Riddick

Cast of Characters:

Richard B. Riddick - Vin Diesel

Santana - Jordi Molla

Boss Johns - Matt Noble

Dahl - Katee Sackhoff

Diaz - Dave Bautista

Moss - Bokeem Woodbine

Lockspur - Raoul Trujillo

Vaako - Karl Urban

Director - David Twohy

Screenplay - David Twohy

Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexual content/nudity

      Vin Diesel straps on the goggles one more time in the third installment based on Richard B. Riddick, Riddick. Good news is, you can only go up from The Chronicles of Riddick.

      Riddick opens with a badly wounded Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel) stranded on a deserted planet. Prior to this, we learn, through flashbacks that begin at the end of The Chronicles of Riddick, that Riddick has grown tired of his place as Lord Marshall of the Necromongers and wants to return back to his home on Furya. He strikes a deal with Commander Vaako (Karl Urban) where he hands over the title of Lord Marshall in return for a ship that will take him back home. However, he soon realizes that he has been set up and is soon left for dead.

      Managing to survive, particularly from some nasty looking scorpions from hell, Riddick takes shelter in an abandoned communication station. Noticing a massive series of storms coming, he activates the emergency beacon which broadcasts his identity. Unfortunately for him, the broadcast is received by two teams of bounty hunters, one led by the cocky Santana (Jordi Molla), the other by Boss Johns (Matt Noble). Both teams won't let Riddick off easily, but for different reasons. Santana wants him dead considering the bounty is doubled if Riddick is brought back dead. Boss Johns's reason is more personal as he is the father of William Johns (from Pitch Black, the first film in the series) and wants to know the full story of what happened to his child. As the storms approach closer, though, they realize that Riddick may be their only hope for getting out alive.

      While the Riddick series certainly has a devoted fanbase, I'm in no way one of them. Pitch Black was by no means bad, just okay; however, The Chronicles of Riddick was a bloated mess of a story that I absolutely hated. Like I said at the beginning, you can only go up from the last film in the series and Riddick is able to do just that. Unlike its predecessor, writer/director David Twohy wisely keeps it simple and strictly to the basics. What we get is an action film that, while dull at times, is somewhat effective, and even when we do flashback, for just a moment, to the dreaded territory that is The Chronicles of Riddick (where Karl Urban shows up for five seconds 'cause I'm assuming Star Trek doesn't pay him that much), it makes sense. The problem with this film is the same problem Twohy has run into with the previous films of the series: pacing. It just isn't Twohy's forte. The first twenty minutes where Riddick's fighting to survive alongside his pet Hyena looking dog and kicking the asses of these part Cobra hissing, part scorpion, part whatever the hell you'd call the rest of it creatures was actually entertaining. It's when the bounty hunters show up, where you'd think it would really start to pick up, where the film begins to slow itself down and drag a bit. I'm nowhere near ADD; in fact, you're reading the thoughts of one of Terrence Malick's biggest admirers and he's a Ritalin junkie's worst nightmare. Even I, though, was twitching for some pills through the middle act. There are a few clever kills and some funny banter from Diesel that works. For the most part, though, I found myself, more often than not, looking at the clock on my phone thinking, "Okay, let's pick it up." and it's not until the final act where the film gets back on track.

      Despite the pacing issues and the cheesy ending, Riddick is still quite an improvement over the pretentious last film in the series and is worth a rental. The straightforward story and the fact that it never takes itself too seriously benefits the film and I easily found myself more entertained here than any of the other Riddick films. It's not perfect, but I wasn't expecting it to be, and at least this time I didn't barge out of the theater demanding my money back. I give Riddick a C+ (★★½).

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