Story, albeit a bit complex and corney, it worked well for this universe Towhy has made. The action is Top-Notch, and still artistic. There are several battles that don't have sound affects, just voices, which adds to the meyhem and makes you see how evil and good Riddick really is. And Kyra is hot. The tie-ins with Pitch Black were nice to see. The prison escape is adrenilne pumping and intense. The final battles with Lord Marshal are also very cool, and it adds alot to the characters of Riddick, Kyra, and Lord and Lady Vaako. The MacBeth story within the Dune story works well, and (if you and your bros are watching the movie) are good for feminisim cracks, and cracks on crazy chicks in genneral. This is a GREAT action movie, and Vin Diesel is kick ass, Kyra (insert Actresses name) is hot, and bad ass as well The only thing, which is more of a personal thing, is that i wished that the movie wasn't quite so Epic. I enjoy small, meningless stories of a few people that don't affect the universe. This story is ALL about affecting the Universe, as basicly, this whole empire falls into a battle between Riddick, Marshal and Vaako (kinda like Smith and Neo). I prefer the Pitch Black style, where it was just the 7 or 8 people that were in peril, everyone else was fine. Hopefully, somehow, Towhy could return the sequles (he wants a triliogy of Riddicks) to a smaller scale, but this is probably impossible, based on the end of this movie. It will be interesting to see the Underverse however All in all, im expecting a great series to rise from this movie, much like the matrix (cause i LIKED both ReLoaded and Revolutions) SO, Go see it cause it is:
1) Good action movie
2) a story that shows real characters
3) A great dune rip (like star wars)
4) A great Sci-Fi movie
5) Maybe even a date movie, its got enough good aspects that i bet women would like see it
Rating:
Summary: Sweet Movie
Review: Directors cuts, hehe, have a habit of making good films great. Please let the same people responsible for this continue the series in the same fashion.
The directors cut for me really does rock harder than the original, i think if u have the right people doing the job u should just trust your initial judgement and let them make a cool movie. This is a lavish production, the plot has a good mix of stuff going on and the characters are suitably iconic and hard-assed.
The visuals in this flick are superb and the conquest of the planet looks way cool. If u don't see this cut of the film you are missing out on kick ass sci-fi that is both visually and plot wise, intriguing.
Rating: 
Summary: Tied with White Chicks for worst Movie of 2004
Review: How many science fiction and fantasy cliches can you put in a movie? Just watch Riddick and start counting. I seriously think this should have been a parody of sci-fi and fantasy because this movie is THAT BAD. Pitch Black was great but for this "sequel" they basically rewrote the Riddick character to fit into this jumbled mess of a movie. The acting was laughable. The story was ridiculous and it stole from movies like Star Wars, Star Trek, LOTR, Escape from New York, forget about it. I don't want to continue listing because I think you should get the point. Don't waste any $$$ or time on tis steaming pile of crap. You might as well call Vin Diesel's career dead or on the same level as Seagal and Van Damme. Straight to cable and DVD.
Rating:
Summary: VISUAL DELIGHT
Review: I HAVE WATCHED PITCH BLACK MORE TIMES THAN I CAN COUNT. RIDDICK'S CHARACTER FASCINATES AND HAUNTS ME. SO MANY OF US ARE ISOLATED AND DOING WHATEVER IS NECESSARY TO SURVIVE - R.B.R. IS A MIRROR THAT MANY OF US NEED TO LOOK INTO IN ORDER TO FIND OUR OWN COURAGE TO CHANGE. CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK BRINGS US FORWARD IN TIME AND UPWARD IN SCOPE. NOW, RATHER THAN SAVING A FEW HE IS CALLED ON TO SAVE MANY. HIS ACTIONS WILL HAVE REPERCUSSIONS - LIKE RIPPLES IN A LAKE. WE HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THEY WILL END. NEITHER DOES HE. MY ONLY CRITISISM, WHICH HAS BEEN ECHOED FREQUENTLY, IS THAT MUCH WAS LEFT UNSAID AND UNEXPLAINED. I HAVE HIGH HOPES THAT THIS WILL BE RECITIFED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. IN ANY EVENT THE VISUAL ARTISTRY OF THIS FILM IS UNPARALLELED. THE ACTING IS DIRECT AND POWERFULLY EFFECTIVE. DIALOGUE IS LEAN, CRISP AND TO THE POINT. FX ARE FLUID. IT IS A MUST WATCH - AND AT LEAST 3 OR 4 TIMES - TO TRULY APPRECIATE THE WORK THAT HAS GONE INTO IT. SUSPEND YOUR DISBELIEF, FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS AND ENJOY THE RIDE!!!!
