Left for dead on a sun-scorched planet, Riddick finds himself up against an alien race of predators. Activating an emergency beacon alerts two ships: one carrying a new breed of mercenary, the other captained by a man from Riddick’s past.
Riddick opens with an introduction to the newest inhospitable setting for this, the third film in the series. Alien vulture-like creatures circle a body buried in rubble. Only a hand can be seen. That familiar gravely voice commenting “I’ve been here before, Don’t know how many times I’ve been crossed off the list and left for dead.” One snapped neck later we know our titular (anti)hero is very much alive but we find not exactly in the best of shape. We get no recap, there is nothing more than a man, stranded on a planet and his struggle to survive. We see the hand of Riddick kill a creature on this planet before we even see the man himself. Riddick the movie and Riddick the man: neither wastes time and before long we are headlong into a new adventure.
I had a blast watching Riddick, it was refreshing to see a more stripped down action affair after the recent run of summer blockbusters and Vin Diesel exudes charisma and clearly owns this role. He may not say much, but Riddick is an immense screen presence and one that is joyful to see let loose up there. The supporting cast did their jobs with a few highlights which I’ll get to later. The effects and visuals were great, some slightly iffy CGI in parts but in a way it fit the movie and worked. My reservations going in were that this would be a rehash of the first movie, Pitch Black. Those reservations were largely resolved until a familiar feel set in towards the end of the film.
Riddick is a movie of three parts. The first is essentially Castaway, we have our man instead of Tom Hanks and instead of Wilson the volleyball we have an alien dog pup that Riddick adopts and becomes his companion as he regains his strength and goes all ‘Bear Grylls’ in a harsh alien landscape. He is stranded and finding himself as much as where he is. It is a well paced refresher of the character and seems clearly intended to remind (or introduce) the audience to what a badass Riddick is (the whole movie tends to do that actually.) An approaching storm and threat prompts him to take steps to get off-world, finding a Bounty hunter station he activates a distress beacon, alerting them to his presence. This second act is a game of cat and mouse, two teams arrive, vying with each other for the prize of the bounty as well as the threat of Riddick himself. The generous offer of allowing them to escape alive if they leave him one ship foolishly ignored. A contrast to the start but great, Riddick is best when lurking in the dark dispatching clueless enemies who have no idea they are way out of their depth. The final act, where the earlier ‘threat’ arrives can be more affectionately referred to as ‘When the shit hits the fan’. The remaining people team up to survive and escape. Here the movie descends into familiar territory to Pitch Black, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It is executed well and brings the whole movie to a satisfying conclusion.
We do get a flashback some ways into the film which ties it into the preceding film, The Chronicles of Riddick. In it we see him barter away his claim to the Necromonger throne in exchange for information as to the whereabouts of his homeworld of Furya. This bargain leads to betrayal and Riddick being left for dead on this world. If you’re a fan of the series the flashback is useful to clarify and frame Riddick’s predicament and situation. If you are not familiar with the earlier two films, it is somewhat irrelevant, the film stands alone as a fun action movie. It does harken back to B-movie times, sometimes it unravels exactly as you’d expect (usually to cheers) and drops one-liners aplenty. It’s a man with night vision on a planet fighting alien water scorpions, if that appeals to you even slightly you’ll get a kick out of it.
There are layers and more meaning if you look deeper into the film. The beginning is a good reflection of the character. We see Riddick at the start, leader of a massive Empire he inherited in the last movie, “you keep what you kill” having a lingering effect on his life. On my first glimpse of Vin Diesel in the role I thought he looked somewhat bloated and older, perhaps a result of the armor or padding he was wearing, perhaps an intentional tweaking of his physique. In his own words he “became civilized”; lost his edge. To survive he has to find himself again. He must strip down, literally. The Castaway portion is ritualistic, even cleansing, symbolically shown by his emerging from a pool and standing dripping wet on a precipice. Yes. We get naked Vin Diesel on a precipice. It isn’t particularly hidden but the symbolism suggests a distancing from the previous direction of the franchise in The Chronicles of Riddick; which I did enjoy as a visually stunning and fun ride. In that film, they seemed more concerned with building a Universe and mythos around the character and smothered Riddick as a result. The bloat from that movie is removed here very effectively to take him back to his roots and what won so many fans in the first place.
I still think Pitch Black is a superior movie, the character of Riddick was more of a surprise, the adrenaline and intensity far more sustained. Also the cast presented more fascinating characters than we see here. Aside from Riddick we have the two groups of bounty hunters. One group led by a man called Santana (Jordi Mollà, Badboys), are your normal team of threatening cutthroats whereas the second is a more refined and tactical group, led by Boss Johns (Matt Nable) who has an additional back-story that ties in to the original Pitch Black, which I found initially unnecessary but develops nicely and yields a satisfying arc. The cast all do their roles sufficiently but overall are somewhat inconsequential and dispensable. One of the main members of the group having already had his fate revealed in one of the trailers. My real disappointment comes in the character of Dahl, played by Katie Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, Longmire). I have long been a fan and the trailers and interviews alluded to a more significant role for her in the production but sadly she was not as prominent as suggested. That said, when on screen she was the closest to rivaling Diesel in the charisma stakes and clearly was reveling in being involved. Harkening back to Pitch Black, Riddick needed a better ensemble around him to bring out so many of the interesting traits the character has. Having just bounty hunters made for a better action spectacle but a diverse crowd around him leads to a richer film for sure.
Over the weekend I heard of some backlash about Riddick being laced with misogyny, misplaced humor and a attempted rape scene. I didn’t necessarily pick up on that but can see how some of the sexual comments can be construed that way. The issue likely stems from a lack of development of some characters and a largely male cast. The one female member (Sackhoff) being an admitted lesbian who even ends up seemingly entertaining the suspension of her sexuality to entertain the advances of Riddick. The Riddick character himself often feeds into such banter. This lack of development can also be extended to the aforementioned attempted rape, the resolution of which is dealt with off screen. If you break things down and look deeper, sure you can take issue, but Riddick is not the type of movie that should be deconstructed and over-analyzed. In good B-movie tradition, the bad men always get their comeuppance in the end, it may not be PC but things here go a somewhat ‘old-school’ route.
The best way I can describe Riddick is that it is genuine and self-aware of what it is. A vehicle for a character, a romp, an old-fashioned action sci-fi film free of some of the studio pressures and interference we’re now accustomed to. Yes, if rumors are to be believed this film was largely funded by Vin Diesel mortgaging his house. Clearly Riddick is a character held in great affection by Vin Diesel and David Twohy (Director) and here they deliver a spectacle to satisfy old fans and hopefully capture some new ones. Riddick Reborn would perhaps be a more suitable name for the movie, a stripped down, back to basics affair that really entertained. With the steps taken in this franchise so far, the character and the options available in the Riddickverse, I’m intrigued to see where they go next.