After a long break of almost ten years Vin Diesel is back as Richard B. Riddick and he is definitely not having a good day. Stranded on one of the most hostile planets yet in the series, things go from bad to worse. Then when you think things are at their bleakest, the baddies kill his pet beast and all hell breaks loose.
The Riddick franchise has always held style over substance and the filmmakers of the first edition, Pitch Black were quite adept at turning what was a low budget science fiction yarn into a big dollar money making machine. This latest edition looks marginally better than its predecessors but the emphasis is still on mood and not pinpoint detail.
The film also has a lot of humour (and not always intentional) at its core as Diesel’s dialogue is a succession of ultra cliché sound bites. You get to the point of almost trying to will Riddick to use regular speech but its to no avail as all that leaves his lips is badass speak.
While far from a challenging science fiction mind expansion experience the film does work quite well on a basic entertainment level. With the laughs equal to the groan out loud moments, Riddick provides a fun few hours with a certified big screen BAMF.
Rob Hudson
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