Summary
Vin Diesel returns to the big screen in the Chronicles of Riddick playing the title role, and reprising his character from the lesser known, but more polished Pitch Black (2000). Now more of a household name Mr Diesel has a wider audience, and much larger budget, which should have meant more, but fails to deliver on several levels. The set designs and CGI are impressive, and a familiar but somewhat inventive story pits our hero against a band of marauding futuristic Nazi's called Necromongers who travel from World to World and either convert or annihilate it's inhabitants. Some fill work explains the connection between the two movies, and we learn that apart from being a resourceful (and indestructible at times) criminal, our hero is also a "Furion", part of a thought exinct race, who are the only ones capable of defeating the villians (according to prophecy). Another subplot explains that the young girl saved in the last movie is now also incarcerated on an offworld penal colony and needs to be saved, and of course Riddick is pursued throughout the movie by bounty hunting mercenaries trying to cash in on the reward on his head. All this handled better would have made for a great movie, but the action bounces around in a muddled fashion, and makes the whole experience protracted and leaves the viewer a little weary. This is NOT a bad movie, by any means and will appeal to fans of this sort of action flick, but throughout it is more than a little inconsistent. The script constantly calls for Diesel to remain ice cool, and have plenty of smart quips, and 007 style remarks throughout the 2 hour running time, whilst trying to purvey a sense of desperation and destruction which doesn't tie up. If you enjoy spectacular Dune style depictions, and lavish special effects, this is the picture for you, just don't take it too seriously, as the director seems to have unfortunately done.