Nicholas Thurkettle

Originally published 7/1/04

The Chronicles of Riddick
Director: David Twohy
Writer: David Twohy, based on characters created by Jim Wheat and Ken Wheat
Producers: Scott Kroopf and Vin Diesel
Stars: Vin Diesel, Colm Feore, Dame Judi Dench, Thandie Newton, Karl Urban, Alexa Davalos, Keith David

Let’s start with the obvious – one of the biggest problems with creating a universe from scratch is that it takes a lot of detail work. This explains what’s most disappointing about The Chronicles of Riddick, David Twohy’s sci-fi adventure, which tells the continuing adventures of the anti-hero from his memorable B-movie Pitch Black.

In that movie, the circumstances required no more than accepting the existence of a planet where multiple suns meant that night only came once a generation – and when it did, you were better off not being there. This movie asks a good deal more of you in its two hours, and I’m not just talking about overlooking that bad beaver pelt wig Riddick (Vin Diesel) is wearing in his first scenes.

So many details feel vague, or contradictory, or just plain missing, and I expect that Twohy’s chronicling ambitions outstripped the audience’s patience, and that we’re left with a truncated version as a result. I can’t tell if a 3-hour version would have explained it better. And I really can’t say, having seen two hours of it, that I would be eager to watch an hour more.
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