Back after a decade or so’s absence, Riddick crash lands on a bone dry planet. At least it starts off dry. Which is a good thing, because lurking in the mud pools is are vicious, poisonous monsters that only come out when it rains. He finally makes it to the relative safety of a mercenary’s abandoned station, and when he his the emergency beacon, two very different teams come to rescue him. But then it starts raining…..
Riddick was slaughtered by the critics. I thought it was fine. It lost steam a bit towards the end, but it was visually striking, the fight scenes are vigorous (PLUS: Katee Sackhoff) and there’s a continuity to the creature biology and its interaction with its environment that’s satisfying. There’s even a cute hyena-dog-beast sidekick kind of thing, and Vin Diesel (while no Kenneth Branagh) is just what you’d expect if you’d bought a ticket to see Vin Diesel in a movie. So it’s not mind-blowing cinema, but it does what it set out to do. Tick.
PS. It all filmed in studio in Quebec.