I grew up in the heyday of bombastic Science Fiction Action films. From B-movie stinkers like Ice Pirates and Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn, even one of my all-time favorites The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eight Dimension, to classic, genre-bending fare like David Lynch’s Dune, John Carpenter’s The Thing, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and Alien, and Jim Cameron’s follow up, Aliens, and John McTiernan’s Predator, Sci-Fi Action films defined my youth.
In 2000’s Pitch Black, director David Twohy and writers Jim and Ken Wheat, made an homage to these films, giving audiences a layered Sci-Fi/horror film about monsters in the dark. And one of those layers involved a dangerous murderer named Richard Riddick (Vin Diesel), whose ability to see in the dark–on a planet of perpetual darkness and dangerous monsters–made him an invaluable asset to the stranded survivors of a crashed transport ship.
The character of Riddick became so popular that he was featured in the sequel to Pitch Black, called The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), in which the titular character crashes on a planet called Helion Prime, which is ruled by a race of people called Necromongers, who plan to bring war and destruction to humans all over the galaxy. Through the course of the film, Diesel’s Riddick does what he can to save humanity and in so doing, he earns the respect of the Necromongers. By the end of that film, he is named Lord Regent and now rules over them all, and by all accounts, saved the human race. And that’s where we left the character, nine years ago.
Now, in the new film, Riddick, Vin Diesel reprises arguably his most iconic role (with all due respect to Dom Toretto) and reunites once again with director Twohy to create a new chapter in the ever expanding–which also includes an animated film set between the first and second films–“Chronicles of Richard Riddick.”
Riddick opens with a broken, bruised and bloody Riddick alone on a deserted and dangerous planet (of course). Through a flashback, we see how he got there, and then the film sets off on telling its story. The first twenty minutes or so–the first act, really–of Riddick is essentially a silent movie, with very little dialogue–usually in the form of narration–as the character acclimates to his new surroundings.
He sets his wounds and builds shelter and secures food and water. He also battles vicious desert dogs and poisonous water-based creatures that resemble a cross between a scorpion and a dragon. All of this shows Riddick as a survivor. The theme of man vs. nature essentially governs the first act. Riddick even takes on a pet. Yeah, the most dangerous man in the galaxy has a soft spot for puppies. Who knew?
Riddick adapts, which is what he does best, but things change when he finds an abandoned mercenary rest stop. This gives him an opportunity to possibly get off the unnamed planet of death and finally get to his home world of Furya, which he has been trying to do now for three films. He uses a beacon to alert nearby bounty hunters to his presence on the planet, and then sits back and waits for his ride to show up.
Things get even more complicated when a major storm kicks up, with torrential rains, which in turn brings out the poisonous scorpion-dragons in masse. Riddick has to work quickly to get off world or bad things will happen to everyone.
Riddick changes at this point to an action film resembling McTiernan’s Predator. The bounty hunters come in two groups; the ragtag first led by Santana (Jordi Molla) and his crew, which includes Dave Bautista as strongman Diaz, the second group is more organized, led by Captain Johns (Matt Nable)–who is the father of Cole Hauser’s Johns in Pitch Black, and Katee Sackhoff as Dahl, a sniper, among others.
Diesel is off screen for most of the second act as the bounty hunters trip over each others dicks and spew machismo one-liners about putting Riddick’s head in a box. Riddick, still off screen, terrorizes the group with hit and run missions. This is classic science fiction action stuff full of humor, fighting, nudity and even gore.
When the storms finally hit the merc shelter in the third act, all hell breaks loose, and Riddick switches yet again to a horror film, which aligns itself more with the first film in the Chronicles, as the rains bring monsters, and enemies have to work together to get out alive.
All of this works incredibly well and shockingly, Riddick is perfect throwback film to not only the aforementioned sci-fi flicks, but even works a great new chapter in the Chronicles. It matches the intensity and horror elements of Pitch Black, and moves the character of Riddick forward story-wise to more installments.
Riddick’s budget, which was reportedly around $38 million or nearly a third of the bloated Chronicles of Riddick’s budget, is not much in when compared to today’s Hollywood films. This is good, economical Sci-Fi that fans of the genre or just fans of the character or even fans of Vin Diesel can all enjoy. And that means something.
One major issue I had with the film is in the cinematography. Riddick is being shown on IMAX screens, and Twohy’s direction and shots are full of extreme close ups. I found it difficult to see what was happening during some of the most intense action scenes due to being too close to the characters. Also, the extreme close ups don’t help the actors all that much. The crowd I saw it with stirred a little when Katee Sackhoff appeared nude in a shower scene in the second act, but the nerd-love quickly died when she turned into a full close up and you could see the nose hairs poking out of her nostrils. Some things you want to see, others you don’t.
I really enjoyed Riddick, as it took me back to a time when great Science Fiction action films ruled my world. Even after a nine-year hiatus, the character still seems fresh and he’s still a chest-thumping badass, and I’m confident that Twohy and Diesel have more stories to tell. After all, Riddick just wants to get home, and until he does, I’m sure he’s bound to come across more exciting adventures. If this film is any indication, the Chronicles are back on track, and that’s great for fans of the genre.
Riddick is rated R and opened in theaters everywhere on Friday, September 6.
