THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK - A HIDDEN SCI-FI GEM 

A huge mess, a glorious mess, but heart's in the right place and a genuine effort to create something original in scifi vision. Love it, warts and all.

The Chronicles Of Riddick felt like a trilogy mushed into a singular movie.

I actually adore this movie. It’s one I can go back to and rewatch endlessly.

One of my favorite parts is when the Necromongers attack the planet and the defense systems kick in and riddick looks up and sees the invasion. A pretty great scene really

Chronicles of Riddick's aesthetic reminds me somewhat of David Lynch's Dune.

They tried to make something new. You have to respect that. How often does that even happen in Hollywood? After years of reboots and franchises I'll support a movie that experiments over a bland but good annual release.

I've always loved this movie and don't understand the hate for it. It's genuinely unique and entertaining

I remember loving this as a teenager mainly because they went hard with the rule of cool in this movie. Does anyone else remember the tie in video game Escape from Butcher Bay. It severed as an origin story for Riddick and was highly praised when it came out.

so the Necromongers are almost like the imperium in 40k, I still love the Riddick series. Chronicles of Riddick is one of those movies that got me into sci-fi

The execution was bad, but the concept, universe-building and story war superb and unique.

I wouldn't call it a gem, but it's a big guilty pleasure for me

I'd rather have another Pitch Black movie than 29 Fast and Furious sequels

I have similar fond feelings for Chronicles of Riddick as I have for David Lynch's Dune. They're aesthetically fascinating in oddly similar ways, and interestingly enough, suffer from oddly similar problems in narrative, direction and structure.

I'm consciously aware that stuff like the Riddick and Resident Evil movies or Pacific Rim/etc. are 'bad' but for some reason I just love them; enough that I reliably get the urge to rewatch them every now and then. Maybe it just hits my sweet spot; for 'turn off your brain' fun -they feel like easy, dependable and comfortable entertainment.

Pitch Black is a masterpiece. Great tone and atmosphere, and a beautiful existential nightmare. The rest of the Riddick series is...entertaining. Very different from the first one, but still something entertaining. I think the best of the franchise was Assault on Dark Athena.

I quite like the movie, the costumes and set designs were superb, the problem is the non-stop action scenes and the fact they cut everything out between the actions scene to keep the movie time down for the cinematic release, total action overkill. Tandie Newton was also excellent. The extended edition is better as the plot lines are restored.

Most of Vin Diesel's career has been "original character don't steal" and tbh makes me love the man even more.

Definitely watch the extended cut. Expands on Riddick's Furian heritage and Furian power a bit more. Don't know why they cut that back.

Spot on ! There's something inherently intriguing about this universe that made me search for more material, it's what I like to call "an open world" (which is common in sci-fi of course), but it gave that sense that there's something out there, life and a bunch of aliens, humans and creatures crawling somewhere. A dynamic universe !

Most of Vin Diesel's movies post Pitch Black just feel like him portraying himself as the coolest badass ever. I think its in his contract

This movie felt like Dune on steroids to me back then... I kinda liked it, too! In a guilty pleasure way, I guess...

The Chronicles of Riddick is like a cover of one of those 70’s sci-fi novel cover artworks come to life. It’s a lot of fun and very underrated.

I really like this movie, especially the Director's Cut. It turns up the weirdness even more than the theatrical cut.

Had enough world building for 3 films. The necromungers where awesome 👍🏻

Oh, thank you. I have always felt alone with this. Because I LOVE this movie. I saw it in the theatres and was just "WOW!" Everybody else thought it was just laughably bad. And you are right, it is. Especially with the main story grinding to a halt to tell yet another Riddick in prison tale. But the lore that is told and hinted at was wonderful and, as mentioned, the visuals were fantastic. It made me really want to learn so much more about the Necromongers and the mythology of the Furians. Also, let's send Riddick to conquer the Underverse. I just wish they could have used the talents involved to work with a more coherent script. But this is a go-to, fun movie for me.

Riddick universe gives us such a desired genre of "dark/dirty spacepunk" like the original Starcraft or other WH40K inspired projects from late 90s/early 2000s. I really hope that they realise the potential to its full extend as a TV series, maybe animated one, rather than huge cinema releases.

Both Pitch Black and Chronicles is one of my guilty pleasures. Need to watch them again. Thank you for bringing these movies back into focus again.

There's something that's always drawn me to the world of Riddick. The films, together with the video games, have built a universe I would kinda like to live in. The gothic, brutal, fantastical elements are something I love. I was really disappointed when the 3rd Riddick film stripped out or at least ignored all the world-building built up in Chronicles.

