Riddick Review: The Rise of Katee Sackhoff

Riddick's Return to Basics

I have to admit I am not a big fan of the Riddick franchise. The fact that I barely remember what happened in Pitch Black, or the fact that I remember even less regarding what happened in The Chronicles of Riddick doesn’t add any positive points to the Riddick Franchise. Maybe it’s because 9 years passed since The Chronicles of Riddick or maybe it was just not worth remembering. Either way the connection between Riddick 2013 and the previous 2 films in the Franchise were very difficult for me to remember. I didn’t remember who Johns was in Pitch Black or what exactly happened between Vaako and Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick. That is why I had to re-watch the 2 previous Riddick films right after Riddick 2013, just to catch up on the main story and have a clear picture in my head.

Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick

The film itself started with a vague exposition describing the events that brought Riddick to the "Not Furya" Planet, we followed up with a Riddick’s survival story on the planet. It's clear that the movie creators wanted to emphasis how dangerous the planet is. That is why they created such a long sequence were Riddick was fighting all possible predators on that planet. Although the first half an hour was important for the story it felt a bit like overkill, it just dragged too long and the wounds Riddick suffered were too deadly for him to recover from in a such short time (broken leg takes few months heal). if we are on that subject, Riddick was stuck on the planet for a few months he should have grown some hair and beard like he did in The Chronicles of Riddick when he was stuck on a frozen planet for 5 years. So it was strange seeing the coyote dog grow from a pup to his full size but Riddick remained the same the entire time.

Riddick in Action

The deep conversations between Riddick and his coyote pet dog where fun and a refreshing part in the film but he moment the two groups of mercenaries landed on the planet the film got a lot more interesting and exciting. After all that's what we wanted to see, Riddick take out guys in various deadly ways. 

If we already touched the mercenaries I have to admit that Dave Batista had a tolerable performance as Diaz, compared to the movies he participated in the past which were just horrible at best. Boss Johns was a tipical Boy Scouts that had a slight change to his personality towards the end of the movie, Santana was actually one of the funniest and entertaining characters in the film but no one could over shine Katee Sackhoff. The exchanges Dahl had with Santana and later on with Riddick were the best in the film and Katee proved once again that she is one of the rising stars in the action / Sci-fi genre. Unfortunately nobody uses her for the really big projects, let’s hope that Riddick opened a few doors for her and we will get to see Katee elevate herself and get bigger roles in cool films. Vin Diesel did his regular shtick and there are no complains for him he does what he is best in. 

Overall Riddick 2013 was a good film. We got our expected action dose, nice CGI, descent plot, 1 really touching scene (with the dog), couple of funny jokes (on Santana's expense) and a few really nice kills (Santana was the best). The only thing that was missing was seeing Riddick convert Dahl back to play on the men’s but that would have been a bonus. The film is definitely fun most of the time but if you don’t remember all the little details from the previous 2 installments in the Riddick Trilogy (Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick) you should watch them prior to watching Riddick 2013. You will get the essential plot of the film but without the history of the previous films you will miss on the core elements of the Riddick Franchise. According to the ending we are going to get a 4th Riddick installment in the future. if Riddick 4 is happening, Karl Urban is going to play a bigger role in the film like he did in The Chronicles of Riddick – and that is great news.

Riddick DVD Collection set from Amazon

Pitch Black (Unrated Director's Cut) [Blu-ray]
The Chronicles of Riddick (Unrated Director's Cut) [Blu-ray]
Riddick (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD with UltraViolet)
Riddick: The Complete Collection (Blu-ray + Digital HD UltraViolet)
       
photo credit: FilmAficionado via photopin cc
photo credit: bangdoll@flickr via photopin cc

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About Sasha Shapiro

Sasha is the founder and editor of Cool Reviews Rule. He is very passionate about Movies, TV Shows and some Books. His favorite genres are: Action, Fantasy, History, Horror, Sci-fi and Adventure.
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