Vin Riddick

I hold in my heart a special place for bad movies.  I hate to admit, I kinda like Vin Diesel's Riddick movies. They are a guilty pleasure.  The problem seems to be what to call them.  This movie, simply called Riddick, has also been called Riddick 3, but the problem is there wasn't really a Riddick 2 or Riddick 1.  There was The Chronicles of Riddick, which was the second movie in the franchise, and really has nothing to do with the first movie. The first was Pitch Black.  Pitch Black was, I think most will agree, the best of the three movies, which is not actually saying much. So what do I say about Riddick?


It is a Vin Diesel movie.  If you go in expecting something new, startling, well acted, and an amazing science fiction film, you are going to be disappointed.  It is an action based, barely plotted, not particularly well acted, movie with some moments of nudity, somewhat cartoonish (in an anime sort of way) and gruesome effects, swearing and an interior monologue/narration that really doesn't work all that well along with a special effects dog that more or less steals the show. Its characters are stock and two dimensional. It is as predictable as a Dirty Harry movie.

In other words, it is an action, Vin Diesel, testosterone driven thrill ride.  It is better than the second movie, which it gives a nod to but not as startling or as tense as Pitch Black which it also gives a nod to.  I like that it doesn't pretend Chronicles didn't happen, although I have to admit, I would have liked to seen more of Karl Urban in the fil, although certainly the beginning and end of the movie set up fourth movie.  You have to also appreciate anyone that willingly spends that amount of time wearing mirrored contacts.  It has to become annoying if not down right uncomfortable.


The movie is filled with writhing, slimy, drooling, poisonous monsters that are exactly what you would expect for any movie that has been made after Alien.  It is over-the-top with Vin Diesel as the likeable murderer who is an unstoppable killing machine.  It won't win awards for acting, writing or even effects, but it is still fun if you have a soft spot in your head heart for such movies.  I do.

I will probably buy the DVD.