I loved the space opera aspect, in retrospect there is a Warhammer 50k vibe to the necromongers also

Its a gem. The movie goes out of its way to create its own lingo, settings, history, etc. Lots of scif movies just create the look and plot. This movie creates everything.

I have a theory that Riddick takes place in the Warhammer 40k universe during the early years of the dark age of technology.

I love this movie (despite its issues) and it is probably one of my favorite movies to rewatch. I'd take this any day over any of the F&F movies.

If you haven't covered Soldier, you should. It's my favorite hidden gem...it's almost unbelievable to be so obscure with all of the huge star power

This makes me wish they gave Riddick an animated anthology on Netflix- something like those animated Matrix, Hellboy, Halo and Dead Space adaptations from the 2000s-early 10s delivered in the format of like a Love Death and Robots style series. (not the biggest fan of LDR myself, but I'd like to see more adult animation hit streaming, and it's a foot in the door for the genre/medium if nothing else.)

The thing that for me qualified this to be a hidden gem is one almost entirely overlooked performance. Linus Roache is absolutely incredible in this. He's one of those actors playing tiny roles of tertiary characters. His acting is not to the level of "scene-stealers" like Bill Paxton and such. But he always brings so much subtle nuance. I love that movie just for him alone. But also, as some people mentioned already, the world-building done by this script could have been better fleshed out and turned into a whole franchise of its own without Riddick. That would have been way better.

Chronicles of Riddick is just a great original idea. Like you said it takes a lot of risks. Something we don’t really see these days.

Tbh I absolute ADORE this movie! I think the whole backround, planets, species etc was aweome. I wanted so bad a new movie that follow up the story after Chronicles but we got a disappointing Riddick 2013 which is basically a Redo of Riddick 1....

Appreciate your take on these films. I enjoy watching all three of them in a row for a movie day. There’s just something about them that is just on the edge of plausible with fun visuals included. Good video dude

As a teen I loved Pitch Black. I too, knew that The Crhronicles of Riddick is NOT a good movie, but I found it strangegly interesting. I was enticed by the worldbuilding and visual style. I would give it another go, after I saw it's on Netflix. 10x for reminding me of this gem!!!

It's currently streaming on Peacock. I think I'll rewatch it tonight.

This move is like 90% vibes only, and I love it so much.

I never understood the hate for Chronicles. It's my fave of the three. I liked that it did something totally different rather than repeat the first. The invasion scenes had a really epic and apocalyptic feel to them and I love the style and design of the invasion force.

Chronicles would’ve been a universe to explore! Especially after the ending in the movie! Wish we got at least two more chronicles movies

I really enjoyed The Chronicles of Riddick. I would loved to have seen another installment to finish the story arc, but sadly we will never see it.

I watched this movie so many times as a kid. And I also loved the design of the necromongers.

Chronicles cringy dialogue (at least for Diesel) make sense to me as a result of Riddick just really wanting solitude and the universe not letting him alone.

Karl Urban crushes every role he’s in. He is fantastic in this movie.

To me the necromongers felt a bit like if the Harkonnens were the ones on a mystical crusade instead of the Atreides.

Thank you for a great review of one of my guilty pleasures 😄. I wish there where more movies or tv shows set in this universe.

Your alright, I have seen this movie about 11 times, each time I find something new to look at, interesting...🌻🌞

Chronicles of Riddick is one of my favorite movies. I loved the story which I thought was epic. The story spanned across different worlds and different civilizations. I especially loved the planet which started burning once the sun came out. The ending was amazing with Riddick killing the leader and taking his place. IMO, it is one of the best SciFi movies.

I get it. I feel the same way about Jupiter Ascending. We're introduced to such a cool world (Universe) that could have been amazing. Instead we got a big mess with some spectacular ingredients.

[Edited] It is stupid fun that deserves [to] have some of the concepts like the Necromongers pursued in their own movie. Seriously, I would love to learn MORE about the Underverse.

I love this movie to death. I absolutely love the practical set designs and costumes. Very few movies put that much effort into crafting physical sets of that level of complexity and creativity even fewer craft completely physical alien landscapes that actors can actually climb and scale. They crafted full size city streets and designed hundreds of unique costumes to get feel of the cultural melding pot that New Mecca was supposed to be. In the behind the scenes making of videos every person involved from set and costume designers all the actors even the extras gush about how passionate they were to be involved and how fun the whole project was. I honestly think you feel it. Almost every actor had gushed about how blown away they were when they first walked into the Necromonger ship, the sheer size and detail of every inch transported them into another world that really motivated them in their roles. This is a movie where Vin Diesel and Fucking Judy Finch were playing D&D in between their scenes. And I'm kinda upset that we never got the chance to let Vin Diesel turn his D&D campaigns into a different fully fleshed out Cinematic Universe which it clearly was trying to create. The director's cut is the only way to watch the theatrical cut is a complete broken and disjointed mess.

