September 8, 2013

Film Review: The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury

"Come to papa, you beautiful bald bastard." - Nick Chinlund

As part of the hype for 2004's The Chronicles of Riddick, this short animation was developed to bridge the gap between the aforementioned film and its predecessor, Pitch Black. It's not a huge gap, per se, but it's enough to warrant some explanation; if you're really wondering how all the characters got separated and where this guy Toombs came from, then this feature will satisfy your curiosity.

This cartoon is pretty short and has plenty of cool action. Riddick takes on a few monstrous villains, with his usual serial-killer machismo. The fights are well-rendered and pretty badass. The overall animation quality is funky and wild, in a matter not much different than Peter Chung's other works (such as Aeon Flux).

The story for this feature is pretty cool. It does its job of connecting the dots between Pitch Black and TCoR, but still has room to develop its own ideas and concepts. The plot is not terribly substantial, and little is added to the characters, but the premise is fascinating.

This flick has pretty cool animation quality: the character designs are really blocky and funky, but highly distinctive. Backgrounds are pretty well-rendered. Some of the movements and computer-animated work can be a little cheap, and the overall detailing is not really mind-blowing, but it all gets the job done. Voice-acting is not bad, writing is okay, and the designs for all the settings, props, and costumes look great.

4/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Pretty Good | Film: Pretty Good)

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