In “Riddick”, the threequel to “Pitch Black” staring Vin Diesel as the hair-free anti-hero, the dialogue (which I think are the first words of narrative exposition in the movie) happens after Riddick finds himself betrayed, beaten and marooned on a desolate planet. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened earlier, what happens next, or exactly why anything happens at all.
Continuing from the critically panned, but only slightly lackluster (and decidedly pulpy) “The Chronicles of Riddick”, we see Mr. Diesel playing a bored version of Conan post his Cimmeria-conquering days. Two beats later, “Riddick” strips him – and the franchise – down to its barest bones.
The first twenty minutes serve Mr. Diesel well allowing him enough leeway to reshape Riddick’s slack from running the Necromonger throne he inherited after offing the last monarch (“You keep what you kill” says Necromonger beliefs, including the last dictator’s few wives and the film’s unwarranted ‘R’ rating).
Anyways, gone are those metallic greys in production design, interstellar threats and the pale-faced villains (Karl Urban and Andreas Apergis from “Chronicles” fleetingly appear as a jump-start reference). Their replacements are near-dead – and quite dusty – planetary terrains, devil dogs, poisonous amphibian monsters with scorpion-like tails, and two units of bounty-hunting mercenaries.
The second unit has Matthew Nable as Boss Johns (who tags in a backstory for relevancy), and a mean-streak sharpshooter played by Katee Sackhoff of “Battlestar Gallactica” fame.
I am still waiting for Riddick, when this movie is released?