Chronicles of Riddick, The (DVD)

A Badass coverart for a badass character. Hope this one excels in the visual department on dvd.

I'm almost certain it will be, especially after recent Universal products like 2 Fast 2 Furious. Not much upstairs, but she sure is pretty.

Some news for buyers. Best Buy is selling the unrated director's cut for $19.99 at the moment. They're also offering an exclusive bonus DVD (inside) with more featurettes. Sway. Two problems. Not all the copies they're selling have the bonus disc. And the ones that do... are not labled.



I almost bought simple verison. I returned to the front lookin' for an advertisement, maybe coupons - nah. Anyhow, flipping through it I saw its ad; only 75 copies of the two disc set (bonus disc) are available per store.



The DVD cases are doubles, not as with "The Day After Tomorrow" or "Dawn Of The Dead" where the bonus disc was in a CD envelope inside. "Riddick" has second disc arm holder within.



To find out if it's the DVD with the bonus disc, give it a jiggle. If you hear a slight rattle, you got it. If not, keep jiggling copies. By the way, I did ask for assistance, they said every copy had it. They LIED. As I wrote some jiggle, some don't. There you go.

UPDATE...



There are apparently two different versions. One a regular slip cover, the other an exclusive Best Buy cover (I haven't seen it).



Not all the bonus discs are in double DVD cases. Some are in CD envelopes. Just found out about that one.



Lastly Best Buy has it labled for $19.99. But it's ringing for $16.99. Very strange.

I purchased the Best Buy version with the bonus disc. It is inside the case. One way to tell is that it has a Best Buy sticker with a special serial number although it does not state having the bonus disc. I saw some without the stickers from another store which apparently received only 20 out of 75. The only way I found out was one of the employees opened one for me. They were under the impression that it was handed at the counter upon purchase.

Little surprised you haven't reviewed this one Justin.

It's not my company to reivew, nor have I bought a copy myself.

Ahhh, I see. I didn't realize you guys split up reviews in that fashion.

Just watched this version of the Chronicles of Riddick today. I'd say it's a much better version of the film (as compared to the theatrical cut), and this cut brings it up to the level of Pitch Black, ie a B+ sci-fi flick.



The added 15 minutes really add to the film; providing the characters with more history and reason for their actions. It also makes some scene transitions less jarring.



The video is very nice and clean. In fact, it looks like the film was already stored in a digital mediumbefore the transfer, or was shot digitally, because this DVD's presentation is solid as a rock (eg no text jitter at all). That and the lack of grain makes this a pretty good looking futuristic sci-fi/fantasy/action flick.



And the audio is well done too. Dialogue comes through clear, as do most of the sound elements, though the low-end isn't as aggresive as I expected.