[UK] Riddick Blu-ray Review

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Having been betrayed and left for dead on a sun-scorched planet, Riddick must fight for his survival against deadly alien predators that exist in this barren land. After activating an emergency beacon Riddick soon finds himself battling teams of mercenaries from around the galaxy who are determined to bring him home as their bounty. But Riddick plans to seek his retribution and return to his planet at all costs.

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‘Riddick’ arrives to the UK on Blu-Ray courtesy of Entertainment One with a 1080p AVC encode and it looks fantastic!

The detail on the disc is what you would expect from such a new title, brilliant! Definition is superb, you can see the beads of sweat just roll down Vin Diesel’s face, you can see everything in finely tuned detail. All of the actor’s clothing and equipment can be seen again in great detail and skin tones appear natural onscreen. Colours are spot on; the yellow glazed hue of the day time scenery really shines off the screen, and it’s the same for the darker and night time scenes. The black levels are very good and add great depth to the picture, and never loses any detail at the same time. The bright lighting from the interior of the space ships really jumps of the screen looking vivid and really stands out. CGI blends into the film well, whether it be from the space ships, monsters/creatures or from Riddick’s canine companion, and doesn’t really appear out of place. Little to practically no grain present on screen at all and also very little to no motion blur.

Overall a very impressive transfer for the Blu-Ray release of ‘Riddick’.

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Only one track on the disc and it’s a very good English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

From the off all speakers are used to full effect. The front speakers deliver the dialogue with great clarity and precision and the rear speakers pick up all of the background noise from moving machinery, monsters snarling or the motor hum from the ‘Jet Hogs’ and really immerses you into the movie. Rainfall and thunderstorms later on in the film add that bit more realism to the track, with the rears again picking up the sounds making for a very good surround track. The score to the movie is mainly subdued and lingering throughout the film adding some good atmosphere, but builds up nicely during the more climatic fight sequences. LFE kicks in at all the right places, fighting, explosions etc and is never overpowering or distracting.

As with the transfer, the sound again is spot on and will be a treat to listen to in the comfort of your own home.

English SDH subtitle are also included.

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The disc features quite a good mix of extra material.

* The Twohy Touch (HD, 6 mins) – A brief featuertte looking at why director David Twohy came back on board to direct the 3rd movie in the Riddick franchise. Also has some brief interviews with the cast and crew.
* Riddickian Tech – (HD, 10 mins) – A featurette that looks at the space weapons, space technology and space vehicles used in the film as well as the work of the VFX team.
* Vin’s Riddick (HD, 8 mins) – An interview with Vin Diesel on why he has so much love for the character of Riddick and even explains why he put his own home on the line to help fund the movie.
* Meet The Mercs (HD, 10 mins) – A brief featurette looking at the mercenaries from the film, the actors used to play them and the costume designs for them. Also includes brief talks with the cast and crew.
* The World of Riddick (HD, 10 mins) – A featurette that talks with David Twohy, Joseph Nemec and other members of the crew on how they designed the world for Riddick, starting from their choices for ‘Pitch Black’ right through to ‘Riddick’.
* Riddick: Blindsided (HD, 5 mins) – An animated story board of the ‘Necromonger Armada: En Route to Underverse’ sequence from the film

Fans of the ‘Riddick’ movies will be pleased with the amount of extras that have been brought to the Blu-Ray. Totalling just under an hour, you get to appreciate the love that the cast and crew have for the character of ‘Riddick’ with some decent insightful interviews. It would’ve been nice to have a Twohy and Diesel commentary and maybe the inclusion of some deleted scenes, however this is only a slight niggle.

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I remember buying ‘Pitch Black’ on DVD the day it was released in the UK and whilst at the time I wasn’t as much of a movie fan that I am now, I thoroughly enjoying it, as I did also with ‘The Chronicles of Riddick’. I missed both in the cinema and they are a pair of films I would’ve loved to have seen on the big screen, especially ‘Pitch Black’. I’m in the minority when I say I like ‘The Chronicles of Riddick’, I always felt it was a decent sci-fi actioner and whilst not as good as ‘Pitch Black’ it was still enjoyable. I remember being excited hearing that there was plans to film the third and fourth films back to back not long after ‘Chronicles of Riddick’ had been released in the cinema, but due to the poor Box Office performance it made these plans were halted.

Ever since I’ve wanted to see the return of Richard. B Riddick, whether it be on the big screen or just direct to video. When the news broke that filming had started for the third film in the franchise I was naturally excited, especially when set photos were starting to trickle through. I made no mistake in missing the movie when it was released in UK cinemas, and I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s definatly a better movie than ‘Chronicles of Riddick’, but not quite enough to beat ‘Pitch Black’. It was nice to see ‘Riddick’ go back to its original roots of ‘Pitch Black’, and having watched the director’s cut that is on the UK Blu-Ray which also features an alternate extended ending I can say I did prefer the director’s cut to what I watched in the cinema.

The film is enjoyable, and if you’re a fan of the previous movies you’re bound to enjoy this. The cast as a whole are decent enough and it’s good to see a cameo from Karl Urban, but obviously the main standout star is Vin Diesel as the anti-hero ‘Richard B. Riddick’. You can tell he loves the character, both on screen and in the interviews from the extras on the disc. I hope this won’t be the last we see of ‘Riddick’.

The Blu-Ray is great, boasting a fantastic AV package as well as a good selection of extras.

Order your copy from Amazon.co.uk

There is also a very limited edition Steelbook available instore only at HMV

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httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDxDEjDMreA

About the author

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER | Matt is a huge movie fan with a big passion for all the 80s cheesy Action movies. Anything Arnold Schwarzenegger related is an instant hit too! Also a UK Blu-ray reviewer for Hi-Def Ninja and UK Editorial Manager.