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 ark Fury" is a 30-minute self-contained
animated story that takes place between the events of "Pitch
Black" and the just released "Chronicles
of Riddick". It's not really anything necessary, and I suspect
only fans of the Riddick character will enjoy the film for what it is --
the further adventures of everyone's favorite nightvision-enhanced killing
machine.
The short follows Riddick, Imam, and Jack (all voiced
by the original actors, including Rhiana Griffith as Jack), in the
aftermath of their escape from the bug planet. The skip they're in soon
dies and a ship captained by a deranged female bounty hunter and her small
army of bounty hunters stumbles across them. Riddick and company are
reeled in, and after a scuffle in the hangar bay, becomes the crazy lady's
captives.
How crazy is our villain? For one, she doesn't sell
her captives to the authorities, and instead freezes them and molds them
into works of "art". Our nutty chick already has an extensive
collection, and before she adds Riddick to it, she wants to see him
"work" in person. This means pitting Riddick against two strange
light creatures with tentacles that attacks in the dark. Fortunately
Riddick has nightvision, so I suppose it's a fair fight, right?
"Dark Fury" is only 30 minutes and while it
does make good use of all 30 minutes of it, it's not necessary to have
seen the short to understand the events of "Chronicles of
Riddick". The only real significant impact this episode has on the
Riddick universe is that it introduces the Toombs character, the wiseass
bounty hunter who will be dogging Riddick's tail all over
"Chronicles". And since "Dark Fury" seems to indicate
ol Toombs has a knack for survival, it appears his possible demise in
"Chronicles" was just a tease. No doubt Toombs is being primed
for a Boba Fett role by Twohy and company.
Aside from Toombs, the short gives some insights into
why Riddick left Jack to Imam, where she eventually went astray later on,
thus ending up in a prison when the story recommences with
"Chronicles". Other than that there's nothing about "Dark
Fury" that one would call required viewing. Without sounding too
cynical, my guess is that the inclusions of these two tidbits was creator
David Twohy's way of trying to make "Fury" less of an obvious
attempt to capitalize on Riddick's popularity with fanboys.
And then there is the art in "Dark Fury".
The short is directed by Peter Chung, most known for the perverse and
(literally) twisted artwork of "Aeon Flux". Chung seems addicted
(or perhaps obsessed is the better word) with this animated style. He's
even re-used the same art style in an episode of the "Animatrix".
There are some inspired renderings, such as an alien dog used to sniff out
Riddick, but for the most part Chung's style is just too "Look at me,
I'm different!" and takes away from the story at hand.
Also, isn't real creativity about taking on new
challenges, developing new styles, and constantly evolving? Chung seems
permanently stuck in time, either unable or unwilling to evolve. Towards
the end of the short, when Riddick battles the crazy bounty hunter lady's
enforcer, the art gets even more exaggerated. Really, it's sort of
disturbing, and not at all pleasing to the eye. Maybe there are a lot of
people who really enjoys this animated style, but I'm not one of them.
Wacky artwork aside, "Dark Fury" works
somewhat as a stand-alone episode. The short will only be popular with
fans of Riddick who wants to see his further adventures. Otherwise, the
ending of "Pitch Black" and the beginning of "Chronicles of
Riddick" really doesn't need a "bridging" chapter. Having
said that, "Dark Fury" is a 3-star movie if you happen to like
Riddick's brand of mayhem (as I do) and it's a 2.5-star movie for everyone
else.
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