Chronicles of Riddick, The: Dark Fury (2004) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Animation |
Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Making Of-Bridging The Gap From Pitch Black To Chronicles Of Riddick Featurette-Peter Chung - Into The Mind Of The Animator Featurette-A View Into The Light Trailer-Van Helsing Animation Trailer-Vivendi Games |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2004 | ||
Running Time | 33:32 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Peter Chung |
Studio
Distributor |
Universal Pictures Home Video |
Starring |
Brett Matthews David Twohy Jim Wheat Ken Wheat Hedy Burress Nick Chinlund Keith David Vin Diesel Julia Fletcher Rick Gomez Rhiana Griffith Roger L. Jackson Tress MacNeille |
Case | ? | ||
RPI | $24.95 | Music | Machine Head |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
The sci-fi horror flick Pitch Black has been reviewed previously on this site, and the most recent review, that of the Special Edition release can be found here for those who are unfamiliar with the original premise. The second movie, The Chronicles of Riddick, recently began its theatrical run in Australian cinemas. The latter film moves away from the horror aspects of Pitch Black, and heads down a more action oriented path. The creators of the Richard B. Riddick character felt that a short feature linking the end of the first movie to the start of the second one would help viewers to make the leap between the two stories. So here we have that linking feature - The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury. Unlike either of the two live action films that it links, this short feature is an animated affair. If you have not seen Pitch Black, please skip the rest of this plot synopsis as it contains spoilers regarding that film.
Riddick is an escaped convict who has had his eyes surgically modified to give him an unnatural ability to see in the dark. At the end of Pitch Black, Riddick, Imam and Jack manage to escape the ravenous carnivorous nocturnal aliens who had killed most of their fellow space travellers. Unfortunately, shortly after making their escape they fall prey to a mercenary ship, run by the sexy but sadistic Madame Chillingsworth (Tress MacNeille). She is hopelessly enamoured by the violence of murder and has built herself a nice "art" collection, consisting of quick-frozen murderers. Of course, what collection would be complete without a Riddick popsicle?
The trio find themselves fighting for their lives almost non-stop. In an endless series of battles, Riddick must make use of his famous wiggly knife to despatch a brace of neon-clad alien "Shrill" and the hordes of mercenaries carried by the huge ship. That's about it plot-wise - just some good old cartoon carnage!
Vin Diesel lends his voice to the animated Riddick, Keith David reprises his role as Imam and he is joined by Aussie Rhiana Griffith in her role as Jack. These vocal talents add some real weight to the short story. There is a genuine feeling of continuity between Pitch Black and this animation. I must admit that the DVD certainly makes me look forward to watching The Chronicles of Riddick - which is surely a major part of its designed purpose. The story is interesting, the action stylish and the voice acting of a high standard. To my untrained eye, the animation is very good but I am not a fan of the anime genre in general so your mileage may vary. The combination of CGI and hand drawn animation is effective and striking. Parents should take note that this is not "a cartoon" for kids - there is some quite high level violence depicted here as well as some swearing.
I would suggest that you need to watch Pitch Black before watching this DVD, or else the plot will not make a whole lot of sense. Similarly, if you can, I would recommend viewing this DVD before watching The Chronicles of Riddick, as it does a good job of setting the background to the new movie and introduces the character of Toombs, who apparently plays a major part in the second film. I found The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury to be highly entertaining and, at the right price given the short running time, I can recommend it for purchase by fans of the rapidly expanding Riddick universe.
The overall video transfer is very good indeed.
The movie is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, which has strangely been presented letterboxed and is therefore not anamorphically enhanced.
The image is wonderfully sharp and really comes across as a great example of the animator's art. The drawings look highly polished and the action scenes are handled with great style. There is no grain or pixelisation present.
Black levels are deep and solid with no low level noise. Shadow detail is generally excellent although some of the darkest scenes can be very dark indeed (surely intentional given the nature of Riddick's ocular prowess). Colours are rich and deep with no bleeding or muddiness at all. The palettes chosen vary depending on the particular locations - from blood red to misty greens and vibrant fluorescent colours when Riddick is making use of his enhanced night vision. Of course skin tones always look unnatural - not surprising given the medium and artistic style being used.
