Back in the year 2000, many critics and fans expressed enthusiasm over the just released sci-fi action suspense film Pitch Black.  Starring the then pretty much unknown Vin Diesel (his two biggest roles up to that point were Private Carpazo in Saving Private Ryan and the voice of the Iron Giant in that animated movie), the movie was relatively low budget and, admittedly, felt like it owed a great debt, story-wise, to both Alien and Aliens.  Nonetheless, the film delivered an entertaining tale with characters who weren’t easy to pin down.

The movie was so successful it spawned video games, an animated feature, and an ambitious 2004 sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick.  Unfortunately, that movie may well have been a little too ambitious for its own good.  While Pitch Black was a more small scale and “intimate” monster movie, The Chronicles of Riddick attempted to create a HUGE space opera on the level of Dune, complete with a large cast of characters, political intrigue, back-stabbing, etc. etc.

After that film’s release and the subsequent critical drubbing and disappointing box office it received, it appeared the character of Riddick would grace the screen no more.

But Vin Diesel’s star was on the rise and I suspect the incredible success of the last few Fast and Furious movies gave investors enough confidence to allow Mr. Diesel and director/writer David Twohy another go around with Riddick.

Released in 2013, Riddick, the third film in the series, wisely chooses to draw the space opera stuff so prevalent in The Chronicles of Riddick waaay down, though there is no attempt to ignore the events of that film.  In fact, after Riddick’s start, we find via flashbacks that our favorite anti-hero’s current predicament (he’s heavily injured and stranded on a desert planet with considerable hostile wildlife) were a direct result of things that happened to him after/because of The Chronicles of Riddick.  By the end of that film, Riddick was the king of a group of dark mages.  At the start of Riddick, he was unceremoniously dumped and abandoned by the same group on this planet and must now survive.

Without getting too SPOILERY, the first part of the film involves Riddick doing just that: Recovering from his injuries while figuring out how to move from the more dangerous zone he’s in to another within the planet.  However, he soon realizes a massive danger is about to be unleashed and uses a distress beacon he finds in an abandoned trapper’s shelter to summon two groups of Mercs to the planet.  Both are hunting for Riddick yet each group has their own unique reasons why.  Meanwhile, the danger Riddick knows is coming arrives, and soon everyone is fighting for their survival.

In reading the reviews of the film, I found there are those who were very positive about the first third or so of Riddick -the lone survivor section- and critical of the later part of the film.  Many felt this part of the film was little more than a re-tread of Pitch Black.  I can’t argue the point.  However, to me Riddick worked in spite of the less than original second half and that was because Mr. Twohy knows how to carefully build suspense.  Unlike others recent action films, Riddick is almost old fashioned in its presentation.  Other than one ludicrous scene involving a balanced machete, it doesn’t feature the more ridiculous ADHD “action” effects that I found so hard to swallow in movies like, yes, Fast and Furious 6.  Further, Riddick keeps the characters interesting throughout.

For example, I found the character of Lockspur (Raoul Trujillo), the leader of the second group of Mercs to be very intriguing.  Until the movie’s end, we weren’t quite sure which way he would go.  Similarly, the character of Dahl (fan favorite Katee Sackhoff) was a two-fisted delight.  I especially enjoyed the way she treated the leader of the first Merc squad.  Finally, Diaz (WWE star Dave Bautista) was yet another intriguing character who showed several shades of gray…as well as a black deviousness.

Please note, though, that I saw the “unrated director’s cut” and not the theatrical version of the film.  I’m not sure what the differences are or even if they make much of a difference at all.

Regardless, I enjoyed Riddick and I’m pleased to hear that because of the success of the home video release there may be a fourth film in the works.  Hopefully, Mr. Diesel and Twohy has some interesting ideas for this upcoming film and, even more hopefully, they’ll be allowed a bigger budget to show it.  Only, please don’t go the route of Chronicles of Riddick, ok?

Recommended.