The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) | Sci-Fi Saturdays

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The Necromongers really know how to party!

The Pitch Black sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, is an epic successor that expands the universe, characters, and story. It provides some fun moments, as well as several thrilling action sequences, setting up Riddick as one bad mo-fo.

First Impressions

Riddick returns! In this trailer, the antihero joins the people of a planet to help stop the necromongers. This looks much more involved than Pitch Black, with a new planet and dozens of characters. The trailer also has a feeling of the 1984 version of Dune for some reason. Perhaps it’s the full body suits worn by the bad guys, or the giant statuary on the planet. Whatever the case, get set for The Chronicles of Riddick.

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

The Fiction of The Film

Five years after Riddick’s (Vin Diesel) transport ship crashed on a barren desert planet, he is once again pursued by a bounty hunter, Toombs (Nick Chinlund), looking to capture the fugitive prisoner. Riddick gets the upper hand and steals the ship from Toombs after getting the location of the bounty’s origin–Helios Prime. Riddick heads to the planet containing the city of New Mecca where he encounters Imam (Keith David), one of two survivors he escorted off the desert planet. Imam and the Elemental named Aereon (Judy Dench) were seeking Riddick to help fight an army of religious fanatics known as Necromongers. The zealots arrive at Helios Prime and quickly take over the city, led by their Lord Marshal (Colm Feore).

During the attacks, the Imam is killed, Aereon is captured, but Riddick escapes. The Purifier (Linus Roache), a spokesperson for the Necromongers announces to the populace that they can join their ranks and be converted, or perish. Riddick chooses to kill the Necromonger that killed Imam, but is captured and taken aboard the flagship, Necropolis. He is brought before the Quasi-Dead, half-dead telepaths, by Dame Vaako (Thandie Newton), wife to Commander Vaako (Karl Urban). They discover that Riddick is a Furyan survivor (perhaps the last one) which unsettles Lord Marshal, who calls for his death.

Riddick manages an escape, but is recaptured in the city by Toombs–who escaped being stranded. Toombs and his new crew take Riddick to the prison world of Crematoria, a planet where the day side burns at 700°, and the night side freezes at -300°. Lord Marshal sends Commander Vaako to find Riddick and return him for execution. Dame Vaako attempts to convince her husband to kill Lord Marshal and take his place, but he will not hear of that kind of treasonous talk. Aereon reveals a prophecy that the last Furyan will kill the Lord Marshal, and that’s why he needs to destroy Riddick.

At the prison, Riddick meets a woman named Kyra (Alexa Davalos), who immediately tries to kill him. She is revealed to be Jack, the other survivor he escorted off the desert world–using a new name. They reconcile after Riddick kills a guard that was attacking Kyra. Toombs attempts to negotiate his fee with the prison warden, but the guards realize that a Necromonger ship is coming for them and flee–abandoning the prisoners and Toombs & his crew to the zealots. Riddick, already planning an escape, uses the distractions to lead a small team of prisoners, including Kyra the 30km to the spacecraft hangar.

While Toombs and his men pursue the warden and guards via underground tunnels, Riddick and his group travel over the obsidian surface knowing that sunrise is coming soon. Riddick again rescues Kyra as the sun begins to hit the high peaks they are crossing. At the hangar the guards are surprised by Necromongers and killed, as are Toombs and his men. Only Riddick and Kyra manage to survive the accompanying battle when they arrive, with Riddick being downed by Commander Vaako as the sun hits the tarmac. Kyra sneaks aboard the Necromonger ship, which departs leaving Riddick for dead.

Riddick receives a vision that Lord Marshal was the one that destroyed Furya. The Purifier saves Riddick by dragging into the hanger where he reveals that he too was once a Furyan, and allows Riddick to leave before stepping into the sun and killing himself. As the Necromongers leave Helios Prime, Riddick reveals himself to Lord Marshal. Dame Vaako tells her husband to be prepared to kill Lord Marshal while he’s distracted. Lord Marshal presents Riddick with a freshly converted Kyra which drives the Furyan into an attack. Lord Marshal gets the upper hand using his undead powers to attempt to wrench Riddick’s soul from his body. Kyra, in a burst of compassion, stabs the Lord Marshal which distracts him, but still manages to kill Kyra in the process. Riddick, knowing the tricks of the Necromonger leader, manages to stab him in the head as he evades a killing blow from Vaako. Riddick briefly mourns Kyra before sitting on the Necromonger throne where he is exalted as their new leader.

“In normal times, evil would be fought by good. But in times like these, well, it should be fought by another kind of evil.” – Aereon

History in the Making

When a film like Pitch Black makes a surprise splash with audiences, where do you go from there? The Chronicles of Riddick had every possibility of being more of the same, like multiple other franchises of the era. Instead writer/director David Twohy created an epic continuation of Riddick’s story while doing incredible world building and making the sequel bigger and better than the previous film. There had been interest in making a follow-up to Pitch Black, but it wasn’t until Vin Diesel’s success in The Fast and The Furious that this film was finally greenlit.

Taking over the writing chores from the Wheat brothers, Twohy decided to avoid a retread of the first film. Pitch Black was mostly a horror film set in a sci-fi environment, but The Chronicles of Riddick becomes an action-adventure film, with a bit of prison-break and revenge film thrown in for good measure. This time Riddick is front and center from the get-go, leading the adventure, rather than being part of a band of survivors. His backstory, as a survivor of the massacre at Furya, continues to push him forward–first investigating who continues to send bounty hunters after him and then trying to do the right thing when evil zealots attack his friends. The film continues to make him more intriguing, delving further into his backstory, and fleshing out the elements fans were drawn to in the first film.

