 |
| All Images Courtesy: Universal Studios/Arrow Video |
When Arrow Video made the jump into 4K UHD in 2020, the first film they released on the format was David Twohy’s sci-fi/horror cult classic Pitch Black, in honor of the film’s 20th anniversary. A modestly-budgeted studio-indie that stretched its limited resources to achieve an ambitious, high-concept vision, Twohy’s tense and gritty tale of spaceship crash survivors facing off against vicious nocturnal aliens during a total eclipse became a surprise sleeper hit upon its release in 2000. The film had a solid performance in theaters, but it was on the still-new DVD format that Pitch Black became an absolute phenomenon via word of mouth, turning The Arrival director Twohy into a bona fide cult filmmaker, and launching the film’s breakout lead, Vin Diesel, into superstardom. Without a doubt, launching the career of Vin Diesel is Pitch Black’s greatest legacy, but what a legacy it is: his career took off in a big way after that, and it was only a matter of time before Universal inevitably wanted to get Diesel and Twohy back together for a potentially-lucrative sequel.
Driven by Diesel’s suddenly massive star-power and resulting Hollywood clout, the Pitch Black sequel became David Twohy’s big chance to level up from a cult-favorite director of conceptually ambitious but modestly budgeted studio-indie genre films (while they may not be as ubiquitously known as Pitch Black, his other early films The Arrival and Below are both great) to a director of summer blockbusters. But the form this sequel took was… unexpected to say the least. Twohy and Diesel were both reluctant to repeat themselves with another sci-fi/horror creature feature, and they instead chose a radically different, swing-for-the-fences approach: to keep little else but Pitch Black’s breakout character, the ruthless criminal antihero Riddick, to change the genre altogether from sci-fi/horror to sci-fi/fantasy, and to make Riddick the lead in a sprawling, planet-hopping space opera with nearly five times the budget. And so, Pitch Black 2 instead morphed into The Chronicles of Riddick, a hard pivot of genre and style that some fans wholeheartedly embraced, but other Pitch Black fans and casual newcomers were left a bit baffled and confused by.
Perhaps it is unsurprising that building a grand-scale space opera around the main character of a low-budget horror film was not a gamble that paid off at the box office: The Chronicles of Riddick didn’t quite manage to break even in theaters, and wound up being a flop despite grossing a respectable 115.8 million dollars. But it immediately developed a passionate cult following of its own, among fans who admire its ambitious, epic worldbuilding, and its fascinatingly weird concepts. A director’s cut on DVD further helped to boost its cult classic reputation, and the film did well enough on home media to get a third Riddick film made, with a fourth in pre-production right now.
Now The Chronicles of Riddick is turning 20 years old, and as they did with Pitch Black, Arrow Video is commemorating the occasion with a limited edition UHD and blu-ray release, with three different presentations of the film and a ton of extras, including a brand-new feature-length documentary. It’s a welcome call for a widespread reevaluation of what remains a pretty divisive sequel. So let’s find out… with 20 years of hindsight, is The Chronicles of Riddick a worthy cult-classic space opera in its own right, or a head-scratching oddity?
THE FILM:
Prior to getting this Arrow disc I had not seen The Chronicles of Riddick since theaters, and I had never seen the director’s cut at all. I remembered enjoying it, but that’s about it, so this was a bit like seeing it for the first time again, with a clean slate. It is a very peculiar film, and not just because it’s the nominal sequel to a film that could hardly be more different. I’m not sure if it entirely works: it’s a bit overstuffed, and it has a very bizarre and convoluted mythology that sometimes spills over into camp territory. The tone is quite strange, and it is somehow at the same time pretty self-serious and gleefully cheeky in its absolute weirdness. But while I’m not sure if it entirely works, it is absolutely entirely a lot of fun. Revisiting it for the first time in 20 years, I found The Chronicles of Riddick to be an absolute blast, precisely because of all the ways in which it is such a compelling odd duck of a movie. The things that genuinely work about it really work: it is brimming with creativity and wonderfully strange ideas, and is a very well-shot and well-crafted action film that swings for the fences. And the things about it that don’t quite work manage to not quite work in thoroughly enjoyable ways, as endearingly weird and goofy camp that adds to the fun rather than distracting from it (depending on your taste in strange, messy movies, of course). It is the kind of totally wild film that could have only been made in the sort of carte-blanche situation in which it was, given almost total creative freedom thanks to the success of Pitch Black and the flourishing of Vin Diesel’s career. Is it a worthy cult-classic space opera in its own right, or a head-scratching oddity? The answer is… yes. Both.
