Saturday, December 21, 2013

Riddick

Riddick; science-fiction action, USA, 2013; D: David Twohy, S: Vin Diesel, Jordi Molla, Matthew Nable, Katee Sackhoff

Riddick is abandoned on a desert planet. This happened after he refused to convert to the Necromonger religion, even though he was their leader, so He wanted to get out, but was double crossed by Krone who wanted to kill him. Even though the conditions there are tough, Riddick is able to adapt an even find a pet, a giant alien dog. two spaceships land on the planet, because two bounty hunter groups, one led by Santana, and the other by Johns, want to get him. However, Riddick is able to eliminate most of them and make the others his accomplice if they want to get alive from the planet.

The third instalment of an 'improvised' trilogy that went into rather different directions after a surprisingly good cult original, "Pitch Black", "Riddick" switched the mood of the 1st film from an existentialist science-fiction film to a simplified science-fiction "Rambo", but, despite its flaws and known cliches, it is a 'guilty pleasure'. Riddick, played by Vin Diesel, is in a way so much fun because he is an invincible good guy, that even the film's unintentional humor manages to sway the viewer to a certain level. The hero's abilities are so over-the-top that they cannot be described in any other way - there's a bizarre sequence where Riddick gives himself small amounts of poison to get immune and then going on to challenge a giant, 7-foot tall scorpion coming out of the lake. The scorpion bites him on the leg, but Riddick just calmly keeps standing - as if he doesn't care - and then eliminates the beast. The sequence where he is chained to a chair, but still manages to eliminate the main bad guy with his legs, is also one of those "Come on!" moments, but a few more down-to-earth, realistic and plausible moments do work in the cat and mouse game between Riddick and the bounty hunters who are persecuting him on the planet. Except for the first expressionistic 25 minutes on the desert planet, realized almost without any dialogues, "Riddick" is a rather predictable and standard action film, suitable more for fans of the Riddick franchise.

Grade;+

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