So I just got down watching the Riddick Trilogy for the first real time in years. I had seen the third one, Riddick, in theaters when it first came out, and liked it enough but just kinda brushed it off as a generic sci-fi movie. It wasn't until a few years later when I watched Pitch Black and then Chronicles of Riddick, and started becoming a fan.
This most recent watch, I watched them all back-to-back including Riddick for the very second time. And I gotta say, I fucking love these movies. They're over the top, batshit, badass, and basically run on the rule of cool; but there was also a lot of thought put into the world the movies inhabit and the designs of the technology the characters use.
I liked the small feeling of Pitch Black, and the desperate plan from the survivors of the crash. The creatures were brutal and pretty scary even if they look like hammerhead sharks.
I really liked the setting and story of Chronicles, throwing Riddick and the audience into a much wider universe than the first one even let on. I love the Necromongers' heavy gothic designs and the effects used to show how their technology works with the almost ghostly energy when you see the ships fly. And their whole intro at the beginning of the movie is badass too, and how they show up in the comet that supposedly hails their coming. I'm a fan of that 40K-like mix of sci-fi and fantasy elements.
Riddick is also just as enjoyable as the first two imo, especially if you watch it while Chronicles is still fresh in your mind, or right after. It does basically become Pitch Black 2, but there's enough that's different about it.
I guess I just made this post to say that the movies are fun and you should watch them, if not for the story then for the action; and if not for that then watch them for the worldbuilding and the set and prop design, because there's a lot to enjoy onscreen.
I've heard about both. I've been reading up about it these past couple days. I even found a reddit thread (updated this year) with links to download Dark Athena, which includes the first game Escape from Butcher Bay.
I haven't gotten a chance to play them yet, but I have been playing through the Dishonored games recently as well, and it got me thinking that if someone were to make another Riddick game today, I'd hope it would play similar to those, just without the magic powers, and make it a bit more linear. I have no idea what the story would be, but I bet a game like that would be awesome.
I need to try to find Dark Fury.
Escape from Butcher Bay was an absolutely superb game. On the OG Xbox, it was astounding how good it looked.
I remember it being, at the time at least, a great example of a video game that’s better than the film(s) from the same universe.
And to be fair, I loved Pitch Black when I saw it in the cinema. Chronicles was a let down for me. The “universe” didn’t need to be expanded in the way that it did, as I thought the character works much better in a compact, tight, structured environment. Something which I guess they realised for Riddick, where they went back to his roots with what I thought was another great film.