Going from a fairly stripped-down, claustrophobic, and isolated horror film, where Riddick has a relatively straightforward arc as a ruthless criminal with an unexpectedly caring streak of humanity underneath, to this densely lore-filled space opera is quite an adjustment. The Chronicles of Riddick throws A LOT of lore at the audience very fast, especially in the (far superior) director’s cut. We get a bunch of backstory on Riddick and his origins as one of the last of his race, we get the mythology of the death-worshipping Necromongers (the film’s baroque-styled villains lead by Colm Feore, Karl Urban, Thandie Newton, and Linus Roache), we get the introduction of the Elementals (represented by Dame Judi Dench) who preserve the balance of the universe, we get multiple planets and their civilizations… there’s a lot going on here. More than once I was reminded of the similar denseness of David Lynch’s Dune, another visually opulent messy film I love for many similar reasons. The planet-hopping adventure begins with Riddick being summoned back to civilization by fellow Pitch Black survivor Keith David, who fills him in on the Necromonger threat, and raises the possibility that he might be the chosen one who can stop them. And then we are off to the races, with the plot seldom slowing down as Riddick becomes a reluctant hero, fighting his way through one insane situation after another as the universe threatens to collapse around him.
The viewer is asked to take a lot in stride, both in terms of the extremely weird mythology and the hard tonal shift from the previous film. How good a job the script does in setting all of this up varies from moment to moment, with some extremely cool worldbuilding, and some very clunky expository dialogue, which mostly falls to Judi Dench, Colm Feore, and Linus Roache to try and sell with their effortless Shakespearean gravitas. But if anyone is up to that challenge, surely they are, and they mostly make it work. Feore is an excellent villain, and Karl Urban is likewise great as his second in command, bringing his usual intensity and imposing presence. As our heroes and antiheroes, Vin Diesel, Keith David, and Alexa Davalos are all quite good, and they all perfectly understand the line between seriousness and comic-book pulp that the script is walking. Diesel in particular is fully in command here, as this movie was in many ways his baby: you can tell that he absolutely relishes playing Riddick, and the script is written to his strengths very well (the fan-favorite “I’ll kill you with my teacup” moment is peak Vin Diesel macho absurdity of the best order). The only actor who really seems to struggle with the film’s odd tone is Thandie Newton, giving a weirdly campy and scenery-chewing B-movie version of Lady Macbeth that I am fairly sure isn’t the gravitas that she seems to have been going for. But even in her case, while the performance isn’t what I’d call good, it is very fun in its maximalist way.
The odd uniqueness of the film’s world extends to its visuals, which are probably its most uniformly successful aspect. In the extras, the designers behind the film talk about how they wanted to make a space opera that did not look like any other space opera, not borrowing from the usual Star Wars and Star Trek-inspired tropes. They absolutely succeeded, with a universe of planets that doesn’t look a whole lot like any other in the genre. The film draws a lot from fantasy, and from baroque art and architecture, and boasts a few wonderfully weird alien worlds with designs based on things like fingerprints. And the worlds of the films are mostly realized in visuals that hold up very well… mostly. The movie does have some pretty dodgy CGI that has aged not-great, but it also has some pretty good CGI, and a LOT of practical sets and props. Those are where the movie really shines: the beautiful physical sets that are used for most of the movie’s key locations, with CGI augmenting and adding depth or height, but always with ornately constructed actual setpieces at its core. This was a very expensive movie, and every dollar is on-screen in the sets.
Since this Arrow Video set features both cuts of the film, I also feel the need to make a recommendation: watch the director’s cut. It is a big improvement. The theatrical cut understandably has been accused of being overstuffed and a bit muddled, with some plot points left half-baked and vague. This movie is doing a lot, after all, cramming in a ton of wholly original mythology. A lot of what was cut for the theatrical version was lore, in particular a whole subplot deepening Riddick’s backstory, which goes a long way to justify the plot point of him being the chosen one to stop the Necromongers. Adding 15 minutes back into the film, to deepen the lore and give plot points and characterization more room to breathe, makes all the difference: the director’s cut is a much more coherent and narratively satisfying film, and since the movie is still so briskly paced and full of eclectic elements, the pacing does not suffer at all, and if anything it is actually improved. The theatrical cut serves no real purpose besides to meet an artificial studio mandate to get the film under the two-hour mark; the director’s cut is obviously the ideal version to watch.
It may not always fully work, and it may sit on an uneasy edge of genuine coolness and camp insanity; of self-seriousness and winking self-awareness. But these are the very things that make it so compelling and charming, if you’re the kind of viewer who can love an ambitious and wild but undeniably messy movie, not unlike David Lynch’s Dune. There is certainly no denying that it swings for the fences and tries something really different, doing nothing in half-measures as it creates its sprawling universe and deeply weird mythology. Without a doubt, The Chronicles of Riddick has cult classic written all over it, and 20 years later, it is high time this film got a reappraisal, and a bit more love.
