The Chronicles of Riddick

Pitch Black was a modestly budgeted, Aliens style monster movie that cemented Vin Diesel's reputation as an action hero. Graeme Revell's score was a synthetic effort, but for the only glancingly related sequel (same characters, almost totally different premise) he has been given a more normal Hollywood budget to play with and consequently the massed Hollywood Studio Symphony are only augmented by the electronics. Where less might be more, in this case, more is more interesting. Pitch Black's score worked in the film, but rarely made an impact on its own terms, but Chronicles of Riddick is a vast improvement and, along with Marco Beltrami's superior I, Robot score, makes for a fine throwaway summer blockbuster album.

Things start in fine style with the portentous title track before rushing headlong into Hunt for Riddick where Revell's more blustery sensibilities take over. Yes, it could be deemed a touch generic, but it's all done with such conviction that it drags you along, kicking and screaming, on its energy alone. The mixture of orchestra and synths seems about right for the material; electronics seem an obligatory extra, but aren't the dominating force. The action cues are undoubtedly the highlights and some of the intervening moments aren't hugely inspiring. While it doesn't quite shrink back to the synthetic murmuring of Pitch Black, there is some of the noodling quality that isn't an especially welcome addition. On the other hand, few of them are long and there are occasional surprises such as the epic suspense (truly) of Show You the Way and the curiously titled, yet surprisingly interesting, Pops a Cork.

A few licks that seem inspired by Don Davis' staccato Matrix brass creep into The Slam and a hint of Danny Elfman's Planet of the Apes on a couple of occasions, notably the End Credits, but otherwise Chronicles of Riddick is largely free from direct references to anything else, something of an achievement these days. The only notable (and welcome) quote is the surprisingly decent four note fanfare theme from Pitch Black which sounds far more impressive here. It's just a pity that there isn't a great deal of memorable thematic material elsewhere as that element would have pushed what is a generally well written score to big budget, high octane hokey space opera into something more memorable.