There are no problems with MPEG compression artefacts. Happily, there is no significant aliasing present with only the merest suggestion of a shimmer at a couple of points on my setup. There is no evidence of edge enhancement. There is no issue with telecine wobble.
The image is unspoiled by film (video) artefacts.
The English subtitles are very clear and well timed. They provide attribution for off-screen dialogue and a wide range of audio cues.
The disc is in a single sided and single layered (DVD 5) format with no layer change present.
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The audio transfer is very good for a short animated feature.
The sole English audio track is a vibrant Dolby Digital 5.1 mix encoded at 384 kbps. It is totally free from major defects in the way of distortion, dropouts and pops. The dialogue is always crystal clear - even Diesel's almost subsonic mumblings. The audio sync was fine.
Original music is attributed to Machine Head (Freddy vs Jason and The Animatrix). It suits the futuristic setting quite well and adds a pumping bass beat to the action scenes. I was rather impressed by the effort put into the score for such a short animated feature.
The high quality animation is matched by a highly active and involving audio transfer. The front speakers deliver a satisfying spread of activity across the front soundstage. There is a great degree of stereo separation with some nice panning and locational effects on offer. The surround speakers see a reasonable amount of activity for the entire feature. They are in almost continual use to support the musical score and ambient effects but offer a little less value in the way of directional or localised special effects. That's not to say there are none - but the surrounds could have been put to more dramatic use. This is certainly better than a plain stereo track, but not up there with the likes of Pitch Black for surround use.
Depending on your bass management setup, your subwoofer may get a fair workout. There is quite a lot of bass from the explosions, gunshots and the like although there doesn't seem to be much in the way of true LFE on offer. Nevertheless, on my system the subwoofer more than earned its keep in supporting the score and the non-stop action.
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Overall |
There are quite a few extra features present, which is only fair given the short running time of the main feature.
The anamorphically enhanced main menu is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. This gives a sense of disappointment when the main feature reverts to a letterboxed format. It offers the options of playing the film, activating the subtitles or viewing the following extra features:
Running for 8:33 and presented full screen at 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 192 kbps. The cast and crew explain the purpose of Dark Fury - as a link between the two live action films. It features letterboxed inserts from both movies and is quite interesting.
Whilst I found this a tedious and pointless watch, fans of animation will surely treasure this extra feature. It presents (almost) the entire feature (running for slightly less at 32:49) in animatic storyboard form with dialogue. It could have been improved by playing it alongside the finished feature, so a direct comparison could be made. It is presented letterboxed at 1.85:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 192 kbps.
Director Peter Chung provides his views on animation and his personal style. Running for 5:05 and presented at 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 192 kbps. Subtitles are available.
This is a short promotional EPK piece featuring Diesel and David Twohy talking about The Chronicles of Riddick. Running for 5:05, it is presented at 1.33:1 with letterboxed inserts and a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 192 kbps.
A short advertisement for the animated DVD Van Helsing: The London Assignment running for 0:58.
An advertisement for the video game The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (which looks great). Running for 1:47 and presented letterboxed at 1.68:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 192 kbps.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 1 release of this DVD appears to be essentially the same as our own. Buy whichever is cheaper.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury forms a very satisfying segue between Pitch Black and the new cinema release The Chronicles of Riddick. It charts the exciting adventures of Riddick, Imam and Jack as they are captured by a sadistic female mercenary, who lives for the "art" of physical violence. For fans of the original movie this may well be worth a purchase.
The video transfer is excellent.
The audio transfer is very good.
Extras are reasonably comprehensive for such a short feature, and are all enjoyable.
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Review Equipment | |
DVD | Momitsu V880 upconverting DVI player, using DVI output |
Display | Sanyo PLV-Z2 WXGA projector. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 720p. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Onkyo TX-SR600 with DD-EX and DTS-ES |
Speakers | JensenSPX-9 fronts, Jensen SPX-13 Centre, Jensen SPX-5 surrounds, Jensen SPX-17 subwoofer |