Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Fluke_Skywalker Plot; Richard B. Riddick and the survivors of Pitch Black are captured by a group of mercenaries who have rather unusual plans for them.Acting as a sort of bridgepoint between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, this animated short doesn't do any heavy lifting by trying to set up or explain the rather intricate galactic political situation we find in the latter. It instead sets up the circumstances we find Riddick in when that film begins. The bare bones of this story are pretty simple, but it's flavored with some unique spices that help to swallow it all down. Directed by Peter Chung, creator of AEon Flux, it often looks and feels like that 90s MTV series, yet with voices provided by their live-action counterparts, it does very much synch up with the movies.I was hoping there'd be a bit more here. Something that would feel essential to understanding this universe. What I got instead was a reasonably well made, passable short that ultimately only rewards the hard-core Riddick fan.

Al_The_Strange 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)

pipanni To anyone who has seen the excellent "The Matrix" and its horrible sequels, this animated movie "Dark Fury" is exactly the same as the "Last Flight Of The Osiris" (short animation) for "The Matrix".So, we have a great movie ("Pitch Black"), and a very weak sequel (The Chronicles Of Riddick). But this little animated gem brings back our anti-hero in familiar territory: a great story (even though it's short) and some great sci-fi ideas (the frozen "collection" and the cyborg monster, for example).If you liked Pitch Black it's guaranteed you will like this one. It can also stand on its own (no need to see anything else, although you would get curious), which is always a good indication of brilliance.

dr_foreman "Dark Fury" is the middle installment of the so-called "Riddick Trilogy," which I have recently suffered through. This animated adventure is probably the highlight of the trilogy, believe it or not, simply because it knows when to end (unlike its live action neighbors).The wafer-thin plot involves Riddick (Vin Diesel, of course) taking on a creepy harpy woman with a fetish for serial killers. Much bloodletting ensues; oddly enough, this is more violent to me than the live-action Riddick films, and therefore more disturbing as well.Sadly, the supporting characters of Jack and the Imam are basically wasted, since Riddick and the villains dominate the action. One has a sense that these characters - and their Universe - could be interesting, but some key ingredients are missing. So, viewers have to make due with a somewhat half-baked and bizarre product that focus more on butchery and less on humanity. But I've seen worse.