Riddick

As the summer movie season is starting to wane, we are still being wooed to the multiplex with high-budget, adrenaline-packed, high explosive movie fare. This time around we have been handed "Riddick", the much awaited follow up of '04's "The Chronicles of Riddick". What's really amazing is that there has been 9 years between these films. Where has the time gone?

Betrayed by his own kind which is headed up by Vaako (Karl Urban) and his henchman, Krone (Andreas Apergis) and left for dead on a desolate planet, Riddick (Vin Diesel) fights for survival against alien predators and becomes more powerful and dangerous than ever before. Activating an emergency beacon alerts two ships: one carrying a new breed of mercenary, headed up by Santana (Jordi Molla) and the other captained by Johns (Matt Nable), a man from Riddick's past. But after these bounty hunters arrive, they only find themselves pawns in his greater scheme for revenge. And these bounty hunters only realize that it's not Riddick they need to fear, but something else later on.

Others to round out the cast are Katee Sackhoff as Dahl, Dave Bautista as Diaz, Bokeem Woodbine as Moss, Raoul Trujillo as Lockspur, Conrad Pla as Vargas, Danny Blanco Hall as Falco, Noah Danby as Nunez, Neil Napier as Rubio, Nolan Gerard Funk as Luna, and Keri Lynn Hilson as Santana's Prisoner.

This was written and directed with the exact intensity as its predecessor, "The Chronicles of Riddick" by the same writer/director David Twohy ("Timescape" (only directed) '92, "The Arrival" '96, "Pitch Black" 2000, "Below" '02, "The Chronicles of Riddick" '04, "A Perfect Getaway" '09). This as the other Riddick films were based on characters created by Jim Wheat and Ken Wheat. It was stunningly photographed by David Eggby, acs ("Mad Max" '79, "Buddies" '83, "Kansas" '88, "Quigley Down Under" '90, "Lightning Jack" '94, "Dragonheart" '96, "Daylight" '96, "Virus" '99, "Pitch Black" 2000, "Monte Walsh" '03, "Racing Stripes" '05, "The Marine" '06, "Underdog" '07, "Ironclad" '11) plus many others. The way he used a lot of lens filtering to show that other-worldly feel was ingenious. It was a dark film, but one could still see it without sqinting.
Diesel obviously has a ball with these Riddick films, and why not: he plays a mysterious character who's practically an anti-hero, so he's good, by not like a good guy one would expect.

Because of the aforementioned reason, the Riddick character has always intrigued me, more than the typical 'good guy' role. This is certainly the best or the meatiest role Diesel has played, and as long as they keep the audience glued, I suspect Hollywood will keep churning them out.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                        Rated: R                       119mins.