Riddick is the third film in David Twohy’s Chronicles of Riddick saga.
Starting with Pitch Black in 2000, and continuing with Chronicles of Riddick in 2004, audiences followed the exploits of Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel), outlaw, thief, murderer and antihero.
Pitch Black was an entertaining sci-fi/horror mashup that wore its R-rating proudly. Chronicles of Riddick is a tamer follow-up that lowered the rating in the hopes of extending the audience. I think the PG-13 rating on Chronicles and the fan complaints that accompanied it are the only reasons we have Riddick.
As Riddick, Vin Diesel uses his Iron Giant voice and a pair of glowing contact lenses that allow him to see in the dark to hunt and kill mercs and monsters.
“I’ve been here before,” he tells us, referring to the dangerous terrain where he’s been betrayed and left for dead. The opening credits aren’t half over before Riddick performs the first sign that he is a cool character – he strangles one of the flesh-eating creatures that inhabit the planet.
Twohy bucks the sequel tradition, working on the smaller scale of the original. At times, Riddick hews so closely to Pitch Black that it feels like a remake. Once again, people are trapped on a hostile planet and don’t know if the bigger threat is the planet’s inhabitants or Riddick himself.
This time, Riddick is surrounded by two teams of bounty hunters, one of which wants him taken alive. The other prefers him dead because the bounty will be doubled. Neither team is any match for our macho antihero. They’re even less equipped to deal with the monstrosities awaiting them once the planet gets dark and rainy.
Riddick squanders two opportunities to elevate itself above standard fare. The first occurs early in the film, when the stranded Riddick learns to navigate his new home.
Twohy follows Riddick’s routines in an excellent 25-minute sequence. The planet’s landscapes are full of gorgeous details. The murderous CGI creatures Riddick fights are a bizarre mix of cleverness and cheesiness. Riddick also acquires a sidekick of sorts, who is a CGI-rendered, hyena-dog hybrid and the mercenary in the “take him alive” group, who Santana later calls a “dingo-dango thing.”
The film also stars Former WWE superstar Dave Batista, and a brief cameo by Karl Urban. I believe there should be more Urban than this. It’s jam-packed with graphic violence, so those with weak constitutions need not apply.
Riddick is better than I expected, and it does provide a decent amount of fun for fans of the genre. Your enjoyment will depend on whether you’re a fan of Diesel’s character. While you won’t need to see the prior installments to follow Riddick, I’ve a feeling you’ll get more pleasure if you bring your own supply of Riddick love to the cinema.
