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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Chronicles of Riddick, The: Dark Fury (2004)

Chronicles of Riddick, The: Dark Fury (2004)

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Released 7-Jul-2004

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

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
Rating Rated M
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
Not 16x9 Enhanced
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

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    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.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    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.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    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.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    There are quite a few extra features present, which is only fair given the short running time of the main feature.

Menu

    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:

Making Dark Fury

    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.

Dark Fury Animatic

    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.

Peter Chung - Into the mind of an Animator

    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.

A View into the Light

    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.

Van Helsing Animated Trailer

    A short advertisement for the animated DVD Van Helsing: The London Assignment running for 0:58.

Vivendi Game Trailer

    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.

R4 vs R1

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.

Summary

    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.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel O'Donoghue (You think my bio is funny? Funny how?)
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Review Equipment
DVDMomitsu V880 upconverting DVI player, using DVI output
DisplaySanyo 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 DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials.
AmplificationOnkyo TX-SR600 with DD-EX and DTS-ES
SpeakersJensenSPX-9 fronts, Jensen SPX-13 Centre, Jensen SPX-5 surrounds, Jensen SPX-17 subwoofer

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