Riddick

Starring: Vin Diesel, Jordi Molla, Matt Nable, Katee Sackhoff, Dave Bautista, Bokeem Woodbine
Directed by: David Twohy
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Science Fiction, Thriller
2013

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Trapped on a desolate planet, Riddick (Vin Diesel) activates a beacon, which brings a group of mercenaries down to take his head.

Review:

Tim: This is the third movie about the galactic criminal, Riddick, and we're left with the same result- Riddick is an unbelievably cool character trapped in average movies. Once again, I left this film impressed with Vin Diesel and so excited to see this character grace the screen again, and yet, so disappointed that he doesn't have better movies around him. Honestly, it's time for David Twohy to move on and find someone else to continue these adventures.

In many ways, I'm just pleasantly surprised that this movie even exists. Pitch Black was a decent movie but featured an incredible performance by Diesel. The Chronicles of Riddick was even worse, but again, Diesel was good. This movie improves on the second film, but still leaves a lot to be desired. Still, it's incredibly lucky that we got three adventures with Riddick (and I'm still holding out hope for a fourth).

This movie is presented in a much smaller scale than The Chronicles of Riddick, so it's much closer in tone and scope to Pitch Black. I know that was intentional, but this movie feels just a little too close to the original. Once again, Riddick is trapped on a dark and dangerous planet with a group of people who will be killed by strange and deadly creatures. I wish this movie were just a bit more different. It was a new story and new characters, but it kind of felt like we've been down this road before. That hurts the movie.

I like how this movie opened with Riddick just having one of the worst days imaginable. It was a strong opening and I was intrigued as he battled against crazy odds, adopted a strange wolf-like creature as a pet, and used his intellect to outsmart deadly creatures trying to kill him. It was a great example of the countless stories that can be told with this extremely cool character. Unfortunately, once Riddick activates the beacon, this movie strays into Pitch Black territory. Now, it's always fun seeing how Riddick can outsmart those around him, but it also got to be a little bit predictable.

The movie could have used a bigger budget. Some of the special effects were impressive, but others looked quite hard-to-believe. Those moments took me out of the story because what I was watching just looked too ridiculous. The movie just needed more money to throw at the images on screen. Other than that, though, I'm glad this movie chose to tell a smaller story. Films seem to be getting bigger and bigger, and especially in a franchise, each film tries to outdo the one preceding it. That results in massive, bloated movies that aren't good for anyone. The future of sequels will be closer to how this one was presented- smaller, more intimate stories. I love that this film decreased the scope from the previous one (although I understand a lot of that had to do with the fact that no studio would throw the same kind of money at this film).

I really hope that this isn't the last Riddick movie, but if it ends here, this is a franchise that feels like it's never achieved its full potential. I would watch a hundred movies featuring Diesel as Riddick- it's the perfect combination of actor and character. It's just so fun to watch Diesel in this role. And yet, as a trilogy, these movies are all substandard. Not one of these movies would I consider particularly good or strong. They're all average. That is disappointing and I can't think of another trilogy where such a great character has such average movies around him. I really believe this character of Riddick has a truly great movie in him. Unfortunately, Riddick isn't it. While this film did improve on the second film, it's not the definitive Riddick movie I've been waiting to see.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick