A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

After the unexpected success of Pitch Black (both critical and commercial), various bigwigs decided that a sequel was necessary.  While Pitch Black was a surprisingly good film, there never seemed enough there to warrant the lavish amounts spent on The Chronicles of Riddick (featuring the long-awaited first pairing of Vin Diesel and Judi Dench).  This time out, things are essentially all on a larger scale, with director David Twohy trying to create a kind of space opera; somewhat inevitably, critical backlash was large and it ended up not seeming such a good idea after all.

Probably the only really poor thing about the first movie was the music, ambient garbage by Graeme Revell, but fortunately the returning composer has written something rather more ambitious and high-quality this time around (which may be damning it with faint praise, but the sentiment is genuine).  After the less-than-promising (in fact, downright dull) opening comes one of the truly impressive tracks, the action-dominated "Hunt for Riddick", featuring especially strong writing for the brass.  It's not long before the next standout action piece, "One Speed", featuring choir and a driving performance of the simple but effective main theme.  Revell has always favoured unusual ethnic instruments in his scores (seemingly, regardless of whether the films warranted them) and here they are incorporated particularly well, complementing the orchestra (and mercifully somewhat subtle electronics) very nicely.

In amongst the impressive material, though, is some rather less interesting music more in line with that for Pitch Black, with meandering synth textures going nowhere and doing nothing much.  These are mercifully somewhat few and far between, but there are certainly five or six cues that should have been omitted.  Fortunately there is usually something better just around the corner, with not only the action music but also some of the grander, portentous pieces impressing as well, particularly the stirring "Imam's Death".  While there is some vague recollection of the drudgery of his Dune music, for the most part even the more subdued cues contain at least something of interest, and this is certainly a decent score.  As I said, perhaps the album goes on a bit, but otherwise, expectations are exceeded.

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Tracks

1. The Chronicles of Riddick (2:43)
2. Hunt for Riddick (4:43)
3. Vaako Conspiracy (3:19)
4. One Speed (3:08)
5. The Sweet Spot (1:29)
6. The Animal Side (:53)
7. Arrival at Helion (1:10)
8. Save My Family (1:19)
9. Kyra's Theme (1:21)
10. Helion Attack pt 2 (1:12)
11. Imam's Death (1:46)
12. Necromongers (1:26)
13. Show You the Way (1:59)
14. Hellhounds (2:18)
15. Pops a Cork (1:34)
16. The Slam (2:43)
17. Furyan Energy (:59)
18. The Purifiers End (3:20)
19. Aereon Foretells (1:50)
20. Final Betrayals (1:55)
21. Keep What You Kill (2:32)
22. Final Chronicle (4:02)