The Chronicles of Riddick came out in 2004, five years after Pitch Black made Vin Diesel a star. David Twohy writes and directs again. The tagline promises that “All the power in the universe can’t change destiny.” The film never decides what it wants to be.
Trailer, via Universal Pictures At Home.
From U.V. 6 to Helion Prime
The setup is simple. Bounty hunter Toombs lands on the frozen planet U.V. 6 to collect Riddick. Riddick kills the crew and forces Toombs to name his source: New Mecca, on Helion Prime. Riddick goes there and finds Abu al-Walid, the Imam he rescued five years earlier.
Abu al-Walid warns him the Necromongers are coming. He is right. Within hours the carriers take the planet, Abu al-Walid is killed, and Riddick slips aboard a Necromonger ship.
The Lord Marshal and the Prophecy
Colm Feore plays the Lord Marshal, leader of the Necromonger faith. He gained his powers in the Underverse, and a prophecy says a Furyan warrior will kill him. Judi Dench plays Aereon, an Air Elemental who believes Riddick is that Furyan.
Twohy stacks mythology on mythology without pausing to make any of it mean something. The Quasi-Dead telepaths scan Riddick and confirm it. The Lord Marshal orders him dead. Riddick escapes, then Toombs captures him again and ships him to Crematoria.
What Each Performer Gets
| Performer | Role | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Vin Diesel | Riddick | Survivor, reluctant hero |
| Colm Feore | Lord Marshal | Necromonger leader, prophecy target |
| Karl Urban | Commander Vaako | Hunts Riddick on orders |
| Thandiwe Newton | Dame Vaako | Plots her husband’s rise |
| Judi Dench | Aereon | Air Elemental, explains the prophecy |
| Alexa Davalos | Kyra | Formerly Jack, now a prisoner |
Dame Vaako is the only character with a plan of her own. Newton plays her as the one person in the film who understands what she wants. Everyone else waits for Riddick to arrive.
Crematoria and the Surface Run
Crematoria is a scorching subterranean prison moon where the surface burns by day. The Guv leads the prisoners there, and he makes the surface run with Riddick. It is the film’s best sequence because it has a clock.
The escape also brings Kyra back. Alexa Davalos plays Jack from Pitch Black, now grown, sold into slavery, imprisoned for murder, and renamed to mark that she is no longer innocent. Twohy gives her a reunion and then little to do with it.
The Scale Problem
The Chronicles of Riddick grossed $115.8 million worldwide, the highest total in the franchise. It was still a financial disappointment, and the reviews were negative. A sequel, Riddick, followed in 2013 and went back to something smaller.
That retreat was the right call. Pitch Black worked because a small group of people had to survive a night. The Chronicles of Riddick swaps that for empires, prophecies, and a chosen-one arc that Diesel cannot carry alone.
How the Franchise Compares
| Film | Year | Scale | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pitch Black | 2000 | Small crew, one planet | Launched Diesel as Riddick |
| The Chronicles of Riddick | 2004 | Interstellar empire | $115.8M, negative reviews |
| Riddick | 2013 | Return to smaller scope | Followed the disappointment |
What the Franchise Learned
The Chronicles of Riddick is not a boring film. It is a film that mistakes volume for weight. The cast is the argument for watching it: Dench, Feore, Urban, and Newton treat the material seriously, and Newton finds a character where the script left a gap.
But the real lesson sits in the box office. The Chronicles of Riddick tried to make Riddick a savior and made him smaller instead. Nine years later the franchise cut the mythology back to a single planet and a single man. That is the version of this character that works, and the 2004 film is the expensive proof.
The Chronicles of Riddick scores 3.8 of 10.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
