Shane 2005-10-14
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
This two-pack set includes the 1999 film Pitch Black and its 2004 sequal,The Chronicles of Riddick.These two films star Vin Diesel as the main character,a escaped convict and mass murderer who is the hero(or in his case,anti-hero)Richard B.
Riddick.
In Pitch Black,a group on a spaceship flying to a planet called
New Meccha to settle it when they collide with a meteor shower
and are awoke for hypersleep.They land on a planet with three suns,which makes tempertures unbearable.With the captain of the ship now dead,Fry(Radha Mitchell),the ship's second in command,must run things and get to a ship that was left behind by a crew of settlers who mysteriously vanished,whether she wants to or not.But in order to get off this planet,she and the crew will have to overcome two obstacles:one,a man being shipped to a prison cell on another planet,who's eyes had been radically changed so he can see in dark places,has escaped from the ship,which puts the crew life in danger and the upcoming eclipse in which,every 22 years,the planet's inhabitants awake from hibernation and roam the planet for one month.Well,guess what year it is? Now,with the help of a recaptured and reluntant Riddick,Fry and the crew must reach the ship and survive the creatures who roam the planet before they are all wiped out.Pitch Black is a very shocking sci-fi thriller with some good scares in between.Besides the fact it mocks religion too much,Pitch Black is a good movie that is worth checking out.It has a story that is pretty good(despite the fact is reminds me of Alien)and has interesting characters such as Imam(Keith David),a religous man,Johns(Cole Hauser),a man who is trying to put Riddick behind bars for money,Jack(Rhiana Griffin),a child hiding a secret,and Rididck and Fry,the main characters.Pitch Black-Five Stars!
If Pitch Black is like Alien,then Chronicles of Riddick is Aliens with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom thrown in a little bit.The story in the first part of a planned trilogy is centered around Riddick,who for five years,has outrun the mercenarries that have been tracking and trying to capture him.Riddick finds out the bounty has been issued from Imam(Keith David),the religious man who has now has a home and has a family,and Riddick flies to Helion Prime,where Imam lives,to get some answers with the merc's ship of course.
Riddick learns that why the bounty was made was that Aereon(Judi Dench),the last of the Elemental race,and who is the air elemental,needs to talk with him.A race called the Necromongers are flying to Helion Prime as we speak to convert everyone on the planet to their beliefs or be killed by them.They are led by the evil Lord Marshall(Colm Feore),a man who is part human and part "something else",as the movie describes it(he seems to be able to stretch his body in a ghost like fashion and then his body catches up with him.Riddick learns about his destiny and his past,learning that he is a Furyan,a race belived to be completely wiped out by the Necromangers years ago and this can be used to the heroes advantage because the Lord Marshall fears Furyans.Riddick soon decides that if anyone gonna stop the Lord Marshall's evil crusade,it might as be him.Along with Jack,who has now completely grown up,become a killer like Riddick,and changed her(yes,she's a girl,it's revealed in Pitch Black)name to Kyra(Alexa Davalos),Riddick will attempt to stop the crusade of the Necromangers once and for all.
The Chronicles of Riddick mocks religion way too much,in fact more than Pitch Black did,which is one of the films flaws.Another flaw is that alot of events don't make since,but the next two films should clear up this(I hope)."Riddick" is good film and you will be entertained.And trust me,if you like action scenes,you will love this film's action scenes.They are the best thing about the film!!!!!!!!!!!So,to conclude,The Chronicles of Riddick gets four stars(so Pitch Black is differently the better of the two).
If you like sci-fi,thriller,or action films,or if you are just a fan of Vin Diesel,you will like this.Also available from the Riddick is the Riddick anime Dark Fury that takes place between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick(I haven't seen it,but I heard it's good)and the XBOX video game Escape from Butcher Bay(which is a pretty good game,from what I played). Both star Vin Diesel.I hope you enjoy the world of Riddick and I hope this review was helpful.
(This review is based on the unrated version of The Chronicles of Riddick and the R-rated version of Pitch Black.)
