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Chronicles of Riddick, The
Universal Pictures
FILM:
GAMES:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action and some language
Starring
Vin Diesel,
Colm Feore,
Thandie Newton,
Judi Dench,
Karl Urban,
Alexa Davalos,
Linus Roache,
and
Yorick van Wageningen
Vin Diesel reprises his star-making Pitch Black role of enigmatic anti-hero Richard B. Riddick in this science fiction action-adventure epic. (Universal Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Action
|
Adventure
|
Sci-fi
|
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
David Twohy
Jim Wheat (characters)
Ken Wheat (characters)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
David Twohy
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: November 16, 2004
Video: November 16, 2004
Theatrical: June 11, 2004
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
115 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
70
Newsweek
Devin Gordon
Twohy knows how to shoot tense, bare-knuckle action, and his towering, gunmetal gray world is a fun sandbox to play in for two hours.
67
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
The pleasure of The Chronicles of Riddick comes mostly from the fascinating and outlandishly detailed production design, which sprawls across the screen in nearly every shot, with the Necromonger’s gigantic starships looking similar to those strange stone heads on Easter Island.
63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Too often, it simply makes no sense.
60
Film Threat
Pete Vonder Haar
Isn't going to win over the art house crowd, but you could do a lot worse for summer entertainment.
50
Premiere
Aaron Hillis
With his latest, the sci-fi–action–adventure The Chronicles of Riddick, Vin Diesel has established himself as the new face of morally ambiguous anti-heroes.
50
Dallas Observer
Luke Y. Thompson
It's fun stuff, but nowhere near as cool as it should be.
50
Chicago Reader
Staff (Not credited)
The story is mechanical, but Twohy paces it well enough to showcase the spectacular costumes (by Ellen Mirojnick and Michael Dennison) and production design (by Holger Gross).
50
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
Chronicles of Riddick is half cheesy, brawny adventure and half … something else. That something else involves a lot of leather, bondage, studded armor and heavy machinery.
50
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Chronicles doesn't pause for much character development, and is in such a hurry that even the fight scenes are abbreviated chop-chop sessions.
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Stephen Cole
The script is terrible - a confounding mish-mash of action-thriller chases, sci-fi travelogue and phony political intrigue.
50
Portland Oregonian
M. E. Russell
Amazing-looking sequel to cult fave "Pitch Black"; unfortunately, the film's wrecked by a surprisingly weak, goofy script.
50
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
Thoroughly enjoyable, but not because it's any good.
50
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
Threatens to become a serious movie, but they're quickly overwhelmed by another indecipherable rampage or outsize visual effect.
50
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
Despite being positioned as a mold-breaker, Riddick now blends in with a sizable crowd of reluctant loner cinematic heroes, just as the movie fails to convince that it's going where no movie has gone before.
50
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
At two hours, The Chronicles of Riddick is way too long for ridiculous.
50
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
Like everything in this humorless new genre, "Chronicles" comes with its own snap-together mythology.
50
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
This is a movie so devoted to metal that it couldn't care less about the flesh it destroys.
50
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Where "Pitch Black" relied on shadowy threats and sharply drawn relationships between a small group of stranded victims-to-be, Twohy's bloated space opera is an eye-popping three-ring circus of fabulously freaky costumes, over-ripe declaiming and computer-generated spectacle.
40
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
The action is so frenetic that the ominous mood isn't allowed to penetrate, and this time the human factor is all but erased.
40
The Hollywood Reporter
Michael Rechtshaffen
Unfortunately, Twohy has tried to turn the Riddick enterprise into a sprawling, Tolkien-powered epic, jamming the screen with too many historical parallels and a confusion of new characters.
40
Empire
Ian Nathan
It's no "Battlefield Earth," but it's no "Dune" either. And, no, before you ask, it's not destined to be a cult classic.
40
Village Voice
Benjamin Strong
Riddick is a preening outer-space costume drama staged as a backdrop for its leading man's muscles.
40
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
As bloated and ponderous as its predecessor was lean and focused, Chronicles ups the stakes along with the budget while jettisoning just about everything that made "Pitch Black" stand out from other thrillers about weary humans battling nefarious space beasties.
38
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Like so many sequels, The Chronicles of Riddick demonstrates Hollywood's law of diminishing returns: Its quality is inversely proportional to its budget.
38
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Has a riddick-ulous sci-fi plot, overblown and numbing video game-style special effects and a going-through-the-motions lead performance by Vin Diesel.
38
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
An overblown hodgepodge of volcano-baked desertscapes, Egyptoid-gone-baroque architecture, and gladiator-geared storm troopers with goofy headpieces, The Chronicles of Riddick bears no resemblance to the movie that spawned its namesake.
30
Los Angeles Times
Manohla Dargis
Not since John Travolta sprouted a head of dreadlocks and strapped on platform boots for "Battlefield Earth" has cinematic science fiction been such good-bad fun as in The Chronicles of Riddick.
30
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
The muddy, convoluted story revolves around the star's cool-guy poses and one-liners.
30
LA Weekly
Robert Abele
Notable actors such as Thandie Newton, Judi Dench, Keith David and Colm Feore are little more than stiff-necked toy figures jostled around to accommodate Twohy's Wagnerian spacescapes, crappy dialogue and CGI-dependent action.
25
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Just about everything in The Chronicles of Riddick is impenetrable, from the convoluted story to the dark and baroque art direction. It's an inane film rendered sometimes laughable by an atmosphere of dead-serious reverence.
25
New York Post
Megan Lehmann
Riddick-ulous.
25
Miami Herald
Connie Ogle
There's nothing here you haven't seen before, especially if you own a PlayStation.
25
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
The special effects are extra special. The screenplay is idiotic, though, and Diesel speaks his dialogue like a Sylvester Stallone clone who never finished third grade.
20
Variety
David Rooney
May not quite gain entry to the hallowed pantheon of interstellar cheese of a "Battlefield Earth," but it's not far behind.
 The average user rating for this movie is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 114 User Votes
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