I think most of us have seen the trailers for the new movie "Chronicles of Riddick" on television. I must say, that the plot interested me more than a little. I checked out Chronicles on the net, and I found that CoR is not the first movie to feature Richard B. Riddick, the main character.
Chronicles of Riddick is, in fact, a sequel to a lesser known movie released in 2000 called "Pitch Black". And get this, while Chronicles is an action movie, Pitch Black was a horror film set on a, surprise surprise, deserted alien planet. Needless to say, I was very interested. So I swung by my local Blockbuster and picked up a copy on DVD.
The movie, I thought, was pretty original (once you get around the whole "crash landing on deserted planet cliche") and Vin Diesel preformed surprisingly well, considering his less than admirable acting in other movies I have seen him in. The rest of the cast isn't too well known, but they all had considerable skill.
For those interested in possibly renting the movie, I'm not very good at summaries. So, I'll just steal one.
Taken from movieweb.com:
"A spacecraft carrying an assortment of passengers including Riddick (Vin Diesel), a dangerous, shackled murderer between prisons, is forced to make a crash landing on a barren, triple-sunned planet after the craft suffers severe damage during a meteor shower. The ship is ripped into pieces, killing several crew members and leaving meek officer Fry (Radha Mitchell) in charge of the survivors. After two unfortunate deaths, the survivors discover that the only visible life form on the planet is a species of light-fearing, carnivorous, occasionally cannibalistic aliens dwelling in caverns beneath the desert surface. Using a model of the planet and its suns in an abandoned research station, Fry deduces that she and her fellow travellers have unfortunately descended on the planet on the day of its first total eclipse in 22 years, giving them mere hours before they are bathed in total darkness. Only then is it safe for the hungry subterranean creatures to emerge, seeking to feed on the remaining survivors. However, the dangerous Riddick, through black market injections received in lock-up, is able to see in darkness- causing the surviving crew members to reluctantly remain dependent on the potentially harmful criminal. As the survivors are killed one by one by the hungry creatures, they realize that Riddick may be their only hope."
I highly recommend it, and I'm definitely going to be seing Chronicles of Riddick in theaters soon.
Also, on a side note: The movie from 2000 has also spawned a video game titled "Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay". The game serves as a prequel to Pitch Black, allowing you to play as Riddick while he escapes from the maximum security prison known, of course, as "Butcher Bay". Its a first-person shooter that has recieved some encouraging comments from Gamespot.com. I'll probably be checking this out as well.
Chronicles of Riddick is, in fact, a sequel to a lesser known movie released in 2000 called "Pitch Black". And get this, while Chronicles is an action movie, Pitch Black was a horror film set on a, surprise surprise, deserted alien planet. Needless to say, I was very interested. So I swung by my local Blockbuster and picked up a copy on DVD.
The movie, I thought, was pretty original (once you get around the whole "crash landing on deserted planet cliche") and Vin Diesel preformed surprisingly well, considering his less than admirable acting in other movies I have seen him in. The rest of the cast isn't too well known, but they all had considerable skill.
For those interested in possibly renting the movie, I'm not very good at summaries. So, I'll just steal one.
Taken from movieweb.com:
"A spacecraft carrying an assortment of passengers including Riddick (Vin Diesel), a dangerous, shackled murderer between prisons, is forced to make a crash landing on a barren, triple-sunned planet after the craft suffers severe damage during a meteor shower. The ship is ripped into pieces, killing several crew members and leaving meek officer Fry (Radha Mitchell) in charge of the survivors. After two unfortunate deaths, the survivors discover that the only visible life form on the planet is a species of light-fearing, carnivorous, occasionally cannibalistic aliens dwelling in caverns beneath the desert surface. Using a model of the planet and its suns in an abandoned research station, Fry deduces that she and her fellow travellers have unfortunately descended on the planet on the day of its first total eclipse in 22 years, giving them mere hours before they are bathed in total darkness. Only then is it safe for the hungry subterranean creatures to emerge, seeking to feed on the remaining survivors. However, the dangerous Riddick, through black market injections received in lock-up, is able to see in darkness- causing the surviving crew members to reluctantly remain dependent on the potentially harmful criminal. As the survivors are killed one by one by the hungry creatures, they realize that Riddick may be their only hope."
I highly recommend it, and I'm definitely going to be seing Chronicles of Riddick in theaters soon.
Also, on a side note: The movie from 2000 has also spawned a video game titled "Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay". The game serves as a prequel to Pitch Black, allowing you to play as Riddick while he escapes from the maximum security prison known, of course, as "Butcher Bay". Its a first-person shooter that has recieved some encouraging comments from Gamespot.com. I'll probably be checking this out as well.
