The Chronicles of Riddick (Blu-ray)
Shifting from horror to action the riddick franchise takes off
Tags: The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena Categories: DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Apr 15th, 2009
I think this is merely a port of a port – which is really weird. I wonder if Universal is having a financial crisis and not hiring people because The Chronicles of Riddick on Blu-ray is very much not what it should be. Quite often in the special features this is referred to as the special edition DVD. The Chronicles of Riddick was released on HD-DVD previously, which ported over the special edition, but aside from a few token exclusives, this Blu-ray release is merely a warmed over retread that isn’t worth more than a visual upgrade, and an expensive one at that.
Oh, sure, you can watch either the theatrical or extended director’s cut (which is actually quite a bit better), but it is the special features, and complete lack of anything really new that makes this just not worth picking up.
You want further proof that this is just a port of a port? The trailer is missing, which was missing on the HD-DVD. All of the special features refer to this being the new unrated Director’s Cut on DVD, which is just lame and unnecessary.
When Pitch Black proved to be more successful than expected, the idea was to spin off the character of Riddick and expand the universe. Wisely eschewing the idea of doing “Pitch Black 2” this film switches plots entirely. The problem is that it doesn’t quite know what to do and both major plot threads prove to be too much to handle and the film (and characters) suffer for it. It is primarily because The Chronicles of Riddick tries to tell two stories at the same time that it isn’t as good as it should be, but is better than it could.
Yet this Blu-ray release is so far from being what fans deserve that it isn’t worth having been released. Sure, there’s new picture in picture content with fight sequence deconstruction and exploration of the character’s universe, but with so much ported over and either outdated and obsolete or missing or incomplete that this like a slap in the face to fans. Besides, the picture in picture items are separate tracks, but neither takes up half the film’s running time. They should have been combined and expanded to create something truly compelling for the Blu-ray release.
Of course, this would actually require somebody at Universal to be putting together a decent package in the first place. There has been a lot of expansion of the Riddick universe since the film has come out and it isn’t brought out here.
This is why I wonder if Universal is having a problem in the personnel department. There is apparently nobody working in quality control.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
| + When it focuses on being an action film, it's a good | 5.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Lack of quality control in the special features and disc setup - Uneven film can't decide what it wants to be |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| The film deserves much better. This was perhaps meant to tie in to the release of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena game that was recently released, but no mention is made of it. Somebody is very much asleep at the wheel of the Universal Studios Home Entertainment Bus. | |
[ Post the first comment | View related posts ]
Tags: The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Apr 15th, 2009 and is filed under DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
