Riddick plays out like a sci-fi Od yssey, but it lacks the essence of a compelling epic. This third install ment in the unremarkable franchise is probably the weakest of the three.
The film follows the events of The Chronicles of Riddick, which came out a decade ago. Riddick follows the titular character, an intergalactic vigilante, as he subsists while ma rooned on a desolate planet. Riddick (Vin Diesel), who left the throne of the Necromonger Empire willingly, is struggling to survive as he seeks to return to his home world.
The iconic action hero battles herds of alien predators and ruth less bounty hunters, making Riddick both a mindless action flick and a rip-off of other sci-fi movies. The setting alone is strikingly reminis cent of the planet Geonosis in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
The film’s plot is far too similar to Joss Whedon’s Serenity. Riddick also had obvious similarities to James Cameron’s Aliens.
Diesel’s monotonous voice never changes tone, and his character never undergoes any kind of sig nificant development by the film’s conclusion. He uses the same body language and facial expressions over and over again. This isn’t exactly surprising– the script doesn’t give him a whole lot to work with.
While the supporting cast does a decent job with their characters, the efforts just don’t make the movie any more intriguing. Matt Nable gives a solid performance as the leader of the bounty hunters, Boss Johns, but his work isn’t enough to make up for the movie’s lousy script.
The characters from Riddick are identical to characters from other franchises.
For example, the crew’s devout Christian is similar to Shepard Book, and the macho gunman is reminiscent of Jayne Cobb, both from Firef ly and Serenity. Katie Sachoff basically reprises her role as the strong female character of Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica. Furthermore, the subplot involving these characters does little to ad vance the overarching plot.
Writer/director David Twohy, who also helmed the previous installments, simply fails to de liver quality storytelling this time around. Twohy just doesn’t do any thing to keep the audience engaged in the story. I was ready to check out about 45 minutes into it.
The exceedingly sloppy computer-generated imagery sequences will irritate viewers. Many of the ex traterrestrial creatures look poorly designed and come across as overtly animated, which deteriorates from the film’s intentionally gritty tone.
The barren landscapes become dull to look at, which reflects the movie’s lifeless characters. Al though there are entertaining moments and decent displays of cinematography here and there, Twohy’s directorial vision for this sequel does more harm than good overall.
While The Chronicles of Riddick is a standard epic, this movie plays out more like the first installment in the series, Pitch Black. Twohy attempts to return to the kind of darker sto ryline of Pitch Black, however, the film doesn’t come close to Ridley Scott’s Prometheus or Alex Proyas’ Dark City, which I’m sure are ones he aspired to.
Given the widespread popular ity of sci-fi films among movie goers, implementations of cliché are inevitable. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that genuine creativ ity within this genre is impossible to attain. Just look at masterpieces like Children of Men and District 9, both which came out in the 21st Century. Why can’t there be more films like those and less mind-numbing, big-budget sequels?
Given that Diesel recently starred in Fast & Furious 6, I wouldn’t be surprised if he kept starring in Riddick movies. Either way, you can count me out.
