When I first heard about the idea of The Chronicles Of Riddick, I had thought it was one of the best ideas I had ever heard. Pitch Black was the first Vin Diesel movie I ever saw, and since then, I haven't found a better Vin Diesel movie. My original understanding was that this would be a prequel, which would lead up to why Riddick was being transported as a prisoner in Pitch Black to begin with, but apparently, this movie takes place five years after Pitch Black, in both the movie and real life, oddly enough.
This movie had some stiff competition when it opened, and it didn't do very well. The Tuesday after it premiered, Gina and I wanted to go to see it in Middletown for $5.50. We would have, too, except it started at around 7:45 and at 7:40 we were still in Wallingford. Then, a funny thing happened: The following week, it dropped out of the Middletown theater. In fact, it dropped out of a lot of theaters. I only really like to go to two theaters in CT: Middletown and Bristol. So imagine how surprised I was to come back from Houston and find out that Riddick was now playing in Bristol for $3.50!
All I really want to say about this movie is two things, because if you enjoyed Pitch Black (or just happen to like Vin Diesel), you're most likely going to see or have seen this movie.
First off, the character Jack returns in this story, though it is not the same actress from Pitch Black. Did that kid die or something because if she didn't, she should be playing Jack!
And second, Karl Urban is also in this movie, as a bad guy, and he played Eomer in the LOTR trilogy. It's kind of hard to pick him out at first (must be the mullet), but he rules in this movie. And if you think that's not enough, he will also be in the Bourne Supremacy.
From what I hear, The Chronicles were proposed as a trilogy, kind of like LOTR, and that was why the company bought it and decided to put it out. If this is in fact the first of a trilogy, I really do hope we get to see the other two pieces. Even if the theater draw was low, premiere them on the Sci-Fi Channel or something. I don't know why Riddick doesn't have a) his own comic book b) his own animated television series and c) action figures. Someone get on this right away! I LOVE RIDDICK!!!!!!