Riddick

Vin Diesel stars in Riddick, the third installment of the Chronicles of Riddick film series.

Written and directed by David Twohy, Riddick (Diesel) is left for dead on a foreign planet after being framed for murder. Draped in rugged night-vision googles and animal skin disguised as clothes, Riddick must find a creative way to get back to his homeland, Furya, and fight off mythical creatures in the meantime. Riddick sets a trap to lure bounty hunters to his current location and slowly gets revenge all who are seeking him.

Without previously watching the first two Riddicks, one would think it would be difficult to catch on, but it’s not. The movie quickly sets the scene with background information about Riddick’s previous misfortunes. Not to mention, the first 45 minutes is almost in complete silence due to Riddick’s limited interactions with other human life.

The sexiest surprise is national recording artist, Keri Hilson, who played a soiled, murky prisoner. The 2-minute cameo is refreshing but who knew the R&B diva could cut it in thr mainstream movies spotlight. She is feisty, tough and longing for freedom. My Keri Hilson love meter went up just a couple more notches after this movie.

Just like Idris Elba saved Pacific Rim for me, Vin Diesiel did the same thing in Riddick with revenge on his mind and barely any clothes on his body. On the other hand, I was a little bothered by the depiction of women in this movie. All the White women were crisp, serene, strong and flashing their perky bosoms, while the only Black woman in the entire movie (Hilson) was a dusty captive. I’m confused! In science fiction films, why are Black women either obsolete or portrayed as defenseless, bottomless slaves?

This opens up a deeper discussion as to why African Americans just don’t support science fiction movies. There’s nothing realistic about humans fighting make-believe animals and aliens to save a fictious planet. African Americans are not present in most science fiction films. I guess we can chalk this one up as a mere piece of entertainment because I can’t see Tyler Perry making a science fiction flicks with Madea, Loretta Devine and Tamela Mann.

3 Stars: Another long science fiction movie bites the dust! Long movies must be in because it was a full two hours of partially-naked Vin Diesel (but I wasn’t complaining).