Les chroniques de Riddick: Dark Fury

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.

I just saw Dark Fury on a rented DVD and had very satisfying experience. Dark Fury is well drawn, fast paced and with a little CGI to spice it up.The animated short story takes place where we last left Riddick, the preacher and the wannabe tough girl in Pitch Black. They are picked up by a fairly big spaceship of hightech bounty hunters. From here on Riddick starts to kick ass and continues to do so for about 30 min. Vin Diesel's voice is one of the coolest in Hollywood only topped(maybe) by Sean Connery. The only problem in this animated adventure is that it is to damn short(33 min). It's a colorful and interesting universe with a great villain and some fantastic and imaginative actionscenes. In short terms Riddick kicks butt yet again. I went straight in on my Pc, went online and bought this little baby. Hail to the king baby. I give it a 7,5 out of 10.

I thought Pitch Black was enjoyable enough but was left entirely unimpressed by Chronicles of Riddick so what chance did an animated short have? Not bad actually.

It tells the rather short story of what happened to Riddick, Imam and Jack after they escaped the original movie. Picked up by mercenaries it appears they have gotten out of one mess and straight into another.

Made by Peter Chung I have to say the films biggest weakness is the animation style, it really is quite dreadful. It's half way between a cheaply made Saturday morning cartoon and the excellent Monkey Dust (2003). I just couldn't get past how crappy it looks, in some places more than others.

The story is rushed (As it needed to be considering its length) and rather uninspired but it's construction and competent voice cast save it.

Diesel and David return to add credibility to the whole affair which feels more like a cashgrab than anything else.

Though not blown away with the Riddick franchise, it hasn't entirely been without it's notable moments. Off the top of my head that's three down two to go.

The Good:

Voice cast

The Bad:

Highly average stuff as a whole

Not keen on the animation style

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Mentioning Monkey Dust has got me all nostalgic, damn that was a good show

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.

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.