Riddick Review: There Have Been Worse

 

Director: David Twohy

 

UK Release Date: 4th September 2013

 

Running Time: 119 minutes

 

Starring: Vin Diesel, Dave Batista, Katee Sackhoff, Karl Urban 

Riddick is the third film based in the Chronicles of Riddick film series. Vin diesel takes his place as Riddick in the titular role. He is joined on screen by  Dave Batista, Katee Sackhoff and Karl Urban who are three of the better known actors that feature in the film. There is also a small role for singer Keri Hilson.

The film takes place on an unknown planet after Riddick is left there alone and is fighting for survival every day. On the horizon he notices a big storm which to him is a sign to leave the planet. He sends out a distress signal and two ships come down but not to save him. They are there to take him out as he is a wanted fugitive. It's then a case of Riddick vs the two teams and whether he can get off the planet before the peculiar storm hits. It reminded us of a reversed horror film. In a horror film the characters the audience usually root for are the ones who are being attacked/hunted/haunted. In this case we are obviously in support of Riddick who is doing the chasing and this is something fresh and different to view. 

 

We found the film quite enjoyable and not necessarily one where you need to have watched the previous two to understand. You are provided with a light recap of the story in the opening scenes. Even though it was a film that we quite liked it did for us have some setbacks that we were not that impressed with. 

We found a few of the fighting scenes to be pointless with odd moves and body parts being chopped off left right and centre. We understand the need for the fight scenes but in ways they were over the top. Having said that Riddick's use of knives as his weapon of choice was entertaining to watch. It made the film quite enjoyable when you knew he was going to fight someone - it was something to keep looking forward to.

 

"When the chains come off, you go in the first five seconds." - Riddick

 

We felt that the graphics and set design were poor. The whole film felt strange and the lighting was peculiar. Obviously it was made that way for a purpose but for us it didn't work and made the actual watching of the film slightly frustrating. The film graphics were very unbelievable. Obviously, the film involves creatures from other planets but they looked quite poorly designed. This was probably the biggest issue we had with the film.

There were some more comical parts of the film that we enjoyed. Some of the script was amusing but this was also put along side very cringe-worth scenes, especially at the very end so look out for that.

Even with these small gripes we came away from this film having enjoyed it, whether that's because we didn't have high hopes before hand, we don't know. But something worked in our eyes and this film would not be a bad watch if you are looking for something different or a film to have on in the background. 

M+F Rating: 6/10
 

Reviewed by M+F Reviews.