Riddick - Rule The Dark
Again the trilogy delivers: scary unexpected alien monsters, Riddick's uncanny ability to survive in the most extreme conditions, one-liners delivered straight-laced that make them all the funnier, and some good eye candy (including a really buff chick that I kinda love - though she does take to beating the bloody blazes out of creepers a bit too much to her liking...) The plot line kind of muddles through the Necromongers (apparently Riddick decided instead of fighting to join them as Lord Marshall somehow? Details unclear? And despite having beds full of writhing necromonger sorceresses, he is determined to find FURYA and discover his forgotten (and erased) past before being betrayed and left for dead. Again.
This time, though, Riddick is left on a sizzling alien world in quite a bind, and has to summon mercs to get him off-planet. In a witty game of cat-and-mouse, he alternately lures them out, and invades their safety zone, bargaining for his ticket off-world by raising the stakes with every death. And meanwhile, danger stalks ever closer in every raindrop.
Very little in the way of plot-twists, and fairly standard Riddick plotline: bad guy, but one who we have affinity for, despite being a serial murderer (in self-defense, supposedly, right?), creepy-awesome-scary monsters in the dark, jaw-dropping effects, and this time... a dog friend... a tiger-striped, bat-wing eared jackal that makes us see the softer side of Riddick.
No deep revelations about his psyche or uncovering Riddick's deep desires (other than to survive desperately unfair odds) , but with good fight scenes both human and alien (though admittedly the last battle was so long-drawn even I lost interest in Vin Diesel kicking alien @$$....) it's worth seeing in theaters in big-screen format.
While another installment in Riddick is always welcome, this movie had very little new material to draw in any other aspects to the storyline, though clearly left open as a set up for another movie.
Additionally, the potential chemistry between Riddick and the chick is pretty much left to the last few seconds of the film, and while personally I really appreciate Riddick not disintegrating into a chick-flick filled with syrupy inanity, there was potential for much more than the flat stares and little justification for any true attraction between them.
Vin Diesel delivers a standard Riddick performance: deep-voiced, bulging biceps and smolder, but the movie itself fails to compel the viewer to any true emotional highs or lows. The imperiled mercs are so much less emotionally-involved than the alien fodder tourists/love interests in the prior two films that there is no real sense of urgency fueling audience’s to gasp… except in the cleverness of some filming of the … more fatal bits (without giving TOO much away)….
Overall, CG gloriousness and Vin Diesel's quips make this good for the ticket price, (and of course I'll add to my personal BluRay collection,) though I had hoped for more for my favorite anti-hero with a "shine job".
Riddick - Rule The Dark
No deep revelations about his psyche or uncovering Riddick's deep desires (other than to survive desperately unfair odds) , but with good fight scenes both human and alien (though admittedly the last battle was so long-drawn even I lost interest in Vin Diesel kicking alien @$$....) it's worth seeing in theaters in big-screen format.
Additionally, the potential chemistry between Riddick and the chick is pretty much left to the last few seconds of the film, and while personally I really appreciate Riddick not disintegrating into a chick-flick filled with syrupy inanity, there was potential for much more than the flat stares and little justification for any true attraction between them.
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