Review of The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004) by Paul S — 17 Mar 2012

Ok, here's my story... I first viewed Chronicles of Riddick when it was a theatrical release. At that time I felt it was passing entertainment and nothing to get too worked up over, in spite of those ultra cool Necromonger ships and armor. I had no idea that Chronicles was a sequel... my bad. Now, having seen Pitch Black I was anxious to see the animated film that served as a bridge between the two theatrical films, with the idea that I would then revisit Chronicles.

So, enough preamble... one may think this is a lot of work for a quasi franchise that had the tomato-meter giving the 3rd film a 20 something rating - but since I kind of enjoyed PB and had access to all 3 films I figured what the heck.

Dark Fury picks up where PB ends, with Riddick, the priest and the girl aboard the small craft that they used to escape from the dark planet. The story holds some interest, as they are captured by bounty hunters (or at least some baddies posing as bounty hunters, but with a dark ulterior motive). The anime harkens back to Aeon Flux, only here it is more fluid, the only drawback is that some of the characters appear to be floating when walking. The opening scene is reminiscent of the first Star Wars film, with a spacecraft being totally dwarfed by a much larger one, just as Princess Leia's craft was dwarfed by the Imperial Cruiser.

The artwork is very stylized, with some serious attention to detail, from the grandiose statuary similar to the iconic images used in Chronicles, to the movements and affectations of Vin Diesel as Riddick (the famous neck cracking for example).

The film also introduces the mercenary who plays a major role in Chronicles, as the film does a nice turn by having the merc gaze out at Riddick's escaping ship and saying "this ain't over".

The film is short (at just over 1/2 hour), and really, it's a nice diversion and a testimonial to the anime style of cartoon, while filling in the blanks regarding Riddick's story.