Film Reviews

The Chronicles of Riddick

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Alexa Davalos
• Details: US / 115 mins / (12PG).

A man who is so desperate to take over the vacant action man hero gig in Hollywood that even his abs have attitude, Vin Diesel fashions another action franchise with The Chronicles of Riddick. A clumsy sequel to the surprisingly decent Pitch Black (2000), The Chronicles of Riddick attempts to flesh out the titular character and give his psychotic nature some resonance. As if. In the Chronicles, Riddick (Vin Diesel) is still on the run. With every bounty hunter in the universe on his trail, Riddick wants to find out who has set him up. Elsewhere, a fairly nasty bunch of warriors called the Necromongers (crazy name, crazy guys!) are taking over everything in their path, converting and killing in equal measures. Of course, Riddick is obliged to get messed up in this, but with the Necromongers facing internal discontent, it seems he may not be fighting alone.
Where Pitch Black went about its business with a pared down efficiency, The Chronicles of Riddick is a cumbersome beast, unable to find anything resembling a rhythm. The narrative has some pretensions towards developing characters and plot, but does so in a haphazard fashion, stuffing in a lot of plotlines, none of which make much sense. Despite the mind-numbing frequency of heavy-duty action sequences, The Chronicles of Riddick is unerringly reluctant to show much violence. Still, this doesn't seem to bother Mr Diesel who, bless him, spends the entire movie barking out his lines like he really believes he's in a project of some merit. Come back Ben Affleck, all is forgiven.

Review by Garreth Murphy