THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK

Although it's a sequel to 2000's PITCH BLACK, THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK switches genres somewhat: while the earlier film was sci-fi action/adventure creature horror, the new release is sci-fi action/adventure aspiring epic saga. Writer/director David Twohy, who also made the first film (he shared writing credit on PITCH with Ken and Jim Wheat), brings back tough-guy convict with a hero's heart Riddick (Vin Diesel) and Riddick's bleached-out vision that washes the screen in various colors gray, yellow, hot pink (this is actually a bit of a cheat, since in the earlier film, it was multiple suns rather than Riddick's unique eyesight that provided the sometimes monochromatic opticals, but this is a minor gripe) and changes the stakes. On the plus side, RIDDICK looks cool and the action is great. On the downside is a plot that feels like a STAR WARS/DUNE wannabe without either the utter conviction or the irony to pull it off (one or the other seems required), some astoundingly bad dialogue and normally good actors going way over the top as they try to find the right tone.

Riddick escapes from a team of interstellar bounty hunters, but can't figure out why his old comrade Iman (Keith David) has suddenly put a price on his head. It turns out that Iman wants Riddick alive and fighting, because the universe is threatened by the Necromongers, a religion-based group that converts or destroys everyone they encounter. Riddick, a mind his own business kind of guy, refuses to help, but circumstances draw him into the fight.

Every single character is direly serious this can work perfectly well in horror, but is in danger of looking silly when we haven't been made to care about either the individuals or the society. Judi Dench and Linus Roache, in supporting roles, find an approach that works for the material they play it as historical fantasy with a sense of wistfulness. Karl Urban and Thandie Newton as a Necromonger couple are given a MACBETH-esque subplot that makes their Shakespearean emoting understandable, giving what onstage might be fine performances. However, we are so totally uninvolved in the stakes and unconvinced there's anything special about the Necromongers as villains they're suitably destructive, but the idea that they are half-dead never pays off very well that it's impossible to have any feeling for their dilemma. Indeed, the subplots are woven together so portentously that we never get a sense of how one outcome is better than another, unless of course Riddick triumphs and saves the day.

Here we run into another, even more problematic snag Riddick is so tough and indestructible (and up against villains who seem to have misplaced that "What Not to Do as an Evil Overlord" handbook) that we can barely muster curiosity as to how he'll overcome any single situation, much less ever fear for his survival. Diesel is persuasively cranky and physically imposing enough for us to believe in this context that he is capable of great endurance and feats of strength.

Admittedly, the fights and production design and costumes all look swell, and for viewers who want a solemn, growly videogame experience and don't care about anything except the action, this may be satisfying fare. Otherwise, THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK feels a lot like what would happen if somebody threw a big-studio budget at an uncommonly solemn old '70s cheapie space saga plot.