Riddick Review (Spoiler Free)

Looking for a solid, well-written, action packed, sci-fi movie of awesomeness this weekend? 

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Riddick (2013)
Director: David Twohy (A Perfect Getaway, Below)
Starring: Vin Diesel (Fast & Furious, xXx), Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, Longmire)

Story

Being left for dead by the Necromongers on a deserted planet, Riddick finds himself being hunted by three separate parties: a band of bounty hunters, a group of mercs looking for answers from the past, and very hungry creatures that look like this...

Yes. I know. AWESOME!!!

Analysis

This is the third film in the Riddick series. The first, Pitch Black (2000), was visually intense and packed with action. However, Riddick was a morally ambiguous S.O.B. for whom I found it difficult to cheer. The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) was epic in scale and a masterful sci-fi creation in many ways, but still had some gaping plot holes.

Forget all that.

Riddick, overall, is the best of the three and an excellent way to close out the summer movie season.

Alphas

 - In this film, the character Riddick is more of the lone anti-hero that you want to root for and not so much the heartless bastard he was in Pitch Black.  (He's still a bad ass here. He just doesn't break Wheaton's Law so much.)

 - Unlike the previous two films, there’s quite a bit of humor in this one.

 - The supporting cast, from the actors that you’ll recognize to the ones that only have very minor roles, are all outstanding.

 - As with the previous two, the CGI/visuals are exquisitely done. Pure and complete eye candy.

 - Solid script. At no point did I wince and think,”Really? REALLY?”

 - For fans that have been in love/lust with the character Starbuck from the Battlestar Galactica television series, Katee Sackhoff really solidifies her action cred. And on a completely prurient note, one gets to see her bosom, unhindered by those things called “clothes."

Sackhoff rocks in this film.

Deltas

 - A major rule of script writing is that if the audience is not hooked within the first 20 minutes, they probably won’t be hooked at all. During that initial time frame, I did think to myself that it was actually a bit slow. But hang in there. Turns out, the writers were doing this thing called “establishing character and setting” that many other films may not take the time to do.

Fans of Fallout 3 will probably dig this flick quite a bit.

Action A Go Go or Action A No No?

You’ll notice that there’s only one Delta listed above. Let’s face it. You’re on a site called Action A Go Go. We’re not talking in the context of Sundance or Cannes here. For what it is (an end-of-summer, action/sci-fi flick), I left the theater feeling impressed.

Vin Diesel and director David Twohy deliver a most excellent action movie. Funny, well edited and containing lots of CGI awesomeness that supports the story (instead of trying to make up for lack of story.)

Initially was planning on going with three Arnolds, but it quickly got bumped up after one particular scene. This is a spoiler free review, so let me just put forth, if you’re a fan of Action A Go Go, you’ll have no regrets shelling out ten of your hard earned dollars this weekend after you hear the line:

"Yup. That was under five seconds." 

And for what it's worth, I just might go see it again myself.

Riddick (2013) gets...

4 out of 5 AAGG Arnolds!

Stephen Sumner is the science fiction columnist for Action A Go Go. He's proficient in Klingon swearing and has attempted the Vulcan process of Kolinar (with only mild success.) His favorite sci-fi series include Firefly, Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek. He can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/VierLights or on the Tumblr machine at http://vierlights.tumblr.com/