The Chronicles of Riddick - Director's Cut [Blu-ray]

I was doing reviews and had missed this one so it's certainly past due but am giving a review regardless. I'm a huge Riddick fan starting with Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick and then this one, Riddick. Vin Diesel was great in all three and for this final episode, Vin Diesel actually mortgaged his home to help David Twohy film it. I've watched it more times than I can recall but the story is good and left open ended so it could have segued into a forth movie. Maybe one day?I won't go into the story because you really need to see the first two in order to fully appreciate this third movie but it was well written with an amazing cast including Katee Sackhoff, Karl Urban, Dave Bautista, Jordi Mollà, (great Spanish actor you'll recognize when you see him), Bokeem Woodbine , to name a few but unfortunately, no Alexa Davalos who played Kyra and was SO HOT in Chronicles!I really like this movie and I can't decide if it's better than Chronicles or not. But if for some reason you never got to it or never realized it was available, it's every bit as good as Chronicles and definitely worth it.

This follow-up to "Pitch Black", a surprise 'sleeper' hit, did okay at the box-office when it was released. It didn't shake the film world the way the original did. But it was pretty good.When the second DVD release came out, and the same for the Blu-ray, it had the 'Unrated Director's Cut', and the film was much, much better. Lines of dialogue were put back in, little moments in battles, and even something as tiny as the Lord Marshall (The bad guy) saying, "kill Riddick" in the theatrical version changes to "Kill the Riddick!" in a more menacing way in the 'Director's cut'.This set from Arrow has three discs, all of them 4K, and they look fantastic.Disc 1 has the Theatrical version, disc 2 has the 'Director's Cut' version, and disc 3 is, interestingly, the Theatrical cut but in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio of standard film releases.The image quality is superb, the sound is crystal clear, and the bonus extras are fascinating. Interviews with the actors and the director, behind the scenes looks at the sets, and how parts of the film were 'pre-visualized', everything is in this set. It's definitely worth getting, even if you already have it on Blu-ray!

Another classic in 4K. Worth watching. Great action

Just a quick review here to offset the previous review.Chronicles of Riddick is campy, plain and simple. I can see where some people would be put off by that. Its a space opera, not unlike the novels of David Weber or William Dietz. One man faces terrifying odds to fix what's wrong with the universe. Its improbable and sometimes illogical, but its entertaining and goes places that most made-for-the-screen sci-fi simply won't go.Its a shame that "Riddick" flopped at the box office. This is, by far, Vin Diesel's best character. He was born to play Riddick. And Twohy is a great action/spook film director (check out "Below" to see what I'm talking about).This **could** have been a wonderful series of films. If you've seen this through to the end, you know what I'm talking about. That ending yielded many possibilities."Riddick" is not without its flaws. The pacing of the Director's Cut is a little uneven, but not ponderous. You get much more backstory than the theatrical release. Karl Urban is in total camp mode (his haircut is simply criminal). You gotta wonder what drew Judi Dench to this project. She gives more grace to her underwritten role than it deserves, although I suspect her character would've been expanded had "Riddick" yielded a sequal. Thandie Newton, doing her best Lady MacBeth impression, is just terrible. Her scenes with Dench are a study in opposites. Colm Feore is somewhat menacing, but why do I keep remembering him from "Chicago" while watching this movie? And Nick Chinlund is always good for a laugh.For all of its flaws, "Riddick" is a fun, imaginative space romp. I'd love to see more like it, but the audience just isn't there. Maybe Diesel will further expand this alternate universe like he did in his company's exceptional video game, "Escape from Butcher Bay".

Good movie!

Pitch Black was a smallish independent film, only $20 million budget, and was a sleeper hit. I missed it in theaters, but saw it on the shelf at Blockbuster years ago, and like so many others I was totally impressed. So I remember being very excited to see a sequel, but boy, Chronicles was not at all what I expected.Instead of sci-fi horror, Twohy and Diesel took the concept and completely ran away with it, creating their own universe. Critics called it confusing, which is ridiculous. But it is definitely dense, full of back stories, mythos, new aliens, lots and lots going on. My only criticism is that it should have been broken up into 2 or 3 movies, though I realize that wouldn't have been feasible.But they were brave enough to invent a brand new universe, with its own rules, its own aliens, etc. No it's not a perfect movie, but how many other fantasy/sci-fi movies have done this in recent years? So I give it a full 5 stars for bravery and creativity, and hope they keep making more.

I'll never understand why no more of this universe has been explored. Just pure popcorn fun.

Vin!!!