Product description

Pitch Black/Chronicles Of Riddick/Dark Fury [DVD]

Price: £23.98
RRP: £27.99
Average customer rating: 5.0

Binding : DVD
EAN : 5050582322040
Label : Universal Pictures UK
Manufacturer : Universal Pictures UK
Publisher : Universal Pictures UK
Release date : 2005-01-03
Title : Pitch Black/Chronicles Of Riddick/Dark Fury [DVD]
Audience rating : Suitable for 15 years and over
Format : PAL
Number of items : 1
Region code : 2
Studio : Universal Pictures UK

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
bPitch Black/bp Owing a major debt to iAlien/i and its cinematic spawn, iPitch Black/i is a guilty pleasure that surpasses expectations. As he did with iThe Arrival/i, director David Twohy revitalizes a derivative story, allowing you to forgive its flaws and submit to its visceral thrills. Under casual scrutiny, the plot's logic crumbles like a stale cookie, but it's definitely fun while it lasts. A spaceship crashes on a desert planet scorched under three suns. The mostly doomed survivors include a resourceful captain (Radha Mitchell), a drug-addled cop (Cole Hauser), and a deadly prisoner (Vin Diesel) who quickly escapes. These clashing personalities discover that the planet is plunging into the darkness of an extended eclipse, and it's populated by hordes of ravenous, razor-fanged beasties that only come out at night. The body count rises, and iPitch Black/i settles into familiar sci-fi territory.p What sets the movie apart is Twohy's developing visual style, suggesting that this veteran of B-movie schlock may advance to the big leagues. Like the makers of iThe Blair Witch Project/i, Twohy understands the frightening power of suggestion; his hungry monsters are better heard than seen (although once seen, they're chillingly effective), and iPitch Black/i gets full value from moments of genuine panic. Best of all, Twohy's got a well-matched cast, with Mitchell (so memorable with Ally Sheedy in iHigh Art/i) and Diesel (Pvt. Caparzo from iSaving Private Ryan/i) being the standouts. The latter makes the most of his muscle-man role, and his character's development is one more reason this movie works better than it should. --iJeff Shannon/i p bDark Fury/bp Taking a page from iThe Animatrix/i, iDark Fury/i is part of a new trend of bridging theatrical sequels. As an official product of a franchise, the 35-minute anime benefits from having the original actors voice the characters, including Vin Diesel as Riddick. This story opens with the new action hero and the two other survivors of iPitch Black/i already caught by a giant spaceship filled with dread. The sinewy leader has a unique--and creepy--jail for master villains and she has her sights set on Riddick. The film--indeed the series--is indebted to animator Peter Chung, who brings his techno style from his iAeon Flux/i series. His smooth animation for Riddick doesn't reinvent the character as much as give him a new, appealing fluidity. As anime goes, there's nothing really new here--plenty of action, cool killers, and dramatic spurts of blood--but it's a building block for how this genre might enliven movie series and sequels in the future. --iDoug Thomas/ip bThe Chronicles of Riddick/bp Bigger isn't always better, but for anyone who enjoyed Pitch Black, a nominal sequel like iThe Chronicles of Riddick/i should prove adequately entertaining. Writer-director David Twohy returns with expansive sets, detailed costumes, an army of CGI effects artists, and the star he helped launch--Vin Diesel--bearing his franchise burden quite nicely as he reprises his title role. The Furian renegade Riddick has another bounty on his head, but when he escapes from his mercenary captors, he's plunged into an epic-scale war waged by the Necromongers. A fascist master race led by Lord Marshal (Colm Feore), they're determined to conquer all enemies in their quest for the Underverse, the appeal of which is largely unexplained (since Twohy is presumably reserving details for subsequent "chronicles"). With tissue-thin plotting, scant character development, and skimpy roles that waste the talents of Thandie Newton (as a Necromonger conspirator) and Judi Dench (as a wispy "Elemental" priestess), Twohy's back in the B-movie territory he started in (with iThe Arrival/i), brought to vivid life on a vast digital landscape with the conceptual allure of a lavish graphic novel. But does Riddick have leadership skills on his resumé? To get an answer to that question, sci-fi fans will welcome another sequel. --iJeff Shannon /i

Customer reviews

review by: Bookmad Monster date: 2009-02-04 rating:

Riddick Magic
Vin Diesel at his true best always manages to send a shiver down my spine. The best bad boy in town or planet

review by: date: 2008-02-23 rating:

Super Value
I was only looking to buy the Chronicles of Riddick,but when I saw this 3 dvd set at a price not that much higher than the single dvd.I thought why not buy them see if the anime film is any good.It is,it ties the two films together very well.So if you like a bit of sci-fi action you can't go wrong with this box set.

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