Riddick Retrospective: DARK FURY

The Chronicles Of Riddick: Dark Fury
2004
Director: Peter Chung
Starring: Vin Diesel, Keith David, Rhianna Griffith, Nick Chinlund, Tress MacNeille, Roger L. Jackson
Not Rated

Careful, you may find what you're digging for.
                    ~Riddick

Around this time, it started to become cool to come up with some sort of DVD tie in to coincide with your upcoming sequel.  The most notable being the The Animatrix series that led up tot he release of The Matrix: Reloaded.  Some of these would do their best to bridge the gap between two films.  Dark Fury straight up follows the The Animatrix's lead and does a full on Anime short telling what happened directly following the events of Pitch Black.

If Dark Fury reminds you of Æon Flux, that's because it was directed by Peter Chung (creator).  If anything it almost feels like Riddick jumped right into that world.  The subject matter and everything is almost like a lost episode.  The story is not only used as a tale to show us what happened, but also introduces us to the merc featured in The Chronicles Of Riddick, Toombs. 

The concept of this is interesting enough. A woman has a ship where she collects criminals and killers and has them frozen to be used as a collection of "art".  Riddick would be her most prized possession.  Its bit more on the "weird' science fictions scale, but fits with a darker, haunting tone set with Pitch Black.  If Pitch Black was survival/monster horror, then this short was on the avaunt-guarde side of the genre.

Do you need to see it to get to the next film?  Absolutely not.  But its not a waste of 30 minutes if you do.  Its a pretty simple story featuring  Æon Flux animation and sensibilities (so if you dig that, definitely check this out).  All the Pitch Black characters are voiced by the same respective actors that played them live action.   The next film does not pick up right where this leaves off, but it does reflect the end result of this one.  When compared to some other "tie in" efforts this is barely on the positive end of mediocrity.  It is what it is though, and its rather harmless.

Next Up:  Dame Judi Dench in THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK!