From the Vault – Riddick Trilogy

There’s a few reasons I added this to my list, and not all of them have to do with the simple merit of being a good movie. The most important factor at face value is the fact that when you pick up the special edition DVD, it’s actually 3 movies in one: Pitch Black, Dark Fury and The Chronicles of Riddick. Also of note, The Chronicles of Riddick rates on my list of Top 5 Radical Departure Sequels that I’ll be posting in the near future.

Pitch Black is a bit of a genre bending sci-fi monster thriller that finds a diverse cross section of “humanity” who have crash landed on a strange planet that goes months at a time without any sign of sunlight. What’s worse, the planet is populated by nocturnal predators that appear exceedingly efficient at picking off the survivors of the crash. Among the survivors is intergalactic criminal Richard B. Riddick who possesses special nightvision peepers and who emerges as the only hope for everyone’s survival. There’s some great storytelling and character development to back up the unique story – and the introduction of a modern classic anti-hero in the form of Riddick.

The Chronicles of Riddick takes hold of the character and the rough sketch of the world that Pitch Black created and runs with it to new heights. Chronicles vastly expands the scope of the previous film as an epic space-opera where a maurauding race of conquistators known as the Necromongers have been laying waste to planet after planet in their quest to find a place called Underverse. Desperate for any kind of help, Riddick is recruited to stem the tide of destruction, which conveniently folds in nicely with Riddick’s plans to exact some kind of vengeance for the mass infanticide against Riddick’s people. There’s plenty of violence, special effects, Canadian extras, and Vin Diesel taking himself way too seriously (which, like Steven Seagal, is when he’s at his best).

Finally, Dark Fury is an animated adventure that takes place not so long after Pitch Black ends and several years before Chronicles of Riddick begins. Riddick and his companions find themselves on strange ship where he is forced to engage in gladiatorial combat to keep his buddies safe. It’s short, stylish and has Vin Diesel providing the voice of Riddick, and it’s really just a little value added feature for the set.

Word on the street is that there is a sequel to the series in the works, but it’s been “in the works” for a few years now, so who knows what to believe. Keep the faith – Diesel’s got a weird habit of returning to his old franchises long after anybody stops caring about them.