In the prologue of "The Chronicles of Riddick", Dame Judi Dench as Aereon, leader of the Elemental race, declares that to battle great evil sometimes requires "another kind of evil". That "evil" she speaks of would be Riddick, played by Vin Diesel. Perhaps Riddick (Diesel) is another kind of evil. Although he seems more the classic rogue warrior, beholding to none, who eventually transcends to an avatar. He becomes the chosen one in a battle between good and evil-- a battle that initially was never his nor did have any stake in it. David Towhy's "Chronicles of Riddick", which follows the main character of his "Pitch Black", is very unwieldy, needlessly convoluted, and ambitious in scale and scope. That being said, I enjoyed the movie largely because of Vin Diesel, and the appeal of the character Riddick. Here is the deal. The Elementals are some kind of ethereal guardian race, who follow some sort of doctrine of non-intervention. Ultimately, they are part of the storyline. The great evil are the Necromongers, a ruthless fascist military race, bent on the genocide of all humans throughout the galaxy. Their leader is the omnipotent, Lord Marshall (Colm Feore). The dark Lord is hinted to be "half living and..." Aereon (Dench) prophesies that the powerful Lord will die by the hand of a Furion, member of the extinct elite warrior race. In the prophesy, Riddick is that Furion. Hence, the mythology is in place. Unlike the very poorly done messiah tale of "The Matrix Revolutions", Twohy's "Riddick" does not really take itself so seriously. This is a good thing.

"Chronicles" is set five years after the prisoner, Riddick, and survivors escaped the deadly planet in "Pitch Black". Bounty hunters tracking Riddick, bring him out of seclusion and back to civilization on Helion II. There he seeks out his old friend, Iman (Keith David). Riddick thinks that Iman had betrayed him to bounty hunters. He does so, but discovers that the young boy, Jack, with whom they escaped was really a girl, Kyra. Kyra (Alexa Davalos) has the story that Riddick abandoned her, when he had intended to protect her from harm by leaving her and Iman. Kyra in turn has become like Riddick, now a murderous inmate on a planetary penitentiary. This is a rather forced plot twist which works in this story. Having Jack be Kyra lends compassion to Riddick which is a cool character paradox. One of the endearing aspects of Diesel as Riddick is that he does not care about anyone, including himself. Kyra gives him something worth fighting for.

While on Helion Riddick, witnesses the sheer brutality and ruthlessness of the Necromongers. He also demonstrates his fearlessness and awesome warrior prowess. The battle lines are drawn, and Riddick must surrender to his destiny... or not.

Twohy's story is very kluged, though his direction has effective pace and energy. Some of the action is sharply edited in a quick cut style which makes details difficult to discern. "The Chronicles of Riddick" really relies on the powerful presence and intensity of Vin Diesel. Diesel is at his best playing bad boy, loner heroes, and muting the hero's compassion. Really, he is great at underplaying this. John Riddick is just more of an updated gangsta version of John Rambo. Diesel has a great voice, and is in awesome shape to perform the fighting sequences. Colm Feore is a formidable adversary as Lord Marshall. Judi Dench, who is great in whatever role she plays, must have been well compensated for Aereon, because she does not have much to do in this movie. The only other standout is Alexa Davalos as Kyra. She is beautiful, strong, athletic, and full of rage. Her Kyra is a great foil to Riddick; thus, serving to humanize his character.

I enjoyed "The Chronicles of Riddick" and admire the star power of Vin Diesel. "Riddick" looks to be a movie franchise. It would be great if Twohy in the sequel expands and deepens the character, instead of just amping up the action. Vin Diesel is suited for these kinds of movies (I really would not like see him in a romantic comedy); however, he might select more challenging roles and movies that capitalize on his charisma, and develop his range and power. He is already a movie star. I also think he can be a powerful actor.

Just had fun watching TCOR and am pretty happy about it. Good action, great visual stuff. A worthy successor to Pitch Black, though the two films are hardly related. Vin Diesel does a good and convincing job at playing an action antihero. As usual, Judy Dench adds to the film, even though her role is small here. The story is pure pulp SF and is short and predictable but is refreshingly dark and (mostly) unsentimental. It actually also has some interesting bits and nice side stories as a (smallish) bonus. Bits and pieces have been copied from Dune, without the film being a Dune copy. Compared to Dune, TCOR has more action and fewer Lynch oddities & boring bits. In my book, both films are good, about equally so.

Reading some of the other reviews, it seems that people are fairly polarized in their opinions of this film. Like most pulp science fiction, it takes a different sort of suspension of belief from that which makes usual films work. However, the action makes it a fair bit easier, and I found it a lot more engrossing and convincing than any of the five (ridiculous but entertaining) Star Wars films, the uniformly unwatchable Star Trek stuff, or, for that matter, most blockbusting light entertainments. But that is just me. If you hate Dune, exaggerated action scenes, or (minor) plot inconsistencies, then you probably won't like this film. Otherwise, chances are good that you will.

David Twohy's Pitch Black was a dank, murky horror sci fi that took place inside a claustrophobic killing jar, all the action unfolding on one planet, and over a short amount of time. With The Chronicles Of Riddick, he lifts the lid off that jar, unveiling more planets, characters, creatures and broadening both the scope of what is seen visually and what takes place in the story. What began as a simple human vs. monster survival tale crystallizes into a full blown operatic space saga, and I loved every minute of it. Now there are a lot of people who hate it, and fine for them if they want to live inside such negativity. I was sold after the intro, in which a snarky, canine - like bounty hunter (Nick Chinlund) chases a haggard looking Riddick a across the bizarre, jagged face of a planet that would make the asteroid from Armageddon sweat. This film takes place sometime after Pitch Black, the few survivors scattered across the galaxy. There's a price on Riddick's head, which Toombs (Chinlund) intends to collect. Riddick unwittingly wanders into the path of something far more dangerous in his evasive efforts: a powerful, fascist master race known as the Necromongers are cutting a swath through the known universe, converting or killing anyone they find. They are led by the "" (Colm Feore), and commanded by Lord Vaako (another badass character for Karl Urban to another do to his rogue's gallery), a nasty piece of work who is further soured by his insidious wife (Thandie Newton). Riddick has encounter with them, as well as an old friend from former times (an all too brief Keith David) and is taken far and away, to a dangerous prison on a planet called Crematoria, where the wrecking ball of a sun fries everything on the surface every half hour or so. It all happens fast (and furious hehe), in a somewhat rushed frenzy of sci fi action, cool effects and surprisingly vicious antics for a PG-13 flick. Diesel was born to play Riddick, a growling night wolf of an antihero and endlessly watchable. There's all sorts of half Cooke ideas running around, some fun and others left unexplored. There's a prophecy involving the Purifier (Linus Roache) who has ties to Riddick's tragic past and the fate of his race, a strange elemental (Judi Dench looking confused), another person from his past (Alexa Davalos) and other intrigue involving Urban. Best to sit back and let it wash over you like the fun it is. Chinlund is hilarious as Toombs, the only character who seems to have wandered in from inner city L.A., a wide ass prick with a hate streak for Riddick and that old school charisma that carries scenes. The set pieces are exhilarating and make up for the plot which is at times spread too thinly, but never hurts the film. I love it, watch it all the time, let the haters sulk... more for us.