Riddick (2013) Movie Review

RIDDICK (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

Sorry for this review being so prolonged, anyhow, let's discuss the third and latest instalment in the Riddick franchise. 

After being left for dead on a sun-scorched planet, Riddick (Vin Diesel) must attempt to survive the intense heat and the predators that populate the planet. While doing this, he sees a campsite set near his location. With no one in sight, Riddick uses this opportunity to use an emergency beacon, which sends of a signal that attracts two ships. One carrying a group of bloodthirsty bounty hunters, and the other carrying a man from related to Riddick's past. Now on this planet and with these ships after him, Riddick must take down both groups and escape this hell hole of a planet. While watching the film you can instantly tell that the director wanted to go back to the feeling and story of the first film. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just that it feels a bit too much like the first film in terms of it's story, which while not a bad thing, it just feels redundant as when these groups arrive, you can tell which ones are going to survive and which ones aren't, which bummed me out a bit. Overall, the story while not necessarily good, did provide context for the film and managed to make everything make sense (most of the time). 

Still of Jordi Molla, Nolan Gerard Funk, Katee Sackhoff and Conrad Pla

One of the things that threw me off of the last Riddick movie was that it didn't feel like the original. In Pitch Black, it was a simple survival of the fittest movie, which worked. While I did like Chronicles of Riddick, it just didn't capture the excitement and element of surprise that the first film did. Thankfully they learned their lesson with this movie as it really does feel like a Riddick movie, except with one major problem. The time it takes to reach the main point of the movie is just ludicrous  At the start of the movie, it shows how Riddick came to be on this planet and how he managed to survive until meeting these two groups, which is fine as long as it doesn't drag on and become extremely boring. I will be completely honest, at about 20 minutes in, I honestly checked my phone as it felt like an hour had passed, and no, I'm not joking. Though the first is not almost forgettable as Riddick manages to find a friend in a predator that very much resembles a dog. While this move of giving Riddick a pet is cheesy, it did make for some badass and funny moments. As for the CGI, I felt it was surprisingly strong as all the creatures that inhabit the planet look extremely badass, especially the animals resembling scorpions. 

Still of Vin Diesel fighting predator

While the movie was actually fairly fun, there is one aspect in the film that I cannot forgive as it was a big disappointment for me. At the start of the movie, it shows a scene of Riddick talking with Vaako after the events of Chronicles of Riddick. Now throughout the entire series, Vaako was always my favourite character as not only is he portrayed by my second favourite actor Karl Urban, he is just so badass in the way he acts and in the way he talks as he has so much authority in his voice. When I heard he was going to be in this movie, I immediately got excited and couldn't wait to see him back on the big screen. When the first scene ended with him and Riddick, I knew something bad was going to happen to Riddick and while it did happen, I did not expect something bad would happen to me as well. It turns out that that scene is the only one that features or even shows Vaako in all his glory. Honestly, if your going to waste talent like Karl Urban on one insignificant scene, just don't have him in the movie at all. They could have done so much with Vaako in this movie, for example, he could have been the one who sent one of the groups and when he sees that they fail, he goes down there to kill Riddick once and for all. This would have made for one badass fight scene and a potentially awesome ending to the movie. Instead, we get one boring scene where all they do is talk with one another. Hey, at least Bautista was badass in the movie right...right? In all seriousness though, he was. 

Still of Karl Urban and Vin Diesel

Overall, while this movie was extremely boring in the first half, it managed to pick up pace towards the second half with awesome fight sequences, good use of suspense and heaps of blood and gore. While not as good as the first film, I must say I believe it is just as good as the second (which to be honest, I'm not sure if it that's a good thing). 

OVERALL: 6.8/10