Riddick

Vin Diesel's titular sci-fi antihero—an escaped convict from the planet Furya—made his debut in 2000's Pitch Black and returned in 2004's disastrously convoluted sequel, Chronicles of Riddick. Now, he's back again. Apparently, dangerous outlaw Richard B. Riddick—left for dead for years on a desolate, sun-scorched planet—has been battling the merciless elements, fighting carnivorous CGI creatures, making himself immune to the poisonous bite of an outer-space-scorpion, and domesticating a jackal-like animal that has become his alien guardian. When two teams of bounty hunters suddenly appear—responding to a galaxy-wide emergency beacon that Riddick has deliberately set off—it is not much of a surprise that both are after Riddick: dead or alive but, preferably, dead. As the mercenaries bicker and squabble amongst themselves—with an arrogant stalker named Santana (Jordi Molla) threatening to rape attractive lesbian Dahl (Katee Sackoff), and no-nonsense Boss Johns (Matt Nable) just trying to figure out what happened to his son, William—rugged Riddick, who boasts extraordinary vision in the dark, strategizes how to outwit and outfight his pursuers in order to commandeer one of their spaceships and survive to enjoy another day (and perhaps sequel). Writer-director David Twohy's Riddick is an unabashedly violent, viscerally ferocious B-movie featuring caricatures instead of characters, as well as cheesy, low-budget special effects that are often dimly lit. Purely low-octane Diesel, this is optional, at best. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include the production featurette "Meet the Mercs" (11 min.), "Vin's Riddick" on star Vin Diesel's role in the franchise (9 min.), a "Riddick: Blindsided" animated short (6 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are the unrated director's cut of the film, the production segments "The World of Riddick" on locations (11 min.) and "Riddickian Tech" (10 min.), "The Twohy Touch" on director David Twohy (7 min.), and bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a so-so film.] (S. Granger)