RIDDICK (Davis Twohy). 119 minutes. Opens Friday (September 6). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNN
The fact that they don’t make movies like Riddick much any more likely means different things to different people. The third instalment in David Twohy and Vin Diesel’s Chronicles Of Riddick series, it’s the kind of low-stakes, hyper-violent trifle that a Hollywood built on PG-13 compromise can’t really stomach.
This time around, Diesel’s convict-cum-galactic-overlord is double-crossed by the Necromongers (yes, the Necromongers!) and marooned on an abandoned planet populated by deadly reptilian predators. In order to escape, he triggers a beacon alerting two duelling gangs of mercenary bounty hunters. The plan is to pick off enough of them so he can hijack one of their ships and blast back to his home planet.
The film inverts the formula of the first two Riddick films, casting Diesel’s character as predator rather than prey as he stealthily stalks the barely distinguishable intergalactic hit men.
With a budget a quarter that of its Hollywood-produced predecessor, Riddick feels leaner, nastier and closer to the roots of Twohy’s 2000 original, Pitch Black.
For all its hard-nosed silliness, and even its flip misogyny (Katee Sackhoff appears as a self-possessed mercenary only so she can later be bedded by Diesel’s burly superman), Riddick is solid B-movie filmmaking.
If you’re susceptible to this kind of thing, there’s plenty of fun to be had.
