The producers of Pitch Black knew they had to do something after the movie was a big hit and Vin Diesel saw the chance to co-own a potential big budget science fiction franchise. The Chronicles of Riddick was not bad at all: original designs for space ship designs and other computer graphics, a role tailored for Diesel and a worthy opponent in the outrageously powerful and mean Necromongers.

Decent supporting cast too. Colm Feore as the half-undead leader of the villains, Thandie Newton as his Lady MacBeth-ish wife, Judi Dench as the ethereal Elemental, Karl Urban as an ambitious Necromonger captain and Keith David as the key link to the Pitch Black story. The earlier movie was, after all, more of a scifi horror flick where this is a more straightforward actioner.

Too bad the movie cost over $100 million but only took in about $60M. No final two parts of the trilogy for you, Richard E. Riddick! Which is a shame, I really would like to see where writer/direcctor David Twohy planned to go from his quite unexpected twist ending.

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