I love the way that the Riddickverse went straight from Aliens to Dune. Thematically it's all over the shop.

I love how smoothly you went from negatives to positives man

This is what I call a 'Popcorn movie'. Turn off the analytical side of your brain and just enjoy the ride!

Chronicles of Riddick is essentially unofficial 40k movie with Necromongers having some heavy Imperium of Man overtones.

I like your very intelligent commentary, thank you.🌞🌻

The Riddick games are fantastic. Seemingly, Disel opened a studio to help create them or something. The voice acting is superb and the atmosphere. Highly recommend checking them out even if just watching walkthroughs.

This movie definitely deserves another go. Maybe re-imagined into an animated series that could better pace and flesh out it's world, story, and characters.

I have to agree, despite the flaws you mention (of which some I didn't even notice when watching) it was a very enjoyable watch due to the refreshingly different and extravagant visuals. I got a bit of a "Dune" vibe from it.

I have read the book that inspired "Pitch Black", a police car with a convict transports to a strange world with vampirical cratures underground venturing out at dark.

Thank you for articulating that which I’ve failed to convey since the film hit me.

Your brief statement about Conan won you a new subscriber.

I love when sci-fi movies ditch practicality and just go wild on lavish, bizarre aesthetics, Chronicles of Riddick, Jupiter Asending, Battle Beyond the Stars, (their scripts may not be the best, but they are visually delictfull)

A couple of things. First, bloody awesome, I enjoyed this movie as a young kid. Second, the HEAVY star power here too, Colm Feore, Dame Judi Dench, Karl Urban, Thandie Newton and KEITH FRICKEN DAVID just elevated this film, it's like if there was scenery to be chewed it was chewed. I wish films would do something similar nowadays, give a great, talented crew of actors and actresses just something over the top and tell them, "Go have as much fun as you can". Lastly, I seriously hope that one day you take a look at the old Battletech cartoon. Keep it up mate!

As stated elsewhere, I love the character of Riddick. He isn't good, but still has his own code. He is a survivor. A criminal. And by the end of this movie, a King/emperor. Conan in space. I would be lying if after pitch black and this movie, I made a few attempts to make D&D characters in respect to this character. It has it's problems. It won't work for everyone, but this movie is a favorite or mine. Escape from Butcher Bay was a joy to play. I do want to say I think perhaps, this series of movies might work better in comics... video games. And maybe a mini series. Great vid.

This a great and honest review/breakdown of a fun movie. Extra big happy shout for mentioning the Lensman series!

You can even design your own Necromonger faction in Stellaris. They were probably the inspiration for that whole DLC.

There are many films out there that are bad, or full of faults and plot holes, but I can still enjoy or even love them - Chronicles of Riddick definitely being one of them. Something which a lot of people can't understand. Great actors and flawless acting often helps. Newton and Urban worked really well together in this film.

I just love the aesthetics of this movie including the scenarios, it kinda reminds me of those The Incredible Museums, some theme parks and Wax museums. As for the plot may be a mess but very authentic and unique mix. Btw anyone else here sees some inspirations taken from Dune?

Absolutely love Riddick and all the products; animated and video game!

Riddick's merc ship is one that I love and am so saddened that it just disappeared with this movie.

How in the hell was the budget for Chronicles of Riddick 100 mil?!?! The CGI was legendary bad

It's reminds me of an 80's Cannon movie. They greenlit some batshit crazy movies back in the day, with quite large budgets, hoping it would be a hit. 'Life Force' (the space vampire film) springs to mind lol.

There are some films that are objectively flawed but I absolutely love. The Chronicles of Riddick is at the top of that list.

Also. The game escape from butcher Bay is probably the best thing in the series

Unironically one of my top 3 favourite movies. Alongside Mortal Kombat and Freddy Got Fingered. I have odd taste.

