Riddick

Lord Helma wird er nicht werden, und er wird nie wieder tiefschwarz sein, aber ansonsten ist diese Parade aus Unsinn und DIY-Medizin recht sympathisch, wenn man sie als wackeliges B-Stück über einen Typen liest, der sich in seine eigene leichte Parodie hineinproduziert hat. (15.01.2014)

You just got to love this character. Otherwise you won’t understand this movie. Riddick was always a peculiar combination of Conan and Star Wars and that still applies. It departs almost immediately from the lightly traced storyline from the previous movie in the excellent introduction where R settles on a deserted planet (with monsters) and gets a dog. It continues in the slightly modified spirit of Pitch Black. There’s a lot of slime dripping and bloodshed and we are treated to two full-frontals (although... Katee Sackhoff only shows one). The monsters bear a tolerable resemblance to our favorite xenomorph and Diesel’s gravelly voice has everything under control. A pleasantly wasted two hours. I certainly want to see the next part and see Furya. (18.09.2013)

If I remember correctly, the movie Pitch Black featured a rough hero in a rough environment with a rough and well-fabricated story. Those were the reasons I had fun. The second instalment featured a number of digital effects which overshadowed the story, and I did not like it at all. As a result, I was really curious about the third instalment. Even though I did not like the name they gave it, or rather did not give it. At first glance it appears as some kind of a restart of the franchise, which is quite popular nowadays. However, that is not the case. On the other hand, it is also not something I would enjoy revisiting. This instalment again features a rough hero in a rough environment, which is a basis for success. However, the story is quite simple along the lines of “keep moving, no turning back, save yourself” and there is nothing more significant in that. Vin Diesel is completely emotionless and all the emotions have to be aroused by the digital monsters, whom he either befriends or not. I’m sorry to be rating this with three stars, but I don’t feel that this instalment deserves more. (27.09.2014)

After the majority reaction, Twohy sensed that a new space opera wasn’t going to grow on Riddick's shoulders and he returned meekly to the waters of the pitch-black prologue, forgetting what made it good thirteen years ago (a strong moment of surprise from the new protagonist caught not only the audience by surprise, but apparently Furyan's creators behind the camera as well); the second third, playing on the "Riddick the Predator" note, is a discharge, but the first is a lengthy prologue with no substance because we know almost everything anyway, and the final act is a pathetic avalanche that definitively buries Riddick as the legend we craved and never really got. (04.10.2014)

The Chronicles of Riddick did not receive the desired response from the audience after the surprising success of Pitch Black, so David Twohy decided to humbly return to what once worked, but with a bigger budget and ambitions. Thus, Riddick repeats the pattern of Pitch Black with all its pros and cons. I'm just not sure if the logical lapses and the B-movie vibe oozing out of every shot will be appreciated by the fans of the first installment. After all, they have aged and the competition is fierce. I didn't enjoy the first film, so I didn't find a connection even to the final part of the trilogy. However, the characters of the two rival mercenary gangs were quite interesting, and if it weren't for the genre clichés of routine action sci-fi films that seemed so ridiculous to me, I would give it three stars despite its numerous flaws. Overall impression: 40%. (17.03.2019)