Susan Granger’s review of “Riddick” (Universal Pictures)
Having made his debut in 2000’s “Pitch Black” as an escaped convict from the planet Furya, Vin
Diesel’s titular, sci-fi anti-hero returned in 2004’s disastrously convoluted sequel, “Chronicles of Riddick,” but now he’s has been off the screen for nine years. What happened?
Apparently, the dangerous outlaw Richard B. Riddick been left for dead on a desolate, sun-scorched planet for most of that time, battling the merciless elements, fighting carnivorous CGI creatures, making himself immune to the poisonous bite of an outer space-scorpion, and domesticating a jackal-like animal that becomes his alien guardian. Cynically mumbling, “There are bad days – and there are legendary bad days. This was one of those,” two teams of bounty hunters suddenly appear, responding to a galaxy-wide emergency beacon that Riddick has deliberately set off. And – not surprisingly – they’re both after him: dead or alive but, preferably, dead. As the mercenaries bicker and squabble amongst themselves – with an arrogant Hispanic stalker named Santana (Jordi Molla) threatening to rape the attractive lesbian Dahl (Katee Sackoff from “Battlestar Galactica”), while no-nonsense Boss Johns (Matt Nable) is just trying to figure out what happened to his son – rugged Riddick, who has been endowed with extraordinary dark vision, has time to strategize how to outwit and outfight his pursuers in order to commandeer one of their spaceships and survive another day.
Based on a concept created by Jim and Ken Wheat, writer/director David Twohy (“The Fugitive,” “A Perfect Getaway”) helms an unabashedly violent B-movie with lots of voice-overs, supporting caricatures instead of characters, and cheesy, low-budget special effects that are, most often, dimly lit.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Riddick” is a viscerally ferocious 5, delivering brawny, low-octane Diesel.
