Riddick: Movie Review
It has been nearly a decade since the furious Furyan Riddick has graced the big screen and after screening the long gestating sequel, I think they should have either waited longer or scrapped the idea all together. This is just plain bad.
I had hope for the third chapter in the “Pitch Black” franchise. When we last left the character back in 2004, he had just been crowned ruler of the Necromonger Empire. To be honest, I think moving forward with that idea would have been a lot more interesting. Imagine Riddick as a ruler? I think there could have been some potential there. Instead, we are re-introduced to the Furyan as he is left for dead on a strange planet that is filled with dangerous creatures (created by some seemingly dated CGI). Most of the visual effects here look pretty shoddy. We get a brief glimpse of what got Riddick stranded on the planet and it does tie into the previous film.
It wasn’t clear to me how long Riddick was stuck on this planet, but he did rescue some sort of alien puppy and by the time Riddick decides to set off a distress beacon that will send bounty hunters to scoop him up, the puppy is now a full grown alien doggie-type-creature. Admittedly, the boy and his dog elements of “Riddick” were probably some of my favorite moments of the film.
Eventually a two rival groups of bounty hunters touch down on the planet and finally wind up working together since Riddick is picking them off one-by-one. After that, we begin to tread familiar ground as things just begin to repeat from the first film. Vicious creature out in the dark, preying on the humans, and Riddick is the one who can actually fight them.
Believe it or not, Dave Bautista is probably one of the stronger presences in “Riddick” and he doesn’t even say a whole lot. I think it is his character’s more rational thoughts about what’s actually happening that makes him easily relatable. I like Katee Sackhoff but she isn’t playing a part much different than her role on “Battlestar Galactica”.
There are a few kinda-cool moments in “Riddick” but for the most part, it’s a pretty terrible movie and hopefully the Furyan can find some peace and not come back for a fourth outing.
By: Marc Ferman