Review of Riddick (2013) by Ruairí C — 07 Jun 2014

After developing Riddick's character more than seen previously in a prolonged survival introduction, it's back to basics in a stalk-and-kill plot as our hero tries to even the odds against a group of one-dimensional bounty hunters on a planet inhabited by a new breed of viscous alien predators.

The shift in tone between these two segments works well as we understand Riddick's motivation to get off the planet by taking the mercs' transport by force: where it jars is in the character himself. After time spent showing him as a hard man with a heart, Riddick quickly reverts back to male fantasy macho man, charismatically hunting, killing and threatening his way through a bland band of henchmen. There are still some laughs to be had, the action set-pieces mostly work and some of the special effects (for example, how Riddick keeps his promise to kill somebody in 5 seconds) are well done but all too often the film looks like a bad 90s music video in FX department and the plot becomes predictable fast. All of this isn't really an affront for an action flick: what I did take issue with, however, is how the script treats its women, the first of which has been shackled in a bounty hunter's ship to be ravaged by her captors who kill her when they need the space to transport Riddick. This is clearly a vehicle to make the killers less sympathetic which, although crudely done, is effective. Later, however, we are introduced to Dahl, a tough and formidable merc who handles herself among a group of men and states "I don't fuck men, I fuck them up occassionally". Very soon however, she too is marginalised by a subplot involving attempted sexual assaults from a rival bounty hunter; a plot which is trumped by a threat of rape from Riddick himself, who justifies the threat because Dahl "asked for it." Very rocky territory in an age where such an argument is actually wheeled out by perpetrators of sexual abuse. However, it becomes a moot point by the climax when (SPOILERS), Riddick converts Dahl (who ends up straddling him seductively) by punching aliens in the fucking face.

Hurrah for cavemen.