Following the disappointing theatrical run of The Chronicles of Riddick, the Riddick series seemed destined to join the countless other failed franchises that have come and gone over the years. But Star Vin Diesel had other thoughts. In an effort to get a third film in the series made, Diesel famously appeared in the The Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift for no monetary payment, instead doing the quick cameo for the rights to the Riddick franchise. Since that time Diesel and director David Twohy have struggled to get the picture made, with Diesel even using his own home as collateral for funding at one point. The story of how Riddick got back to theaters is an inspiring tale of grit and determination, of one man putting it all on the line for something he loves and believes in. Unfortunately, the end result, titled Riddick, is far less compelling.
Picking up shortly after the events from The Chronicles of Riddick, the shiny-eyed killer is betrayed by his Necromonger disciples and left for dead on a harsh planet. This planet is inhabited by packs of wild spec dogs and swamp monsters. Of course, Riddick isn’t easily killed, and he turns things around, becoming a master of the land. In these moments of learning the land and surviving, the film thrives. Diesel obviously loves this character, and while he’s never going to win an award for his portrayal of the convict, he is absolutely engaging.
But this nameless rock isn’t to be Riddick’s home, and he fairly quickly manages to activate some sort of beacon telegraphing his location to mercenaries around the universe. This beacon brings the primary antagonists for much of the film, as two crews come to collect Riddick dead or alive, preferably dead. Riddick, of course, is faster and smarter than his opponents, and he dispatches them from the shadows one after the other as he works towards getting himself a ship to get off the world before the impending doom reaches him.
When Diesel and Twohy said they wanted to return to what made Pitch Black successful, I didn’t actually think they meant to just revisit the plot of that film. That impending doom is a near direct retread of the storyline of Pitch Black. Substitute absolute darkness and killer alien insects for a perpetual monsoon in darkness and killer alien swamp monsters, and this film becomes a damn near exact match with its predecessor, straight down to Riddick and the mercs hunting him having to team up in an effort to escape the planet.
Fans, myself included, have stuck with Diesel and Riddick for years, and they deserve better than retreading ground. They deserve the grit and determination that Diesel showed in getting this film to theaters to be rewarded with something new and exciting. But that’s not what we got. What we got was, at its worst, a merely a competent sci-fi adventure, and for some that would be enough, but as a fan of the universe that Diesel and Twohy have built, as a fan of the character that Diesel portrays, and mostly as a fan of Diesel himself, Riddick is a let down, and that’s a shame because it had the promise to be so much more compelling.
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