Review of Riddick (2013) by Sean H — 16 Jan 2014

Riddick versus The Space Monsters. Vin Diesel and director Twohy round off a trilogy based on the hard-as-nails space mercenary with this action flick from last year as the sci-fi anti-hero meanders through a sequence of darkly lit set pieces and long periods of nomadic lifestyle interspersed with political machinations of the Star Wars prequel kind (i.

E. very boring). The film begins with an interesting "silent" first 10 minutes where Riddick is stranded on a desert planet with serpents, monsters, fish and aliens to battle (all nicely designed but badly rendered in CGI) but this is dragged out for another 30-40 minutes.

Chronicles had a dreadful Phantom Menace look and this film is not far off with its John Carter esque landscapes - I mean how difficult is it to find a desert location on planet earth nowadays? This survivalist first act is slow and dull (and somewhat inconsistent as Chronicles suggested Riddick could "tame" most animals) but like the character Wolverine, he is best as a support character and as antagonist to group dynamics.

With Karl Urban back for an early cameo (must be contractual), the film's design and costumes now make Riddick look like he's on Krypton fighting General Zod's backup army before the film descended into inconsequential sci-fi clichés over a long 2 hours and completely lost me when he got a CGI Scooby Doo-style space puppy (!) From a great introduction to the character in Pitch Black's perfect sci-fi horror (the best Alien film that never was), the films are now aiming for action blockbuster but with the dialogue used to clarify the story and direction all over the place, this is a 'dick of a movie with very little suspense and even less to recommend it to anyone other than huge fans.

5/10 Midlands Movies Mike.