Working with a drastically reduced budget Diesel and writer/director David Twoey went back to basics for the new film, returning the character to his simple badass roots and kicking the politics to the curb unceremoniously. Nearly 10 minutes go by before a word is spoken in Riddick. That alone tells you we're going in a different direction from episode II. When Diesel finally does open his mouth its in VO during which he explains how and why he's now free of the Necromancers and stranded on yet another uber hostile alien world. Apparently he incurred the wrath of the Necromancers when he declined the advances of numerous hairless nubiles (gotta give the boys something to look at) intent on progeneration while he was King of the Universe. They got pissed at this cultural slight and tossed him to the wolves after promising him they'd take him back to Furia.
Once the explanations of why the previous narrative lines have been scrapped are out of the way the film gets down to business with our anti-hero trapped in a kind of natural cage guarded by some very very nasty t-rex/alien hybrids. He escapes of course to the greener pastures (literally) of an abandoned mercenary station where he decides to call for help by turning himself in using the local, interplanetary drop-a-dime box. Two teams respond to his call. A ragged one and a polished one. The ragged one led by a guy named Santana (Jordi Molla) arrives first intent on bringing in their quarry quickly and getting out of Dodge. They don't work quick enough though and soon the second team arrives full of uniform vigor and in possession of a full-blown chain of command. They're told to stay out of the way by Santana and his squad and they oblige, sure in the knowledge that they'll be needed soon enough. And of course they are.
But this being Riddick that they're all hunting even these additional professionals are not enough and it all seems like its going to hell until Santana kills Riddick's pooch and the Furian comes out of hiding long enough to be tranquilized and captured by the local dyke (Katee Sackhoff doing her topless best to keep the boys in the seats). Riddick, though, has one more ace up his sleeve because he's aware that a storm is approaching and that the rain that will accompany it is going to have the effect of animating a lot more of those previously mentioned t-rex/alien hybrids that have been lying dormant just below ground waiting for water; like those south american frogs. As soon as the rain starts falling the shit really hits the fan and well, I'll let you see the rest for yourself.
There are times when watching "Riddick" that you would swear you were watching "Pitch Black" but maybe that was necessary in order to put the train back on the tracks again. Diesel does his perfunctory best to appear uber menacing at all times and the supporting cast all do a creditable job. Most of the dialogue sounds like was written by first year film students though and the CG is in places laughable. Then again once the storm sets in the action does a serious ramp up and the visual quality of the film ticks up a several notches.
Bottom line is that there's nothing new here but it may be one of the few occasions where retreading an old tire was the appropriate course of action. It's worth a look but what I really want to know is where will Diesel and Twohy go from here, now that they've got their character back.
Verdict: ★★★☆☆
Good review Chris. You know what to expect from a movie starring Vin Diesel, so expect this one to be stupid and fun. That's all.
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