Vin Diesel (left), Katie Sackhoff and Matt Nable star in "Riddick." Universal Pictures / Associated Press
"I don't know how many times I've been written off (and) left for dead," says Vin Diesel's namesake character at the beginning of "Riddick," apparently the only one who doesn't know the answer to this question.
He's been written off and left for dead three times now.
There have been three movies in this ridic - as in ridiculous - science-fiction series, and the same thing happens every time: Riddick, a convicted murderer, escapes from law enforcement; he's stranded on a strange planet; bounty hunter types want to find him, kill him and cash in; Riddick outwits everyone, including many unsavory characters.
The idea, as unoriginal as it is: Sometimes it takes evil to fight evil.
"Pitch Black" started this franchise in 2000 and made some decent box-office coin on a low budget, warranting Diesel the chance at a sequel, 2004's "The Chronicles of Riddick," which cost a fortune to make and lost money.
The thought was that Riddick, the pain-resistant hulk with glowing eyes who can see in the dark, was not invincible: He was being killed off by studio executives protecting their investment.
But with Universal Studios making more money than ever in recent years thanks in good part to Diesel's "Fast and Furious" movies, and with their buddy Diesel now a producer in most of his projects, anything can be revived to keep someone happy.
"Riddick" arrives nine years after the last picture, and it's less a matter of a fresh idea for a film than it is proof that star power still means something in Hollywood, where blockbusters have increasingly become "concept films" featuring fewer stars.
"Riddick" even comes equipped with the same writer-director of the first two films, David Twohy, a man who clearly believes that if a formula is working - or not - you repeat it and only lightly tweak.
Even then this is a wildly uneven work, with the first half-hour a "man vs. his environment" survival narrative, as Riddick surveys the desolate planet he's been dumped on this time and encounters oddly prehistoric-looking serpent-beasts.
The wisest decisions in this section are in making Diesel's voice-over, which is as lumbering as he is, very brief, and in introducing a feral hyena-dog which becomes "convict's best friend" and works to soften Riddick's brutishness for the audience.
The next move is rather inexplicable: Bounty hunters land on the planet looking to relieve Riddick of his skull (double the bounty if he's returned dead, we're told). They are soon joined by a second group that is more militaristic and has an unknown motive and advanced weaponry in seeking Riddick.
The movie's focus shifts to these individuals and their locker-room talk, sizing each other up and grunting a lot, while Riddick almost completely disappears for 45 minutes, maybe uttering three words.
You might think that the film would sink without Diesel for such an extended period of time, but Twohy clearly has good fun with these two camps in a subplot that feels like it was lifted from a 1950s Western - bounty hunters gather in a canyon area and question one another's motives while being spooked by sounds of Riddick outside and picked off one-by-one in his traps.
The difference in "Riddick" from the Western is that these events happen among people in trippy black leather outfits, using GPS tracking and insult lines like "I know, right?" Then there's the fact that a woman is part of the gang.
Katie Sackhoff, known to genre fans as Capt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace from "Battlestar Galactica," absolutely rocks in her role as team sniper, possessing a sneaky chemistry with Diesel's sexist-pig Riddick in this R-rated flick, but she gives as good as she gets and occasionally threatens to steal the film.
That's the one thing that's new and makes "Riddick" less of a slog than it usually is for the better part of two hours.
Michael Smith 918-581-8479
michael.smith@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Fun subplot saves sci-fi rehash
REVIEW
'RIDDICK'
Cast: Vin Diesel, Jordi Molla, Katie Sackhoff, Matt Nable
Theaters:(IMAX) Cinemark Tulsa, AMC Southroads 20; also at Cinemark Broken Arrow, Starworld 20, RiverWalk, Owasso, Eton Square, Sand Springs, Admiral Twin Drive-in
Running time: 1 hour, 59 minutes
Rated: R (strong violence, language and some sexual content/nudity)
Quality: (on a scale of zero to four stars)
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