THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK (2004)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*

The Riddick franchise was birthed by the 2000 film PITCH BLACK, one year after THE MATRIX brought forth a somewhat similar about a science-fictional hero in a far future. The Wachowskis' hero was a basically sympathetic good guy, negotiating his way through alternate realities, though as the franchise developed, the hero's universe seemed more and more arbitrary. Director/co-scripter David Twohy also began his franchise with a strong opener, but he confined his trope-metaphors to a small selection (altruism vs. self-interest, animality vs. humanity). Yet CHRONICLES, the second live-action film to feature Vin Diesel essaying the murderer destined to save his universe, also fails to build on a strong first film. 

PITCH BLACK had a simple but strong plotline: a seemingly ruthless criminal becomes the sole hope of a small band of crash-survivors, and by becoming their hero he's at least partly changed. An interstitial animated film, DARK FURY, merely accounts for what immediately happened to Riddick and the last two persons to escape the Pitch-Black Planet; it doesn't extend any of the three protagonists but merely sets up the events of CHRONICLES. 

CHRONICLES makes a clumsy effort to build its story from Riddick's emotional ties to his fellow survivors. To keep from endangering them, he distances himself from the Muslim holy man Iman (Keith David) and the young woman who supposedly thinks of him as a "big brother," Jack-renamed-as-Kyra (Alexa Davalos, replacing the performer from PITCH BLACK). This possibly selfless act has one bad consequence: Kyra goes looking for Riddick and is confined to a "slam" (future-world jail). 

Riddick does not know this until he finds himself pursued by a gang of bounty hunters, led by a malefactor named Tombs. Tombs reveals that the bounty was set by the Imam, so Riddick, feeling not a little betrayed, seeks out the alleged holy man. It's soon revealed that Imam's bounty was designed to bring Riddick close enough for the revelation that, as the "Last Furyan" (a particular planetary people), the hard-ass fugitive is the only "evil" that can defeat a greater evil.

When I wonder why I didn't like CHRONICLES better-- despite lots of good costumes, decent FX and splashy action-sequences-- the reason comes down to the uninteresting threat of the Necromongers. This race of humanoid aliens, whom I assume are unrelated to Earth-people, worship the concept of bringing widespread death to the universe. Their theory is that the extinguishing of all life will allow them to access a mystical dimension, the UnderVerse-- all of which sounds like a rejected concept for a JUDGE DREDD story. Because the Necromongers as a movement are boring and one-dimensional, there's nothing compelling about their leader, "The Lord Marshal," or any of his subordinates, such as Lord Varro and his scheming wife Lady Varro. Riddick faces some other raffish opponents as well, and they're also forgettable, though the hero does give one thug the humiliating demise of "death by teacup."

The subplot about Riddick having survived a "death of innocents" oriented on eliminating him as a future opponent is no more impressive. Riddick's confrontation with the alienated Kyra offers a few dramatic beats, but on the whole Twohy, who was solely credited for a Riddick script for the first time, muffs this potential too. The ending tries for tragedy and ends up with mere portentousness. Despite the fact that CHRONICLES underperformed, the franchise got another iteration in 2013's RIDDICK, which I will probably review in the near future.