Riddick (film)

Riddick is a 2013 science fiction action film written and directed by David Twohy, based on the character Richard B. Riddick by Jim and Ken Wheat. It is the third installment in The Chronicles of Riddick film series and a sequel to both Pitch Black (2000) and The Chronicles of Riddick (2004). Vin Diesel reprises his role as the titular character alongside Jordi Mollà, Matt Nable, Katee Sackhoff, Dave Bautista, Bokeem Woodbine, Raoul Trujillo, and Karl Urban. In the film, notorious murderer Riddick is betrayed and left for dead on a desolate planet and uses his instincts to survive. He eventually teams up with mercenaries arriving to capture him to escape from a larger threat.

Riddick was released in the United States on September 6, 2013. Critics considered it a return to form for the series and it became a moderate box-office success compared to its predecessor. A fourth film, entitled Riddick: Furya, is in development.

Plot

Five years after Kyra's death, Riddick has become uneasy in his role as Lord Marshal of the Necromonger fleet. His refusal to swear into the Necromonger faith has caused dissent among his subjects. After the latest attempt on his life, Riddick strikes a deal with Commander Vaako: the location of Furya and a ship to take him there, in exchange for Vaako succeeding him as the next Lord Marshal so that he can achieve transcendence. Led by Vaako's aide, Krone, Riddick and a group of Necromongers arrive on a desolate planet. Realizing that it is not Furya, Riddick kills most of his escorts when they attempt to assassinate him; Krone causes a landslide and buries Riddick alive.

Riddick emerges from the rubble with a broken leg, which he sets and splints while fending off native predators: vulture-like flying animals, packs of jackal-like beasts, and giant venomous scorpion-like water-dwelling Mud Demons. Needing time to heal, Riddick hides himself within some abandoned ruins. After he's fully healed, Riddick notices a vast savanna beyond some rocky cliffs, but the only passage through is impeded by several muddy pools infested with Mud Demons. He begins injecting himself with Mud Demon venom to build an immunity and constructs improvised melee weapons, as well as raising and training an orphaned jackal-beast pup. He kills the Mud Demons blocking his entrance and reaches the savanna. After finding a mercenary station, Riddick notices a series of approaching storms and concludes they will unleash a dangerous threat. Riddick activates an emergency beacon at the station, which broadcasts his identity to mercenary groups within the area.

Two ships arrive in answer to the beacon; the first led by violent and unstable Santana, with second-in-command Diaz, preacher Luna, and hunters Falco, Rubio, Vargas, and Nuñez; the second led by Colonel R. "Boss" Johns, second-in-command and marksman Dahl, tracker Lockspur and gunner Moss. Riddick leaves them a message promising they will all die unless they leave one of their ships and depart the planet on the other. Rubio, Nuñez, and Falco are killed by Riddick during the first night, forcing a reluctant Santana to cooperate with Johns's team. Riddick later steals power nodes from each of the teams' ships and approaches Johns and Santana to strike a deal for their return. However, the conversation turns into an ambush as Dahl shoots Riddick with several rounds of horse tranquilizer, and Riddick's jackal-beast is shot and killed by Santana.

At the station, Johns interrogates Riddick about the fate of his son, William. When the storms reach the station, Riddick's threat is revealed as thousands of Mud Demons emerge from hibernation underground, awakened by the rainwater, and besiege the station, killing Lockspur and Moss. Johns agrees to release Riddick to locate the hidden power cells, but Santana attempts to kill Riddick because he is worth more dead than alive and because Riddick promised to kill Santana if set free. Riddick, with one leg free, beheads Santana with his own machete. The group then releases Riddick on the condition he retrieves the nodes and each party gets a ship.

They fight their way to the ships, and Vargas is killed by a Mud Demon. Johns, Diaz, and Riddick leave the ship together on the hoverbikes to retrieve the power nodes. During their journey, Diaz crashes Johns's bike over an embankment; Johns is then picked up by Riddick. After they reach the power nodes, Riddick reveals Johns's son's morphine addiction and his attempts to use a child as bait. Diaz attacks Riddick and Johns, but Riddick fights and kills him; as Diaz dies, he shoots and disables the last hoverbike.