THE ARROW VIDEO LIMITED EDITION:
The Chronicles of Riddick comes to us from Arrow Video on three-disc UHD or blu-ray sets, both of which feature the same contents, housed in slipcover packaging with a booklet. The film is presented in three versions, all of which have been restored in 4K from the original negative, and all of which are presented on UHD with Dolby Vision HDR in the 4K version of the set. The film is presented in its theatrical cut, its director’s cut, and the theatrical cut in 1.78:1 open-matte ratio (the other versions are 2.35:1), which would have been used for faux-IMAX giant-screen presentations. The third disc with the open-matte version is a limited-edition exclusive, and I would say it is mainly cool if you have a projector and a large screen and want to replicate that full-wall immersive IMAX-style experience as best as possible at home; for typical viewing the director’s cut in 2.35:1 will be the way to go, so if you miss out on the limited edition it’s not the end of the world.
The 4K restoration looks equally great (well, mostly great) in all three presentations. Detail is very strong, and colors and contrast look beautiful, which is especially important since this movie makes very striking use of color and shadow. The blending of the film elements and the digital elements looks as seamless as possible – it’s hard to say if digital noise reduction may have been used to help achieve this (either in 2004 or now), but if there was, it is unobtrusive and looks good; it must be said that the whole film has quite a digital look anyway though, and always has, given how much CGI is used.
Speaking of which – that is why I say it mostly looks great in this restoration, and I must emphasize that this is just a reality of the source material, and not Arrow’s fault… Some of this CGI has aged BADLY, and being restored to 4k does it no favors. The early shots of Riddick’s ship flying through space and arriving and New Mecca are especially rough, with a couple shots looking way too much like a video game cinematic for their own good. In the commentary from the old DVD, David Twohy mentions having been unhappy with those shots even at the time, and an additional 20 years’ worth of meticulous restoration technology only highlights the flaws. It is what it is – that’s just what’s going to happen as late-90s and early-2000s films make the jump to 4k, and Arrow made the images look as clean and accurate as possible, which just happens to be a mixed blessing on those particular shots. Fortunately most of the CGI in the film is quite good, and only a few shots stand out like that.
The audio is likewise very good, with clean, robust mixes. This is, however, the one area where there is a difference in how the cuts are presented. All three cuts are presented with the very good and robust existing 5.1 DTS surround tracks, which to my ears give no cause for complaint. However, the theatrical cut (the 2.35:1 regular version) and ONLY the theatrical cut also gets a brand-new Dolby Atmos mix. I’m sure there will be some who are disappointed that the director’s cut doesn’t get a new Atmos mix as well, but that’s really the only thing that I can see anyone complaining about from a technical standpoint on this set. And considering that the DTS 5.1 track is already very good, I don’t think this is really that big a deal.
When it comes to extras, this set is absolutely loaded, and I would say as definitive as one could possibly want. Disc one kicks things off with the star extra of the set, which is absolutely essential viewing for any fan: a brand-new, feature-length documentary about the making of the film, Ambition on Another Scale. The documentary features all-new interviews with writer/director David Twohy, actors Keith David and Linus Roache, and four members of the film’s artistic team: storyboard artist Brian Murray, concept artist Matt Codd, miniature effects artist Ian Hunter and digital matte artist Dylan Cole. It is a fascinating, very well-done documentary which covers all aspects of the production quite thoroughly. If you’re a fan of the film, you will eat up all the cool details that it contains, and if you think the film is just okay, or more of a fascinating oddity than actually great, it will absolutely increase your appreciation of it. This is the one extra that anyone who buys this set absolutely should watch.
Disc 1 continues with extended versions of the interviews with David Twohy, Brian Murray, and Keith David, rounding out the very thorough new extras. Disc 2 contains a wealth of archival extras: a bunch of making-of featurettes from past disc releases, a collection of on-set interviews with the cast and crew from during the production of the film (including Twohy, Diesel, Dench, Urban, Colm Feore, Alexa Davelos, Thandie Newton and producer Scott Kroopf), a tour of the set by Vin Deisel, a tie-in short film, and more. It also has two archival commentaries: one with Twohy and Diesel, and one with Twohy, Urban, and Davalos. Both are quite good, lively listens filled with interesting facts and anecdotes. Between this and the new extras on disc one, this set has all the information that a Riddick fan could ever want. As a bonus, the limited-edition-exclusive disc 3 also has a movie-style edit of the cinematic cutscenes from the very well-regarded Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay video game.
This is an absolutely superlative release from Arrow Video, boasting all the extras that one could possibly want, and a gorgeous restoration of the film in a definitive three cuts. I’m sure there are some who will look at this release and wonder if a film like The Chronicles of Riddick really deserves the top-shelf treatment, but Arrow makes a very strong case that the answer is yes. This is the kind of set that calls for a reappraisal of the film, and seeing it for the first time since theaters on this new set, I can safely say that its reappraisal is fully deserved, and that The Chronicles of Riddick is absolutely cult-classic material. It may be messy and odd and not the movie that a lot of viewers expected or even wanted at the time, but that is exactly why it is so compelling and fun. It is a unique vision, and when it works it really works, and even when it doesn’t, it is still a spectacle to behold. I unabashedly enjoyed it, and this set really does it justice.
- Christopher S. Jordan
Share this review!