A Fúria de Riddick

I was a big fan of the bizarro Aeon Flux back in the 90's and director Peter Chung brings that wonderful style to the universe of Riddick (much like he did in The Animatrix).

Dark Fury is a small story set between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick (which I haven't seen) in which Riddick, Jack and Abu dock their scout vessel with an ominous and evil ship filled with frozen Mercs and run by a vicious female overlord with a perverted idea of imprisonment.

The whole thing is basically an excuse for some quick violence but it's entertaining and expands upon the Riddick universe in interesting ways. I can see why Vin Diesel chose this franchise over TFATF and xXx.

The DVD is in non-anamorphic (!) 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound and a bunch of whogivesadamn extras.

Bridging the gap from "Pitch Black" to "The Chronicles of Riddick", "Dark Fury" is an interesting enough exercise in animated story-telling. Vin Diesel, Rhiana Griffith and Keith David return as the survivors of the first installment, this time coming up against baddies of a more human nature, not counting multi-tentacled waving aliens.

This is a good looking animated movie, short but containing some reasonably memorable action set pieces and some unexpectedly bloody violence.

7 out of 10. Riddick fans will find this a treat but this may leave some viewers cold.

Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury: 5/10: At 30 minutes this stand alone short resembles a Saturday morning cartoon rather than a plot bridge between Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick. (And Lord knows if any movie needed a plot bridge it was Chronicles of Riddick.)

The animation is a mixed bag with a lot of the 3d spaceship work leaving a bit to be desired (to shiny for one thing). And while the voice work is authentic, the story is a true one off throwaway. (Hammy and very unlikely villains happen to pop by.) The story may be a throwaway but it does at least give it points for being coherent. (And Lord knows if any movie needed a coherent story it was Chronicles of Riddick) The action scenes are generally well done with a little violence thrown in for good measure.

Certainly one gets the gut feeling that Dark Fury could have been a lot worse. Despite the decent amount of extras the DVD doesn't really work as a stand-alone product. It would however have made a fine second or third disk in the Chronicles of Riddick or even Pitch Black DVD releases.

This animation is about Riddick and the gang boarding a spacecraft to fight a lady with a hobby to collect the most wanted criminals around the universe.

It's amazing how much plot and action they have packed in in just 30 minutes. The pace is fast, and there is always something to keep the adrenaline pumping.The action sequences are cool and very realistic. If it was to be transformed into a real film with actors, making a carbon copy would not look out of place. Usually for animation spin-offs they don't get the start to voice it, but in here I am impressed and glad that they got Vin Diesel to voice Riddick.

Even though I forgot the plots of the two Riddick films, I still enjoyed "The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury" as a stand-along animation.

Dark Fury picks up right where Pitch Black ended, with Riddick, Jack and Imam being captured by mercenaries, the leader of whom has some strange and sadistic intentions in regards to Riddick. In a bit of a baffling business move, Universal decided to release this after The Chronicles of Riddick. If they had released it a week or two earlier, some of the questions posed in Riddick that confused a good number of people would have been clearly answered. This short gives us the answer of some key events that occurred in the five years between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, as well as some insight into why Riddick, Jack and Imam interact the way they do in CoR. It also introduces the character Toombs, who plays a key role in Riddick's plight.

Aside from its value as an answer provider, Dark Fury is also a highly entertaining piece of animation. The graphics are top notch, the storyline is interesting, and the action is very well done. The plot moves along at a quick pace and it is a lot of fun to watch Riddick kick some @$$ in animated form. I highly recommend seeing this before watching The Chronicles of Riddick, not only is it a good movie but it also explains some key elements of the story.