Back to real action movie and R rating.

The film is exactly as it should be, brutal, bloody and with a dose of humor. Again it's action on a desert planet, fighting monsters and surviving, but this time without some of the irritating characters we saw in the first part of the saga (Pitch Black).

The film is well directed, the cinematography is good, the cast is not bad, the action scenes are great.

The cinematography is good, the film is visually interesting, and some of the scenes are spectacular. The atmosphere is tense, and yet with a dose of dark humor.

The extended version of the film is more complete than the theatrical version, contains more action and fills in some gaps. Vin Diesel is good in the role of Riddick, but the other characters are just as fun and interesting.

A film that wants to entertain the viewer and definitely succeeds at it.

Brutal, dark and entertaining.

Unsurprisingly reactions to this, the third outing for Vin Diesel's sci-fi based anti-hero, has been very mixed. In truth it's hardly a great film of the "must see" kind, and it does in fact cleave very close to Pitch Black, the first and most superior of the Riddick trilogy. However, there's a whole bunch of science fiction fun to be had here.

Plot has Riddick left for dead on a inhospitable planet, where he finds himself up against some alien creatures. His only hope of getting off the planet is to bring notice of his whereabouts, which brings two ships to where he is. Both with crews who have differing reasons for wanting to capture the enigmatic convict...

And thus we get a beautifully filmed sci-fier that features beasties of both the human and alien kind. Action and moody histrionics are never far away, and Diesel is wonderfully muscular, macho, course and scary. Some of the CGI is weak, and naturally much of the film's coincidences and contrivances have to be forgiven if one wants a popcorn and beer good time of it. So the requisite here is to chill out and enjoy me thinks! 7/10

I've always thought of Vin Diesel as a cross between Lee Marvin and Sly Stallone. The accent in Riddick is on Marvin's cynicism in this science fiction/action adventure thriller where Diesel is in the title role.

Riddick finds Diesel as a fugitive who's been marooned and abandoned on a desert planet with some very unfriendly wildlife there. He's been double crossed in a criminal enterprise and there is a price on his head. That is tempting to a gang of bounty hunters who would like to see some cash for Riddick's expensive head. And there's more offered for him dead than alive. But as we see in the film Riddick is not an easy man to kill.

I read that Vin Diesel sunk a lot of his own money toward the completion of Riddick. My guess is he's looking to parlay this into a series. There is enough action and special effects involving the strange wildlife on the planet which get very restless when bounty hunters come.

Diesel's fans should be satisfied and we'll see there's a Riddick 2.