I went to go see this with my boyfriend at the time. I mainly remember the prison wolves, the sun rise that could literally kill people, and the guy who somehow manage to get killed by Vin Disel while his astral projection is running away from Karl Urban

Riddick series is basically Conan in Space, I absolutely adore this movie! edit: I wrote that comment before the end of the video and wasn't surprised it was mentioned, apparently the movie did good on creating Riddick as a sophisticated space barbarian

Thanks for this, been a while since seeing this so now I know what I'm doing for at least part of today. :-)

I used to watch Chronicles of Riddick and Serenity back to back all the time

I completely agree with you on everything, especially the aesthetics and culture of the Necromongers and the wealth of unique ideas throughout

I'm a lot more forgiving of movies faults growing up absolutely starved of anything sci-fi. So I learned to take what I could get. I can't disagree with anything in the video but I do like this whole series a whole lot. One thing even fans seem to miss is the hidden movie that bridges Pitch Black with the big chronicles movie. Its called Dark Fury and is an animated feature length flick with pretty respectable animation. Vin does the voice of Riddick and I believe he partly funded it himself. The real beauty of the thing though is how the final scene of pitch black continues seamlessly into the cartoon dark fury and the final scene of that movie continues seamlessly into the chronicles movie. So you can watch all three movies as one giant story. Glorious IMO!

I love Chronicles of Riddick, and of all 3 movies, it's also the most rewatchable.

The Chronicles of Riddick is one of the best movies ever made. PERIOD. I love all the different angles, the main enemy the Necromancers, thats dark and scary, the elementals, Judi Dench, the 3 beings that could predict the future, "unalive the Riddick" the plot within the necromancers to overthrow their leader, the Black Lady and Bones from Star Trek movie are awesome. Oh and the lead bounty hunter!!. And the excellent actor, veteran Black guy that is the Muslim. The guy that played the Lord Marshall, excellent acting . The whole concept of this movie is Brilliant. The Underverse!? Half dead half alive, that sounds kinda cool. Ohh Snap, the sounds of their guns! Pure excellence!!!! Ohh and the reason Riddick is amazing Badass is because his entire planet were Badasses. Kinda like Superman. But, hes almost the last one. Ok I googled some names. Thandie Newton and Karl Urban are next level in this movie. The guy that is the purifier, freaking awesome. The big fight scene one on one with the Necromancy lead guy, excellent . The Ending fight scene, awesome! Keira, are you with me. Ohh Necromancy is talking to the Dead, what if they wanted to hangout with us!? Half dead half alive, brilliant concept. And again, the lead bounty hunter is spectacular.

An over the top, slightly silly space opera....what's not to love?

I saw Chronicles of Riddick before I saw Pitch Black. I completely loved it. I get what you're saying about the story lines and the different acts, but those didn't bother me. I'm jazzed that you compared him to Conan. That was my exact thought. Like a mix of Conan the Barbarian and Dune. And yes, I thought the Necromongers were totally unlike anything I'd seen before. So well imagined. Such an interesting religion. I'd love to see a movie about their history! And yes, Riddick was softer in this movie but I believe that's because of the attachments he made in Pitch Black. :)

I had completely forgotten that they made a third film in this franchise.

The movie simultaneously wants you to turn your brain off and enjoy the action while also creating a vast and lived in universe. The number one rule of world building is that it has to be interesting and, in spite of its flaws, this movie had me wanting to know more about it.

There are surprising amount of Sci-Fi media that are carried just by the amount of high concept premises they pump out a minute. Chronicles of Riddick, Garum war, the Dune movie. You spend more time thinking about how theses concepts would interact instead of watching the movie.

Finally, some love for CoR. I love this film. When it came out it was such a breath of fresh air delivering crazy massive world building, cool action, stunning design and all wrapped up in a highly entertaining story that took itself just seriously enough to have weight but firmly knowing exactly what it was. Yeah it's trash but it's trash of the best kind.

Ray Harryhausen exhibit you say? Immediately starts googling train fares to Edinburgh.

Oh, I totally agree, it is a hidden gem, and yes, it’s a bad movie with bad, one-liners and such but I did I get tired of watching the last two, have them on my phone and watch them occasionally

The only thing I like about "Chronicles of Riddick" is the grand Art Deco design of the entire Necromonger 'verse. It is spectacular. I am a huge fan of "Pitch Black", a movie that subverts our expectations and does it extremely well and in an original fashion. Watching it in the cinema, one could tell that it was a low- to medium-budget flick, but ev-er-y penny was up there, on screen. Great script, distinct and interesting characters, fantastic monsters, including the human variety. The planetary visuals are breathtaking.

Fully agree. You find the controller to the spy chip in my head?

The third film "Riddick" was awesome! I just rewatched it yesterday lol its free on RU-vid!

Good pull on Heavy Metal. This movie always seemed like it had some French writer on a reprieve from writing Metal Hurlant (another hidden gem for me for sure).

'You made three mistakes.... first you took the job. Then you came light.... a 4man crew for me?!?! F"*king insulting! Third, and worst of all.... Empty gun rack'