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Rating: 3 out of 5
Here we go again. This is the third installment of The Chronicles of Riddick film series. Pitch Black started the Riddick series and introduced the world to the notorious killer with unique eyes that allow him to see in the dark. Pitch Black was okay and made a ton of money. That was followed by the awful and strange sequel of the Chronicles of Riddick film series. That film really went off planet by setting up a destructive cult and explaining more, but not a lot of Riddick’s birthplace and race.
Now we are here with the third film. Set five years after the second film, Riddick (Diesel) straight-up hates his role, job, and the idea of being Lord Marshal of the Necromonger fleet. Like many people out in the world, they were tricked into liking their job. Within those five years, Riddick has come to odds with the Necromongers as he refuses to swear faith. This has caused many assassination attempts. One day, Riddick strikes a deal with Commander Vaako (Urban), the location of Furya, in exchange for Vaako becoming the new Lord Marshal. Vaako has his own goals and plans for the Necromonger. Led by Vaako’s aide, Krone, Riddick and a group of Necromongers arrive at a desolate planet. Riddick quickly deduces that the world is not Furya and is betrayed. Riddick kills the few Necromongers, but in the fighting, Krone manages to cause a massive landslide, burying Riddick. Surviving the attack, Riddick is now on a planet with new and strange creatures. He must do everything he can to survive and get back at Vaako.
I will have to admit that Riddick decided to dumb down the story and get back to the roots that actually made this film series good. In the first film, Riddick was a notorious criminal who survived a crash landing but had to escape the world with creatures that survived in the darkness. This film almost copied and pasted the first film. After surviving the assassination attempt, Riddick heals himself while being preyed upon by a pack of wolf-like creatures and something that lives in water and looks like a scorpion. To get off the world, he shows himself on a monitor with a reward. This, in turn, sets off a chain of events where mercenaries and bounty hunters come to capture his ass. Riddick is aware of his situation as the film shows a storm approaching.
The film hits upon two stories. The first story is about Riddick dealing with the bounty hunters after him. When the first group of bounty hunters arrives, they are a rag-tag group led by the violent and unstable Santana. Riddick takes out one or two of Santana’s crew until the second group of bounty hunters arrive, led by Colonel R. “Boss” Johns, who seems to have some MAJOR history with Riddick. Riddick plays games with both crews as he only wants one of the ships and for everyone to leave. In this storyline are the jokes, and Riddick plays with the groups. He captures and kills many from each side. Once again, this part was fun to watch because it seemed fruitless for the bounty hunters to catch him.
The second part is when Riddick tries to call a truce so they can get off the planet. Remember that storm I mentioned earlier. When the planet is covered in water, the Mud Demons come out to play. Just like in the very first film, they attack everything and anything in that movie. This is when the action hits high gear as Riddick takes the power nodes and places them far away. This is something that will remind you of the first film when Riddick and the crews have to bring power to the ship. Sometimes, it is okay to copy and paste a movie. In this half of the film, shit gets real with the deaths. Santana meets a freaking BRUTAL death. Also, in this mini-arc, we see why Colonel Johns has such a major grudge against Riddick. We learn that Colonel Johns is the father of Johns from the first film. I call that a plot twist that somewhat moved the needle.
As stated earlier, the action really picked up in the second half with the Mud Demons. The brutality of the demons made them fun to watch as the CGI of them was better than the first film. The first film, CGI, was awful, while this one was far better and crisp.
The acting of this film was still meh, but hey, what do you expect from this film. Diesel was himself as Riddick. He seems to own this role as his own. He always seems cool and calm during crisis moments. I also want to give some love to Katee Sackhoff as Dahl. She was great, and I enjoyed her as the fierce woman who played no games and loved her sexuality. I didn’t like how Riddick “turned” her for a moment. That scene made me cringe slightly, but Sackhoff was fun to watch. She is gorgeous.
The film’s ending or the after-screen credits were meh because you knew they were setting this film up for continuation. Diesel, sometimes you need to let things go. You are like that with the Fast and Furious film series. You are up to ten, and they have become beyond ridiculous. Spoiler alert: Riddick manages to return to the Necromonger fleet. Vaako is nowhere to be found as the fleet sits before some type of void. As Riddick looks on, he asks the prophets where Vaako is. They say he is here and not here. Then we hear Vaako’s voice say, “Transcendence.” Really didn’t need all of that, but okay. Guess we shall see a fourth film.
I have to give credit to this film because I thought the franchise was dead and buried after the second film. The second film was so bad that I would’ve put this film series in the grave. Riddick isn’t a great film, but it did bring back the character and series to life. Does there need to be a sequel? Probably not, but this film went out on a high note.
