Review of The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) by Bruce722 — 05 Sep 2013

The Chronicles of Riddick fails to deliver on a lot of what made the first one so unique. The sci-fi mixed with horror element from the first one is largely lost as this sequel essentially feels like a darker version of a Star Wars movie and is void of horror vibe.

It also seemed like they changed Riddick's character a bit. I'm not knocking the movie for this as it's possible that this was just the evolution of his character after the events of the first film but his moral compass was much more ambiguous in Pitch Black.

There were also a few areas, most notably some of the scenes on Crematoria, that were just completely and totally ignoring realism. Granted, this is a fiction film so I have suspended my disbelief quite a bit but even some of those scenes were beyond my suspension.

For the things they lost, however, there were some definite positives. The plot was more involved and was very well told. I also liked how they tied in the two films. A 5-year gap is a pretty big one but you feel like you didn't miss a thing and that means good planning and writing.

Karl Urban and Thandie Newton play decent roles but Alexa Davalos' performance of Kyra steals the show, outside of Vin Diesel being a B.A. that is. The camera absolutely loves her and how she hasn't had more roles in the past decade is beyond me.

Overall, I think this film stands alone well and is a really good sequel but they definitely lost part of the charm of the first one.