Riddick (2013) Directed by David Twohy

 

One down... Three down. Six down.  Nine.  You see where I'm going with this?—Riddick

When last we left Riddick (Vin Diesel), he was Lord Marshall of the Necromongers.  You knew that wasn’t going to last.  Now we find him on a desert planet, banged up, scratched and torn, with a broken leg, and not much going for him than a stubborn refusal to die.

The planet he thought he was going to was Furya; his home.  But that was just the bait Vaako (Karl Urban) set him up with.  The first chance one of his ‘loyal minions’ got, Krone (Andreas Apergis) betrayed him, left him for dead and went back home, one assumes to become the new Lord Marshall, since you keep what you kill….

 

Riddick doesn’t die easy.  Not for the tiger-striped Jackal Wolves, not for the Ptera-Vultures, and not for the Water Scorpions.  Every challenge he meets, and overcomes, because he’s Riddick.

He and his pet tiger-striped jackal wolf head off for lusher lands only to find a Merc station.  That means food, shelter, bear traps, and other fun stuff.  It’s the perfect place for Riddick to shed his civilized veneer, and get back to being an animal.  But when Jackal Wolf sees rain in the distance, Riddick knows from his reaction his time on this planet is just about up….

And so he calls for a taxi, by broadcasting on The Bounty Hunter Network exactly where he is.  He attracts two ships, one belongs to Santana (Jordi Mollà) and his crew of rough and tumble mercs who just want the bounty on Riddick’s head (double if he is brought back dead).  The other ship is a more professional operation run by Boss Johns (Matt Nable).  Riddick only needs one ship.  You would think they would just give it to him….it certainly would be easier on them.

It is a return to Pitch Black, and the theme of Man Versus Nature, or in this case, Homicidal Killing Machine Versus Planet Full of Predators Gone Wild.  Gone is the mythic “Destiny” storyline of the Chronicles of Riddick, and it’s just back to one man who is going to survive, and will cut down anything that gets in his way.  It is the formula that made Pitch Black a cult classic, and that straying from made The Chronicles of Riddick such a disappointment. 

It’s got the old magic.  And it’s got a teaser shot of a naked Riddick.   Less teasery and more substantial is the shot of Dahl’s (Katie Sackhoff) breast.  So yes, this movie officially has T&A.  And much more than that it has that patented brand of calm self assured Riddick Violence, delivered in copious doses.  The Cans of Whupazz come in six-packs around here. 

It of course has some problems…it sort of goes with the territory.  The one that stuck in my mind was the fact that it really is Pitch Black all over again.  “There is something horrible that comes out only when….”  We saw this movie.  It was great.  Now here’s the same movie, and yes, it is good.  But…didn’t we see this before?

If that doesn’t bother you (or if you can overlook it for the space of 119 minutes) then this movie is a great way to end the Summer Action Movie Season.