The Chronicles of Riddick - Dark Fury (DVD, 2004)

This is supposed to bridge the gap between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. Since the two movies are so different they decided to make this one different, but in a different way. Confused? This must be by the same animators as AEON FLUX because it is very stylized, visually beautiful and stunning, and fast paced. I might have given it a full 5/5 rating if it weren't so short. If I paid $20 for this I might be pissed, but since I got it on Ebay I more than got my moneys worth. If you can get this for $10 or less I highly suggest buying it. It's violent, but not too violent. It's not too gory, although I don't think my 12 year old is quite ready for it. Good times!!!

This reveiw is dead on.
Dark Fury was created as a bridge between the two movies and to allow the authors to delve a little deeper into the universe of Riddick. The movie only partially succeeds in that attempt. Dark Fury is only 35 minutes long and it is not enough time to explore something deeply. The movie starts right where Pitch Black left off. Riddick and his companions are in a small ship but are being captured by mercenaries. Riddick attempts to hide his identity but doesn't succeed as the mercenaries have a lot of advanced technology on their ship. The enigmatic mercenary leader (Chillingsworth) orders that Riddicks ship be brought in and occupants captured. Riddick resists and in a pretty bloody sequence kills a lot of mercenaries but again shows weakness when Jack's life is threatened.
Chillingsworth is fascinated by death and shows Riddick her collection of captured killers who are displayed like exhibits in a museum. But she has something more planned for Riddick who is a crown jewel in her collection. Riddick is to become a living exhibit, but he manages to escape and again save the lives of Jack and Imam.
Action sequences in this movie are exciting and well choreographed in a Japanese anime style which is to be expected since the director is Peter Chung ("Animatrix: Matriculated"). But for an American cartoon they are pretty bloody and not suitable for children. Visually "Dark Fury" is pretty impressive looking with some of the best computer generated imagery I've seen. Most of the environment was rendered on a computer but the majority of characters were drawn by hand.
But, other than the visuals there is little to be enjoyed in the movie. Nothing new is added to the Riddick universe that we already don't know. Riddick's mysterious origin is just reinforced and not the least bit explained. Only thing we learn is why Riddick is separated from Imam and Jack and the character of Toombs is introduced which will play a big role in "The Chronicles of Riddick". It would be nice to see some of the Riddick universe and not just a collection of, admittedly very good, action sequences.

An all right animovie. Helprd tie togerher "Pitch Black" & "The Chronicles of Riddick". It was kinda short though, probably under an hour long. Over all, it was decent for an animated movie.

There was a noticable gap between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, and this movie explains them all. It starts where one leaves off, and makes sense of where the other one begins. Not at all cheesy like I expect a cartoon to be.

received the item i ordered in record time. was really surprised. have not watched the video as of yet, but it looks in good condition. it was wrapped and shipped neatly.

This movie is a great addition to the Chronicles of Riddick saga. It ties the two live action movies together. This movie closes a lot of open spaces. The animation is superb, the story is fun, and very creative.

On the way to the Chronicles of Riddick the was a pit stop. The other faction wants Riddick. Even with a steep bounty on his head. Others have a personal reason to add him to their collection. Not a long movie but very a interesting one!

IT WAS GOOD TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN THE TWO MOVIE. HOW THEY GOT SEPARATED AND WHY. THE FIGHT SCENES WERE VERY GOOD ALSO. THE ONLY THING THAT I DID NOT LIKE IS THAT IT WAS TOO SHORT FOR A FILM.

"Dark Fury" is touted as an animated story link between the movies "Pitch Black" and "The Chronicles of Riddick" While my curiousity compelled me to find out exactly how much I was missing, yours doesn't need to. "Dark Fury" features the voice of Vin Diesel and is mercifully short (35 min), but the story link it provides is negligible. Unless you're really a Riddick fanatic and must have this one for your collection, you can pass it up without flinching. "The Chronicles of Riddick" contains all the story references you need.