Riddick and Johns fend off an endless horde of Mud Demons while running back to the station. Riddick is severely wounded, and Johns takes both nodes and abandons him. Riddick begins to fight the advancing Demons and climbs a rock spire; when it seems he is about to be killed, Johns arrives in a repowered ship and shoots the creatures while Dahl descends to rescue Riddick. Given the other ship, Riddick praises Johns for being a better man than his son and departs into deep space.

Cast

• Vin Diesel as Richard B. Riddick, last of the Furyan race and notorious criminal outlaw. Riddick lets himself get complacent in his time as Lord Marshal and is suddenly forced to rediscover his animal side to survive.
• Matt Nable as Colonel R. "Boss" Johns, a professional mercenary whose son William J. Johns was killed during the events of Pitch Black. Johns pursues Riddick in order to get answers about how his son died. He prides himself on being an organized professional and runs his crew efficiently.
• Jordi Mollà as Santana, a bounty hunter whose crew is the first to arrive in pursuit of Riddick. He bristles at the arrival of Johns and refuses to accept help until he has no choice.
• Katee Sackhoff as Dahl, Johns's Lieutenant. She is a tough and capable mercenary, and the crew's sniper. She and Santana instantly dislike each other and she is forced to assert herself over him after Johns puts her in charge of Santana's crew.
• Dave Bautista as Diaz, Santana's Lieutenant. He is quiet and reserved in contrast to the loud and obnoxious Santana, however he makes snide remarks at times.
• Bokeem Woodbine as Moss, one of Johns's crew who has a quiet encounter with Riddick that leaves him shaken.
• Raoul Trujillo as Lockspur, a member of Johns's crew who has encountered the mud creatures before.
• Conrad Pla as Vargas, one of Santana's men who is highly superstitious and paranoid.
• Nolan Gerard Funk as Luna, a Christian whom Santana refers to as his good luck charm. The voice of reason, he repeatedly tries to convince everyone to take Riddick's offer and leave rather than fight.
• Danny Blanco Hall as Falco, member of Santana's crew.
• Noah Danby as Nuñez, member of Santana's crew.
• Neil Napier as Rubio, member of Santana's crew.
• Karl Urban as Commander Siberius Vaako, a Necromonger Commander who desires the position of Lord Marshal.
• Alex Branson as Lex Branman.
• Andreas Apergis as Krone, a Necromonger who betrays Riddick and leaves him to die.

Additionally, singer Keri Hilson makes a cameo appearance as Santana's prisoner, who was being kept as a sexual slave and is eventually killed by him after Luna cuts her loose.

Production

Development

Rumors of a third film in the Chronicles of Riddick series had circulated since 2006. At first, Twohy assumed that the film would be an independent, low-budget production, rather than being released by Universal Studios as the other films in the series had been. Despite the second film's tepid reception, Diesel and Twohy remained optimistic about a third film, pushing it toward completion. "Everyone knows I love the Riddick character and I'm always working on it," Diesel asserted. "It just takes five years to make another one because David Twohy and I are so precise about it." In 2006, Diesel agreed to make a cameo in Universal's film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in exchange for the ownership to the rights to the Riddick franchise and character. Over the next four years, Diesel periodically posted information on his own Facebook page updating fans on the film's progress. In November 2009, shortly after Twohy had finished the script, he announced that pre-production work was underway.

In April 2010, a review of the Riddick screenplay (it was then subtitled "Dead Man Stalking") appeared on the Coming Attractions website. "Free from the constraints of delivering a PG-13 movie, the dialogue in Dead Man Stalking is more suited to a film like Training Day; the mercs we meet are hard-living people, not those washout fakeout space mercs from a film like Alien Resurrection", wrote reviewer Patrick Sauriol. On February 9, 2010, Diesel confirmed in an update on his Facebook page that one of the locations used in the upcoming sequel would be the White Desert in Farafra, Egypt. He mentioned the terrain features, unique to the area, would lend to the off-planet atmosphere of the film. On March 13, 2011, Diesel released a video on his official Facebook page in which he and Director David Twohy talk about the proposed third film. They reaffirmed that the movie will be rated 'R', like the first one (Pitch Black), a priority for them, and they plan to shoot it lean and quickly.