A Beginner's Guide to the Chronicles of Riddick Trilogy
If you're just getting into Vin Diesel's sci-fi adventures, here's what you need to know.
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Some of us just arrive at things late, but the great thing about movies is that, once they're out there, they stay out there, particularly when they have devoted fanbases. The Chronicles of Riddick, a trilogy (so far) of films starring Vin Diesel as the title character, certainly qualify as having a devoted fanbase, which means that if you're new to the films, you've no doubt been hearing about them for a while.
While all three of the Universal Pictures sci-fi films are linked by the same protagonist and the same lore, they are all different flavors of the same sci-fi world, so you get some variety within a larger franchise.
So, if you're a newcomer to the world of Richard Riddick, let's take a closer look at the character, the world, and the films.
A newcomer's guide to all three Riddick movies
Pitch Black (2000)
The first film in the series, Pitch Black, directed by franchise mastermind David Twohy from a script by Ken and Jim Wheat, introduces us to Diesel's Riddick, a dangerous criminal with a history of violence, surgically augmented eyes that let him see in the dark, and a mean streak a mile wide. When we meet him, he's a prisoner on a ship that crash lands on a dangerous alien world where, in a matter of hours, the suns will go down and create an environment of total darkness, allowing the light-sensitive creatures on the world to feast on any prey they can find.
It's this scenario that allows Riddick to emerge as both a wild card and a reluctant hero, as he uses his vision and his wits to guide the survivors of the crash to what they hope will be safety. There are creatures and scares in each of the Riddick films, but Pitch Black in particular also leans heavily into the monster movie fun of its premise, creating an environment of intense, immersive danger that, as the title suggests, plays on our fear of the dark. It's a sci-fi adventure film, yes, but sometimes it verges into all-out horror, and it's great fun.
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
When Pitch Black proved to be a box office hit, Twohy, Diesel, and company got a bigger budget for their follow-up, and dialed up the ambition to match. Set years after the events of the first film, The Chronicles of Riddick picks up as an invading armada of deadly warriors called Necromongers is rampaging across the galaxy, led by the half-dead, all-power Lord Marshall (Colm Feore). They're journeying to what they hope will be their promised land, but they're also killing pretty much everyone they meet in the process, or converting them to the strange undeath that is Necromonger life.
Fearing that only a bad guy can match these particular bad guys, Riddick's old friends and contacts put out a bounty for him specifically so they can draw him back into the civilized world, where he's tasked with facing down the Necromonger threat, and must, again, play the reluctant hero. If Pitch Black is a creature feature, then The Chronicles of Riddick is a Dune-style epic complete with fantasy-tinged armor, magical powers, and duels with the fate of the whole universe on the line. It's ambitious, has great design, and really plays up Riddick's impact not just as a cool character, but as one of those lovable scoundrels who can reshape an entire mythology.
Riddick (2013)
Almost a decade in the making, the third film in the series, Riddick, strips things down again, focusing on Riddick as he's trapped on a hostile planet where he must learn to survive. Cut off from everyone, his attempts to cut his own path to freedom are interrupted by two rival bands of hunters who are both on his trail, but for very different reasons. Caught in the middle, Riddick must use all of his strength and everything he's learned to make it through.
There's a back-to-basics approach to Riddick that's admirable, but it's far from just a Pitch Black remake. Yes, there are deadly creatures who are unleashed in a third-act torrent in ways both thrilling and terrifying, but at its heart this film is more like a space Western than a monster movie. Riddick once again gets to be the outlaw with a secret heart, surrounded by people who want him dead, and we get to watch as he finds ways to outlast and outwit his would-be captors. The grandiosity of Chronicles is gone, but in its place is something very true to the core of character.
The future of the Riddick franchise
Discussions about a fourth Riddick adventure have been happening pretty much since Riddick hit theaters, and now we finally have some concrete progress on that front. In the summer of 2024, Diesel and Twohy began shooting Riddick: Furya, the fourth chapter in the saga. For those who don't know, "Furya" is the name of Riddick's home planet, a place he's avoiding visiting. Now, in the fourth film, he'll have to go back, and find his people battling a new enemy that could change everything. We don't have a release date for the film yet, but with the shoot so recently launched, we'll probably know more very soon.
Check out the Riddick films online via Universal Home Entertainment.