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PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of The Chronicles of Riddick (Graeme Revell)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you can satisfy yourself with orchestral
science-fiction action music that is basically sufficient but only as
intelligent as Vin Diesel's bulging biceps.
Avoid it... if you require interesting or refreshing instrumental and structural ideas in the genre that don't stumble over their own feet when trying to generate massively noisy ruckus.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Chronicles of Riddick: (Graeme Revell) When the
character of Riddick first appeared on screen in the 2000 film Pitch
Black, audiences and critics did not indicate that he, nor his
sci-fi horror concept, was of the quality that could spawn a sequel. But
a cultish following of that film on DVD led the primary character (among
a few others) to reappear in 2004's equally mind-numbing The
Chronicles of Riddick. Whereas the first film defined itself as a
straight-forward horror flick, challenging the viewer to choose
loyalties very carefully, the sequel sends the character into politics
and battles of planetary and, indeed, galactic proportions. Without much
dissent, critics hurled considerable insults at The Chronicles of
Riddick (the tagline "riddick-ulous" seems to pop up in several
places), mostly because of the lack of any true plotline worth caring
about and, of course, the outpouring of CGI-rendered vistas, characters,
and battles that could cause viewers to either cringe or laugh. Director
David Twohy returned from Pitch Black to helm The Chronicles
of Riddick, flooding the screen with flashing close-up shots of
battle, and he collaborated once again with composer Graeme Revell to
receive the gritty, minor key-dominated music of choice. With the score
for the original film having been spread amongst the composer's fans in
bootleg format, Revell's sequel score received full album treatment by
Varèse Sarabande, the label that stood beside Revell during the
early 2000's and released a fair amount of his music, including some
trashy entries. This one isn't necessarily among that latter group, but
whether he's been typecast into the role or not, Revell seems to take a
significant number of scoring assignments for films that are
predominantly gray and black in coloration, yielding challenging music.
Most of these flicks dwell in the B-rated range of quality, or perhaps
just outside the A-rate range if only because of the high promise but
poor execution of the films he scores. Leaving the horror element behind
and embracing straight action, The Chronicles of Riddick seems to
follow the musical path set by Daredevil the previous year, but
at a greater volume. While competent at every turn, the 2004 score is
not particularly memorable, failing to unleash anything unique enough to
qualify the effort as above average.
When Revell is inserted into these comic book-like sci-fi situations, he has proven highly unpredictable. On one hand, he can write a rather uninteresting action score like Titan A.E., but then he surprises with an innovative operatic space score for Red Planet on the other. His comparable space-faring music seems to fall closer to the average kind of non-descript orchestral meanderings heard in his television score for the Dune remake in 2000. To his credit, Revell successfully gives listeners the feeling that he wanted The Chronicles of Riddick to be bigger and badder than that usual norm, flexing musical muscles equivalent to Vin Diesel's with a group of Los Angeles musicians and some choral extras. The result is a loud and ambitious score in parts, complete with thematic development (led by frequent references to the three note phrases of the primary idea) and decent fight cues ("One Speed" is a highlight) that will rock your walls with brass and percussive power. Unfortunately, the same ambition leads to a tangle of noise for much of the score, with the main theme weak in memorability, the choir mixed poorly, and the score's action sequences painting a canvas just as jumbled and unauthentic as the CGI on screen. That main theme (arguably representing the Necromongers in the story) begins promisingly in the opening cue, complete with nifty electronically enhanced rhythms, but its performances throughout the score (such as in "Necromongers") are unconvincing in separating the motif from the rest of the wall of action sound. The choral sequences are difficult to enjoy as well, perhaps because they sound electronically generated (or at least electronically altered) and perhaps because they are not meant to add harmony to the chords of the overall equation. A single uncredited female voice flies solo in parts, including nearly graceful performances in "The Animal Side" and "Aereon Fortells" (speaking of Aereon, what the hell is Judi Dench doing in this film? Will Vin Diesel do Shakespeare next?). But the difficult choral passages are summarized by "Furyan Energy," which is nearly painful in its awkward mixing and disharmony. Slightly exotic shades, as in "Arrival at Helion," betray the unique instrumental colors with lazy applications. Even at the very end, when the action music in the credits suddenly stops abruptly, you're left with a nagging feeling that there is very little cohesion to this score. On the whole, The Chronicles of Riddick has great intentions in individual cues, and it occasionally provides stirring action rhythms, but it stumbles over its own feet for much of its running time and offers few new ideas for veteran film music ears to enjoy. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 47:58
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a list of performers but no extra
information about the score or film.
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