Riddick: Lost in the darkness

Vin Diesel is too silent to be interesting in Riddick.

Vin Diesel is back as cult favorite for the third installment of the intergalactic, survivor series — Riddick. From the get-go, the movie assumes our familiarity with the character; he is a wanted convict being hunted by bounty hunters across galaxies. He has the ability to see in the dark, his CGI night-vision eyes constantly glistens as he puts his head down and gets the job done.

In a fairly straightforward plot, the movie picks off where it left off in The Chronicles of Riddick. After being betrayed by the Necromonger Vaako (Star Trek’s loveable doctor Karl Urban), who had promised to help him return to his home planet, Furya, in exchange for the throne, Riddick is left for dead on a barren broiling planet. He calls it Not Furya in a flash of uninspired humour. The first half of the movie is painfully slow and is mostly sans dialogue, filled with flashbacks of how Riddick got there, and his efforts to adapt to the bizarre surroundings. The opening sequence includes his fight for survival against various creepy crawlies, such as alien hyenas, giant slimy eels and vultures.

An imminent deadly storm prompts him to head to an abandoned post, where he transmits an emergency beacon to secure transport off the planet. As he’s a wanted fugitive, this prompts two groups of mercenaries to come running after him. He plans to wait, and between himself and the creepy crawlies, kills enough pursuers to steal their ship. Obviously, neither side finds it easy to locate Riddick, and when they finally do, they have to team up to battle the onslaught of vicious creatures that are brought in by a storm.



Santana, played by Jordi Molla, is the sleazebag who leads a group of bloodthirsty bounty hunters who want Riddick’s head as a trophy. Boss Johns, played by Matt Nable, has a more personal agenda and leads a more refined crew. Dahl, played by Katee Sackhoff, is Boss’s sidekick, and an expert sniper. She is also one of the highlights in the rebooted Battlestar Gallactica. In Riddick, being a strong female character means constantly encountering sexual harassment, at times from Riddick himself. More disappointingly, this only ends up making her fall for Riddick.

After seeing Diesel in the Fast and Furious franchise, in which he’s allowed to smile and actually act, Riddick feels more like a sack of potatoes. The funny-looking glasses that he wears to protect his sensitive eyes from the sun don’t help and thus, in this character, he is a far cry from the charismatic and at times sensitive Toretto, the masses love.

Only Riddick’s loyal fans will enjoy this movie, which has been upped to an R rating. The movie is nothing you haven’t seen before and lacks the whirlwind energy that has made Diesel’s recent projects successful. But if you want to watch a brooding, overly macho Diesel, then this is the movie for you.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, September 22^nd, 2013.