Rating:
Summary: "It's just the animal in me."
Review: I'm not quite sure whether The Chronicles of Riddick was supposed to be a prequel or a sequel to the fabulous Pitch Black - I think it was a sequel. Whatever the case, this viewer was scratching his head in wonderment at how a promisingly successful science fiction franchise could become such a shapeless, uninteresting mess.
Pitch Black was a wonderfully original, imaginative and stylish, with the sexy Vin stealing the show with his slick beefiness and polished athleticism. However, there's nothing subtle or stylish about The Chronicles of Riddick: overblown, and bloated with vast, gaudy special effects, costumes and sets, the movie is pretty much a convoluted headache from beginning to end.
The movie begins when Riddick (Diesel) is trying to escape from a cold artic-like planet. There's some kind of bounty placed on his head, but he manages to flee in a slick looking spaceship and ends up on New Mecca finding solace with holy man Imam (Keith David). Enter an embarrassed looking Judi Dench, playing a kind of strange and wispy, translucent wind being, who convinces Riddick that he's the only one who can ultimately destroy the Necromancers, an evil army of half human, vampire-like, ghost beings.
Suddenly the Necromongers invade and destroy the planet and try to convert the surviving humans, whom they call "breeders" to their religion, which is worshipping something called the "underverse." Riddick is caught by some bounty hunters and sent to a sun-baked planet called Crematora where he rescues Kyra (Alexa Davalos), and some fellow prisoners.
Everything is big, cluttered and noisy in this film, from the crab-like industrialized spaceships that spew some kind of black exhaust, to the spectacular skylines of the alien planets, and the metallic goth-like sets, that are obviously modeled on Ancient Egyptian and roman architecture. But the expensive and exciting effects can't make up for the dreadful script and the absolutely atrocious acting from all involved.
Perhaps only Thandie Newton rises above the fray - playing with decided camp - a Lady Macbeth-like villainness intent on obtaining absolute power though her Necromancer boyfriend Vaako (Karl Urban). In one unintentionally funny scene, Thandie seductively tongues Vaako all over the face - it's supposed to be erotic, but comes across as quite revolting.
Obviously made for fifteen-year-old boys, The Chronicles of Riddick steers clear of any violence or profanity. Most of the action takes place on the prison planet of Crematoria with Riddick spending the majority of the time in bondage, his sweaty arms stretched out in a Crucifixion-like pose. There's lots of fight scenes, which are so badly edited, overly frenetic, and excessively choreographed that they make your head swim; director David Twohy inexplicably shakes his camera around furiously during every fight, rendering much the action completely unwatchable.
As Riddick, Vin looks fabulous, but he can't act, and the lines he is forced to spew belittle the seriousness of the story and ultimately make a mockery of his character. One wonders why the fabulous, iconographic Ms. Dench decided to do this film - rumor has it that Judy and Vin are good friends. If this is the case, lets hope that she can finally steer him the direction of better quality material than this, but judging from his career of late, I very seriously doubt this will be the case. Mike Leonard February 05.
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly fun...
Review: I'm really glad I saw Pitch Black first because I appreciated the character of Riddick significantly more. Its one of those flicks that leaves you wanting more... and not more like I wanted a script and people who could act, and maybe some directing... but more like, I could have sat through another hour of adventuresome goodness. It was like Blade meets Star Wars... or something... True, I had a little difficulty with Jack/Kira's sudden development/growth in just 5 years, and the ending was a little... open for me (leaving obvious room for another episode), but pushing that aside (and some little holes of plot) it fully redeemed my faith in Vin Diesel as a capable action star. XXX had lead to his falling from my graces. But Riddick brought him back up to me with a smile. Judi Dench did a fabulous job as well, though I would have liked to have seen more of her... and that cool special effect... So all in all, its a great watch, see Pitch Black first, and go in expecting a PG-13 action flick and you'll be happy.
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