Chronicles of Riddick, The [15]

Thie Chronicles has en excellent trailer which makes you feel like you are caught in an epic saga. Upon further review, it builds on the movie "Pitch Black" which is the first time we see Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel). The effects and scale are truly grand, and there may be a decent plot. Criminal anti-hero bests superior beings is certainly a common theme in hard science fiction. The most famous might be Harry Harrison's Slippery Jim diGriz, The Stainless Steel Rat .

We will have to see if criminal defeats galactic overlords plays well. Certainly I am looking forward to the action and effects. The marketing folks have done a great job building hype. {BB}

*Spoilers for "Pitch Black" *

PITCH BLACK is the story of a group of people stranded on a barren planet after the ship they were traveling in crashes due to debris from the tail of a rogue comet. As they struggle to get situated on this hot desert planet, they worry about a convicted serial killer, Riddick, in their midst that is being transported by what everyone assumes is a policeman. Especially when this convict escapes, and begins stalking them. The bloody disappearance of one of the crash survivors coincides with the recapture of the convict and the discovery that there are... things.... underground. These denizens of the planet are probably about 8 feet tall. They have two arms with hands containing sharp claws and a tentacle that comes out of the palm. They are bipeds with long forked tails. They resemble pteranadons somewhat or the aliens from "Lifeforce". As you already know from "Aliens", they only come out at night.

The group discovers an abandoned outpost not long before a solar eclipse plunges the entire planet into total darkness and all those things underground fly out, like vampire bats, to the surface. The premise of "bad things happening on a usually lighted planet that undergoes an eclipse" was lifted directly from Isaac Asimov's "Nightfall" short story. However in "Nightfall", the fear of the darkness itself is the story.

The outpost has a small escape craft that they can repair if they can get heavy power cells from the crashed ship, but they have to do it through a deadly hail of ravenous monsters. Riddick had his eyes operated on in a permanently-dark prison in order to help him see with little light. The group becomes reliant on him to see in the dark. Most of the group get picked off by the creatures during the fight to get back to the ship they found and escape.

Added: May 7th 2004
Reviewer: BB
29 Point Scale Score:    [15]

Related Movie Link (IMDB): IMDB
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Language: english