Riddick – review

Vin Diesel, that lost action hero, puts in a lumbering, muscly, rumbly-voiced appearance in another Riddick sci-fi picture, playing the interplanetary fugitive outlaw with the weird, night-sight Speedo swimming goggles. It's the same character he played in The Chronicles of Riddick and Pitch Black, and Diesel reportedly remortgaged his own house to get this film off the ground. Exactly how much he raised isn't clear, but the production values look pretty bargain-basement. The idea is that the legendary character of Riddick – or, to put it another way, the mostly forgotten and dull character of Riddick – has been left for dead on a desolate planet, populated by cheap-looking CGI reptiles. Activating a distress beacon brings in two opposing craft: one a bunch of rag-tag bounty-hunters, the other a sleek military outfit, including a sexy, Lara Croft-type blonde, who may be willing to suspend her lesbianism in hunky Riddick's favour. The results are by turns boring and bizarre, although Diesel still has some presence.

uck guys, but I do fuck them up." Shame, then, that the script promptly shoots itself in the equal-ops foot with some repellently ill-judged rapey "humour", promptly undermining any residual goodwill. This sour taste taints the entire third act, allowing the spectre of boredom to descend like a pitch-black cloud of despond.