Gotta love summer blockbuster season. Until just last week, I was really loathing Chronicles of Riddick. Honestly. Just seemed so pushed and shoved.

But, then again, I’d never (and still haven’t) seen Pitch Black. Keep that in mind.

So, with that in mind, I really, really, really enjoyed Chronicles. I can’t say it’s the best movie ever, or even in my top 10, but totally worth seeing. Besides about 20 minutes of Hollywood special effects, crappy plot and silly characters, Riddick was fantastic.

Probably the best part, and from what I hear it’s what a lot of folk loved about Pitch Black, was the characters. Sure, Riddick (with some of the best one-liners ever) was great, but many of the characters were strong, memorable and developed really well over the course of the film. Most of the film, in fact, was centered around the inter-character conflicts.

Good stuff.

Also good was the sound track, effects and overall concept. Ending was mildly surprising (though apparently not as much so as Pitch Black) and, really I wouldn’t be surprised to see a third movie in the series. I’d be there. With a hat. A black one ;-)