Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Having seen and rented the entire Pitch Black series (they refer to it as “Chronicles of Riddick”), I decided I might as well take the remainder of my gift certificates from Christmas and just buy the Trilogy. To be honest, I wasn't 100% satisfied.

First off, you have to understand that like Star Wars, Riddick was initially slated for a few films. The problem is that only Pitch Black really plays to the character. So, we'll start there as I highlight each film.

PITCH BLACK 5/5
This is where audiences first see the man and the myth that is Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel). The scariest man alive, now is stranded on a desert planet with civilians. The only one who can stop him is a Police Officer named William J. Johns (Cole Hauser). With Johns protecting the civilians, all seems to go well, until they discover that the desert planet is inhabited by a creature that only comes out at night. To make matters worse, an eclipse is only hours away. The survivors of the crash must find their way off the planet before night fall or be killed off by the things that go bump in the night. As luck would have it, only Riddick can truly see in the dark, so when night does fall, there's a delicate balance between who's in power.

This is the story meant to set up the remainder of the series. Sadly, this is the best of the three films in this pack. It's supposed to be “Uncut”, but I don't see much difference between this and the original film that I rented. There is a bonus scene where Johns shows a portion of his spine where Riddick stabbed him. There's some significance to this scene, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be left out. Nothing I couldn't have lived without seeing.

DARK FURY 3/5
On the same DVD as Pitch Black is Dark Fury. This is the continuation of the series. Shortly after escaping from the desert planet, Riddick, Jack/Jackie (Rhianna Griffith), and Imam (Keith David) find themselves floating in space. They're picked up by a Merc (mercenary) ship that's far more twisted than anything Riddick could imagine. Who knows why, but for some reason Riddick seeks to escape the Merc ship with both Imam and Jack alive. Too bad Chillingsworth (Tress MacNeille) isn't going to make that easy.

Dark Fury was more like an anime than anything. It did tell more about how Jack becomes Kyra in the third film, but beyond that it doesn't really serve to tell more of Riddick's story. There may have been a better way to reveal more about Jack, but Dark Fury is what audiences will have to settle for. If you're looking for a quick 30 minute Riddick fix, this is something up your alley. But of the three films, this doesn't get as much screen time as Pitch Black for me. And, Imam just seems like extra baggage in this film. Chronicles of Riddick makes absolutely no reference to Dark Fury, which makes me think that this short was more of an attempt for syndication of the Riddick universe.

CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK 4/5
5 years after Dark Fury, Riddick is hiding on an ice planet. Pursuing him is a bounty hunter named Toombs (Nick Chinlund). Unfortunately, Toombs didn't learn his lesson in Dark Fury (though, there's absolutely no reference to Toombs and Riddick being in the same place during that time). After what's a short scene between the two, Riddick is off to Helios Prime (aka: New Mecca) to find Imam and possibly get revenge for the bounty Imam put on his head. As it turns out, there's a greater threat to the peace of the Universe. A death seeking race, called Necromongers, threatens to kill or convert everything in existence. Riddick only cares about his on survival, but when he learns that Jack is on a prison planet, he goes to find her.

So, this is the film that really puts Riddick in the anti-hero category. With Necromongers after him as well as bounty hunters, Riddick needs to have more than 9 lives to escape. What strikes me as odd is Riddick's relationship with Jack. Jack, who now calls herself Kyra (Alexa Davalos), is no longer the innocent girl that Riddick saved from the desert planet. She's not only matured physically, but also become psychotic. Kyra actually gets very little screen time in Chronicles of Riddick, considering that Riddick seems to value her in some, odd, father/daughter sort of manner. The writing really never explains this at all.

Beyond a few plot holes, the Director's Cut is rated R. There's one scene where Riddick uses an ability that some call “Wrath of the Furyans.” It seemed a bit cheesy to me, but in the end, was a cool scene for visual effects. There might've been a little more gore, but I didn't see much that would make this film rated R besides the profanity.

Overall Package
My main attraction to this was that I've wanted to own Pitch Black on DVD. With Blu-Ray and HD-DVD's out, if only I had a player. Since I don't, it was either Pitch Black for $9.99 or the Trilogy at $14.99. Survey says, Trilogy wins hands down. There were some interesting bonus features which followed the chronicles of Johns as he pursued Riddick. Most people will probably only listen to these once. It gives a little insight into how Riddick was captured the first time. There's a making of featurette, but of the three, there are no special features unique to Dark Fury. Since Dark Fury shares a DVD with Pitch Black, they did have a short introduction to how it was made and why, but as a course of layout, I would've thought they would have located this in the same menu with the remainder of Dark Fury.

I'm looking forward to see what they'll add to the Blu-Ray (or HD-DVD) version of the Trilogy. Though, I'm not too excited about the bonus features on this 2-disc set, at a price comparison, I'm glad I went with the Trilogy over just Pitch Black. Once in a while, I do watch the other two films, but Pitch Black is the main attraction here. Though, I am a little disappointed that this package only features English language track.

I would recommend getting either Pitch Black or the Chronicles of Riddick Trilogy. The trilogy is $5, but you get the other two films for the price of a rental. Meanwhile, Pitch Black is a solid stand-alone film. I would also add that the bonus features in this package are good, but if the pricing was more on the Trilogy, I probably wouldn't have purchased the Trilogy and just stuck with Pitch Black. For the serious Riddick fan, I do recommend this purchase. It's got more Riddick than you could ask for.










Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age