"There is a man inside this vessel, who is something far worse... than anyone here has ever encountered. Should you survive this day, it is one you will remember for the rest of your lives."
— Junner, talking about the skiff his crew picked up
Dark Fury is an animated feature set in The Chronicles of Riddick universe. It was directed by the Korean-American animator Peter Chung (known for Æon Flux), and features Vin Diesel reprising his role of Richard B. Riddick. The story takes place between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick.
After escaping Hades, Riddick, Jack, and Imam are picked up by a transport vessel. They soon discover that it's a mercenary ship. Riddick attempts to disguise himself as William J. Jones but his guise undone by voice recognition technology and the trio are captured. They plan to hand Riddick over to the ship's owner Antonia Chillingsworth, who intends to add him to her "collection". Chillingsworth enjoys taking criminals and freezing them as living statues to present as artwork, A Fate Worse Than Death.
The film provides some further explanation to exactly why Riddick decides to leave Jack behind and it shows the first instance of Jack's more violent side emerge.
Dark Fury contains examples of:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The "Shrill" Starfish Aliens that Riddick is pitted against are at least partly animated with CGI, which makes them appear even more otherworldly.
- All There in the Script: The villainness played by Tress MacNeille is never named in dialogue. The credits list her as Chillingsworth, but you have to watch the bonus features to learn that her first name is Antonia.
- And I Must Scream: The "statues". It's pointed out that the people are still very much alive, still conscious, but can't move. It's said that blinking an eye takes several days.
- Action Survivor: Jack and Imam are woefully inadequate to defend themselves against the ship full of killers and monsters. They survive on a basis of luck, hiding and Riddick's protection. Then subverted in the end, when Jack kills Antonia. Even Riddick is shocked.
- Badass Longcoat: Junner is wearing a white one that makes him look equal parts like a sinister scientist.
- Bad Boss: With the exception of Junner, Antonia has no problems sacrificing waves of her own crew just to see Riddick in action.
- Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: Antonia's ready to shoot Riddick, but Jack shoots her with Junner's assault rifle
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Sure, Antonia, give Riddick a knife to fight some of your alien pets in gladiatorial combat, right after you threaten to freeze him into a living statue. Its not like he's escaped from such situations before, or anything.
- She also makes the mistake of spitting a one-liner before detonating the Riddick's neck bomb. If she had just set if off, he'd be dead.
- Bounty Hunter: Dark Fury is almost entirely set on a ship full of them, which is where Toombs came from.
- Brick Joke: Since Riddick's movies are infamous for having these (some being better than others), it's only appropriate that this movie have one as well. Cue the scene where Riddick tells Junner that the next time they meet, he's going to "stick this [sharp object] in his eye.". Then cue a fight scene later on that ends in him doing just that.Riddick: I told you that was coming...
- Call-Back: After a comment made by Jack, Riddick says "First you're a boy, then you're a girl, and now you're a psychic...". Anyone who saw Pitch Black in its entirety knows what this is referencing.
- Call-Forward: Given that this was made as an interquel between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, you can expect a few of these to the latter.
- The Coats Are Off: During his fight with Riddick, Junner throws his Badass Longcoat away.
- Cool Shades: Both Riddick's welding goggles and Junner's glasses.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The merc who falls into the fighting pit and is killed by the creatures inside dies by getting stabbed with one of the creature's claws, which melts him down into nothing and absorbs the energy.
- The Dragon: Junner serves Chillingsworth as her second-in-command, with Riddick quickly identifying him as her lap dog. As with the traditional definition, he's also a much bigger physical threat than his master.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Something must be really wrong with you if Riddick calls you out for your behaviour, Antonia.
- Evil Overlooker: Chillingsworth's head is watching over Riddick on the cover.
- Eye Scream: "When we meet again, I'm going to bury this in your eye." Which he does, and is shown in detail.
- Foil:
- Junner to Riddick. Long hair to Riddick's bald, wears cosmetic glasses to Riddick's functional ones, and when they fight, his outfit exposes his chest. Riddick's outfit covers his chest.
- Riddick himself says that he's never been called a psycho, like Chillingsworth clearly is. She's also an upper-class rich-lady who hires bounty hunters and likes bloodsports, while Riddick is a down-and-dirty convict who likes to do his own dirty work (if he has to), tries to work alone, and has to avoid bounty hunters. His look is functional, hers is luxurious and decorative. He travels the worlds, she stays at home and makes people come to her.
- The Future Is Noir: True to Riddick form, the film gives off this vibe, with deep shadows to offset the bright colors and some scenes taking place in utter darkness (not to mention the morally ambiguous or even depraved characters, plenty of shocking violence, and sharp-tongued banter).
- Gladiator Games: Riddick, Imam and Jack vs shrills.
- Human Popsicle:
- The mercenary ship could be described as one big freezer for mercs and captured people.
- "Statues" made by Antonia are also this. It's a much more complicated process that delays people's movement to the point that blinking an eye takes a day.
- Living Doll Collector: The main antagonist's motivation.
- Mook Horror Show: Riddick is well-established as a grim reaper for people on his way.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: Inverted. It's not important how many guns are pointed in Riddick's direction. It's a matter of time before he will deal with shooters using a knife. Or bare hands.
- Not So Stoic: Although Chillingsworth is serenely calm throughout most of the movie, at the end she verbally lashes at Riddick for ruining her plans and personally trying to shoot him.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Junner personally fights Riddick. And what's more, he puts down his assault rifle to do so.
- Pilot Movie: The film is only slightly longer than the length of an episode of an animated series and has the feel of an episode from a television series that was never made
- Punny Name: Antonia Chillingsworth freezes people.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Antonia and Riddick in spades, but never as a verbal fight.
- Starfish Aliens: The shrills, whom Riddick fights in arena. They're nocturnal, upright-standing creatures with tentacle arms who seem to eat people by melting them into goo and absorbing the energy.
- Sunglasses at Night: Junner is wearing sunglasses in a completely artificially-lit spaceship. Justified in case of Riddick, since he's blinded by any sources of light.
- Taken for Granite: Antonia keeps some criminals whom her crew capture for herself so she can turn them into a living statue collection.
- Villainous Breakdown: After Riddick has killed most of Antonia's minions and foiled her plan to have him turned into part of her art collection, she attacks him in a shrieking frenzy and is noticeably dishevelled before Jack kills her.
- We Have Reserves: Junner apologizes to Antonia that he allowed Riddick to kill a lot of mercs in his capture. Antonia shrugs off the loss, stating how little they mean to her and ordering Junner to unfreeze more mooks. Later on she unleashes a huge carnivorous monster after sending a team of mercs after Riddick, even though it has a habit of killing people indiscriminately and indeed ends up eating them.
- Why Am I Ticking?: Riddick has a small bomb implanted into his neck by the mercs to control him. During the big fight scene he cuts it out with a knife and throws the activated bomb at his captors. Bad ass.
