Riddick

Zach Goodier

Vin Diesel returns as Riddick, one of our favorite movie badasses.  We see him start out on a desolate world, fighting to survive on his own.  As the movie progresses, we see his situation explained, and how he fell out with the Necromongers from the previous film.  Taking advantage of his desire to find his lost home world, they lured him to this world and after a brief fight, they leave him for dead.  Riddick only blames himself for his fall from the badass ranks, saying he became “civilized” and didn’t see this betrayal coming.  Now, Riddick must call in the very people that originally wanted his head, bounty hunters.  His only way off this world is by racing against the clock, stealing a ship, and getting off world before the local monsters come for him.

Oh yeah, he kept what he killed.

Riddick takes a strong step backwards, which might sound bad, but this actually turns out to be a good thing.  While the Chronicles of Riddick was a solid film, it often got too caught up with other characters, feeling like the whole film was weighed down by too many distractions.  In this movie, it’s just Riddick, and the guys trying to kill him.  Like Pitch Black, we get to see that the biggest enemy of the film isn’t the guys with all the guns, it’s the savage world full of alien creatures that are out for blood.  If there is any major fault to be had in terms of story, it would be that the film tries TOO hard to be like Pitch Black, to the point where you almost want to call this a remake of sorts.

It needs some training, has a tendency to bite when it gets nervous.

Vin Diesel has always done a good job as Riddick, and I believe it’s because he doesn’t take the character too seriously.  While many people fault action movie characters for their lack of depth, I think Diesel has a good handle on what he’s doing.  This movie isn’t about depth or sophistication, it’s about enjoying some action and humor.  With the new set of bounty hunters, we see the usual disposable jocks who waves guns around and start dropping like flies once Riddick gets his “Furion swagger” going.  A couple of the bounty hunters set themselves apart, namely Santana, Boss Johns, and Dahl.  Most everyone else is just comic relief or cannon fodder. 

Not all mercs are hard to look at.

The creatures are more diverse than in Pitch black, with a few different varieties in the movie.  The worst of the bunch comes out of wet ground, making rain a particularly frightening thing.  These creatures are some sort of scorpion-inspired creature, and while it definitely doesn’t look like something you want to take home, they don’t have the authentic feel that the creatures from Pitch Black offered.  Another breed of animal, a canine-looking creature, is much more interesting, and provides for one of the more interesting elements of the story, even if you end up a little disappointed later on in the film. 

Riddick is still in his prime, and hopefully in future movies we can get to see more of this universe... namely Furia.

The only real shortcoming of this film is that it doesn’t feel like it moves the franchise anywhere.  It was almost too safe with its’ “Pitch Black” approach.  It also brings up the possibility of seeing Furia, the place where legends like Riddick were made.  However, you end up feeling a little disappointed that they whet your appetite, just to drop it to the background in favor of more of the same.  That being said, this is still a fun film that will entertain almost any fan of the other films.  However, don’t go in expecting big changes, because this movie essentially stuck to the tried and true formula that has worked for the previous films.

Good:

-It’s Riddick… so… yeah.

-New sidekick is way cooler than Riddick’s old fan club… whines less too.

-Doesn't get as large in scale as Chronicles, which lets it focus more on the smaller setting.

Bad:

-Not as creative, takes a lot of ideas from Pitch Black.

-Tempts you with offerings it kind of forgets about until the very end.

-Attempts at chemistry between Riddick and Dahl just felt clumsy in the writing department.

Scully Rating: 7.5 out of 10