Genre-fication

Riddick’s journey in this film is not a new tale. The story of a young man or a rogue warrior who should have died as a baby (or never existed in the first place), is an often told tale in both fantasy and science-fiction. As the last survivor of Furya, Riddick is targeted by a prophecy from Aereon, that a Furyan will kill the leader of the Necromongers. Villains should learn that putting stock into prophecies is what usually leads to the prophecy’s fulfillment. The story of Dune is about a young prince who should not have been born (at least if his mother had listened to the cover of space-witches to which she belonged). His birth signified the creation of a super-being that was destined to unite the people of a planet and end the rule of an evil clan. Another example, that seems a bit more pertinent here, is Conan the Barbarian. A young boy’s village is slaughtered, so he grows up and vows revenge on the tribe that killed his family. In that initial act, the villains created their own nemesis. See also Harry Potter.

But the travels of the Necromongers are not just pillaging towns as with Conan. This group is one that not only destroys, but offers the choice for the conquered people to join the ranks. In that way, they are very much like the Borg, from Star Trek: The Next Generation, which assimilate those beings into the collective consciousness of their cybernetic lifestyle. One has to wonder how the clan will change having Riddick as its leader. The Chronicles of Riddick also creates a more epic story, visiting multiple planets, and introducing new characters and beings, all while world-building the universe that Riddick lives in. As a film sequel it presents a classic second act, like sequel films before it including The Empire Strikes Back, The Road Warrior, and The Matrix Reloaded.

Societal Commentary

The character of Riddick continues to grow and evolve–at least from the audience’s perspective. In his first film, he’s introduced as a villain and a killer, acting in a way consistent with how the bounty hunter Johns describes him. But Riddick has a strict code that he follows, even when he appears to be out for himself. He doesn’t seem to hurt or kill people unless they deserve it–or perhaps if they have attacked him initially. In this film, Riddick continues his lone wolf approach, but shows how much he appreciates the people he actually calls friends.

Upon his arrival on Helios Prime and learning that the Imam was behind the bounty placed on him, Riddick chafes a bit, criticizing the man for abusing their relationship. But once the Imam is killed, Riddick spends little time before he kills the Necromonger responsible for the action. He later shows similar attachment to Kyra. During the prison escape he provides clear instructions that everyone must match his pace and there’s no going back. But when Kyra becomes stuck in an outcropping that the sun hits, Riddick risks everything to go back and save her. She would return the favor at the end of the film, as she tragically dies trying to protect Riddick from Lord Marshal.

The Chronicles of Riddick also deals with the themes of fleeting power. Every character in power seems to see the tables turn on them at least once during the film. Whether it’s the bounty hunter Toombs who gets stranded on an ice planet when Riddick gets the upper hand, or Lord Marshal snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in his battle with the Furyan. Those that have a moral deficit (or maybe just those going against the hero of the story), will lose and be punished.

The Science in The Fiction

The Chronicles of Riddick introduces several new planets and environments in this film, but only one ultra-dangerous one. Pitch Black had the planet that experiences total solar eclipses once every 22 years, where it remains dark for days at a time. Here, the aptly named planet Crematoria creates a 1000 degree difference between the night and day portions, making it impossible for anyone to survive on the surface. A nice design for a prison planet. However, the film does depict Riddick staging an escape with convicts across the darkened portion of the planet. So, how is this possible?

Assumptions can be made that between the terminator of night to day, the temperatures are less extreme–though probably still uncomfortable. For the group to be escaping during these pre-dawn hours is plausible. It also appears that Riddick–as a Furyan–is a little tougher than most, as he is able to take direct sunlight (though presumably not as hot as mid-day sun) for a few seconds without so much as a tanline. A few scenes later the Purifier commits suicide by walking directly into the morning sun. He survives longer than seemingly possible before he turns to ash–which also lends credence to Furyans being made of stronger stuff.

The one negative that the filmmakers chose not to include is that there would be tumultuous winds between the temperature extremes. With the hot air rising on the day side, and the colder night air sinking, winds along this terminator line would prevent the characters from moving forward, drawing them backwards into being crispy nuggets. It’s understandable that this was not something that would need to be addressed. The filmmakers already had enough drama with the rugged terrain and the pending sunrise that to also make the characters have to battle torrential winds would be too much.

The Final Frontier

Colm Feore does a wonderful job as Lord Marshal. The actor, who got his start in Iron Eagle II, and was also featured in Face/Off and Paycheck (both John Woo films), first came to my attention as the villain in Stephen King’s Storm of the Century. He has an unassuming look, as a balding Canadian, yet is able to project so much menace in his performances. His character, who has died (or partially died) and returned with the ability to pull souls out of people and moves faster than the human eye, seems like a match for Riddick–in his leather armor and multi-faced helmet. But Riddick only needs to see the Necromongers trick once to understand how to beat him, and is waiting with his knife when Lord Marshal dodges Vaako’s ax blade.

When The Chronicles of Riddick was released on DVD, the animated Dark Fury (2004) was included as well. It was a 30 minute cartoon from the makers of Æon Flux that told of one of Riddick’s adventures between Pitch Black and this film. There was also a video game released around the time of the film, called Escape from Butcher Bay, in which the player–as Riddick–must escape a prison mentioned by Toombs as a possible location to take Riddick. A follow-up sequel was released nine years later, entitled simply Riddick (2013). There are also plans for an upcoming Riddick: Furya film, which is still currently on hold.

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