Riddick

SYNOPSIS Riddick (Vin Diesel) is stranded on a hostile alien world and soon discovers he might not be alone. This film has put me in a bit of a quandary, as will soon become apparent. I enjoyed it and yet I cannot escape the suspicion that this was only because it was not the complete train wreck I expected it to be. The Riddick series, starting way back with Pitch Black, has juddered slowly onwards in spite of the box office failure of the Chronicles of Riddick. We get a strong opening with our anti-hero stranded and wounded on a strange world where he must fight for survival against an eco-system that seems determined to kill him. These mainly silent sequences, aside from the occasional narration, is a low-key start with Riddick having to struggle caveman-like for such basics as food, shelter and supplies. After this opening things start to go downhill somewhat. Among the squadron of mercenaries that arrive to capture Riddick there is only one who stands out as any kind of distinct character - John (Matt Nable), who has a past history with the title character and who’s the only person who feels like he has any kind of purpose in the story. Everyone else feels like fodder for the monsters to eat and, indeed, when the attacks start, they promptly drop like flies. Kate Sackhoff’s role is flat and boring as the cliché tough girl part that hasn’t been original or interesting since the fourth Alien movie Vin Diesel, as Riddick, has to carry the first half of the film on his own, he does this well enough being required to look tough and brooding (just within the bounds of his acting talents). His sarcastic quips and flat emotionless tone is the saving grace for a script that, owing to the blandness of the ensemble cast, keeps the audience’s attention. Action scenes are the movies’ main appeal, unfortunately we get something of a mixed-bag. The scene of Riddick stalking his human prey like a prowling animal work well and use the barren desert landscape to set up effective set pieces. Then the cgi worm-monsters show up and things take a sharp downward turn; it’s not that these scenes aren’t entertaining it’s simply that compared to what came before things just become a bit over the top. I think the main problem is that there is no sense of when and when not to show these lurking horrors. Riddick encounters them early on in the film and, though imminent arrival is foreshadowed well, there is no attempt to keep them in the shadows or perhaps have them as a completely unseen terror. Again it’s not that there isn’t anything in this last half of the film doesn’t work, most of the action is still competent enough, it could have been a lot creepier and a lot moodier. FINAL VERDICT – 6/10 A lot better than I expected it to be but it still could have used some restraint in its third act that would have brought it closer to Pitch Black.