Vin Diesel returns as Riddick in Riddick, the third movie in the series. The first, Pitch Black, remains the best one. This movie is more cute than anything, which is a weird thing to come away with from a sci-fi action movie with a notorious convict as it’s main protagonist.

Riddick has been left for dead (again) on a rather inhospitable planet. He MacGyvers it up, patching up his wounds and setting up a little home for himself. He even gets a space dog pet (it’s really cute as far as space animals go). Riddick gets to show off his good side. Everyone else just has a problem with doing whatever it takes to survive. Things go pretty well until he realizes that the natives will soon be making more trouble than he could handle. Finding an abandoned station, he sets off an emergency beacon to try and hitch a ride off planet. Two groups show up to claim the bounty on Riddick’s head, one dirty merc group and another with a more military background lead by a man who has ties to Riddick’s past.

The movie is more or less a survival tale. First against the environment, then people and then the environment again. Vin Diesel does what he loves, playing a bad ass in space! The movie hits all the marks of an VD action flick on a budget. It’s got copious amounts of decent CG that keeps on trucking. It’s just short of 2 hours, has some good action and sets up a sequel. If you’ve seen the other 2 movies, I say check this one out. It’s nothing special, but it isn’t half bad either. Does that sound too ambivalent?