The character of Riddick first showed up in Pitch Black, a movie that became a surprise success, leading to not just this sequel, but the 2013 sequel Riddick, all directed and written by David Twohy, based on characters created by Ken and Jim Wheat.
Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel) is one of the last surviving Furyans, a race that excels at combat and can see in the dark. After the events of the anime Dark Fury, Riddick has been hiding on the frozen planet U.V.
Bounty hunters under the command of Toombs (Nick Chinlund) are hunting Riddick, who easily kills most of them and demands to know how they found him. There was a communication from New Mecca on planet Helion Prime, where Imam (Keith David), a survivor from the first movie, lives. Imam wanted Riddick to know that the Necromongers are looking for him, led by Aereon’s (Judi Dench) prediction that he is the last of the Furyans and must be killed. Her prophecy is that the leader of their faith, Lord Marshal (Colm Feore), will be murdered by this warrior. Commander Vaako (Keith Urban) is sent on a mission to stop Riddick.
Riddick is caught and sent to a prison planet called Crematoria, where he meets Jack, who is actually Kyra (Alexa Davalos), the girl that he saved in the first movie. She resents him for stranding her all alone. Meanwhile, Dame Vaako (Thandie Newton), Commander Vaako’s wife, has a conspiracy to have her husband replace Lord Marshal.
I kind of love this movie because it feels like Twohy was given the keys to the money vault and backed up a truck, ready to make his science fiction visions — and Diesel’s love of Dungeons and Dragons — an actual motion picture. It’s so dense with backstory that it feels like you’re several movies deep in a franchise instead of a sequel starring a character who was the secret hero of the first film that was a sleeper success.
Here’s how geeky this movie is. When Universal decided that they wanted to make a sequel, Twohy wrote the screenplays for not one, but three sequels, to which he and Diesel put into separate leather binders and presented them along with the key for the first binder.
Vin Diesel wanted Dame Judi Dench to play Aereon as he was a long-time fan. As she was acting in a play, he had her dressing room filled with so many bouquets of flowers that she couldn’t get into it. He told her that they couldn’t cast this movie until she agreed to accept the role. In her autobiography And Furthermore, she says that she never really understood what was going on, but enjoyed the experience of making the movie and loved the sets, which were the third-largest user of electricity in Canada.
The Arrow Video 4K UHD of The Chronicles of Riddick is packed with so much! It starts with brand new 4K restorations by Arrow Films of the theatrical and director’s cuts of the film, approved by David Twohy. Then, you get a reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford and an illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by Walter Chaw, original production notes and the Chronicles Compendium, an overview of the characters and planets featured in the film.
Extras on the discs include Ambition on Another Scale: Chronicling a Blockbuster Sequel, a brand-new feature-length documentary on the film, featuring interviews with writer-director David Twohy, actors Keith David and Linus Roache, storyboard artist Brian Murray and many others; interviews with Twohy, Murray and David; trailers; two audio commentaries, one by David Twohy and Vin Diesel and the other by Twohy and co-stars Karl Urban and Alexa Davelos; an introduction by Twohy; archive features on the worlds of the movie and its characters; a production calendar and behind the scenes features; three deleted scenes; animated segments that describe the many worlds in this movie; Toombs’ Chase Log, a short film narrated by Nick Chinlund in character; a guided tour of the set by Vin Diesel, along with 360-degree panoramic views of eight sets from the film; on-set interviews with Twohy, Diesel, Dench, Urban, Colm Feore, Alexa Davelos, Thandiwe Newton and producer Scott Kroopf; promotional interviews with Twohy, Diesel, Newton, Urban, Davelos and Feore; Escape from Butcher Bay, a compilation of cutscenes from the acclaimed tie-in video game and The Lowdown, a television special produced to promote the film’s original release.
B&S About Movies 
You must be logged in to post a comment.