The Chronicles of Riddick
Director: David Twohy
Year Released: 2004
Rating: 1.0
Melting pot of all sci-fi films that came before it - Dune, Star Wars, Alien, The Fifth Element, Alien, Mortal Kombat, etc. - thrown together and with 'anti-hero' Vin Diesel (admittedly one of my favorite 'actors') at the front, saving humanity and so forth - it's better than Pitch Black, but I really disliked Pitch Black. Supporting cast is actually impressive - Twohy managed to get Thandie Newton, Dame Judi Dench, Linus Roache, Keith David and Colm Feore - but the script is straight out of the Ahnold heydays and packed with countless awful 'bad-ass lines' and freak interventions. In an ingenious move, however, they decided to include on the DVD a demo of the XBox game based on the character (Escape from Butcher Bay), and which just so happens to be significantly better - and more entertaining - than the movie itself (I'm serious, XBox owners - take a look if you haven't already). Diesel, a gamer himself, is most likely a fan.
