A very pleasant surprise

Rating: 9/10 (29 February 2000)

When I first saw the previews, I was thinking 'oh no, another cheap sci-fi horror flick'...along the lines of, say, Supernova. But, after reading some positive reviews, I decided to go see it.
Personally, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Even though it was an action flick and alot of the focus was on the action and special effects, I felt some of the characters were quite well developed... especially Riddick (Vin Diesel), Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell), and to an extent, the kid.
Riddick was my favorite character, and was quite...captivating. I'm curious about how they did the special effect of the character...the eyes are quite interesting, and some of the contortions made me wonder if he was actually doing that or if it was special effects. The character itself has a very nice, dark sense of humor; and the interaction between him and Fry was, to me, almost pivotal to the movie.
He was the type of character I would love to see more of, past the story on the planet. I'm curious if the actor is good in his other movies also. It might actually get me to go see Boiler Room.
The photography was interesting also...almost too bright/washed out at times, truly giving a sense of how bright it was on the planet.
The storyline itself is interesting, although at times it seemed a bit inconsistent and implausible (though, because of the speed, you may not realize that until you think about it later)...but the real value was the characters.
I beg to differ with the cut line 'It takes evil to fight evil', though...personally, I didn't think the creatures were evil, merely reacting in a natural fashion in a way that was quite unfortunate to the human population. And I didn't consider Riddick evil, necessarily, either...underneath it all he was human, someone who may not have the same moral values as society is 'supposed' to have, but who did what he had to survive and prosper, in some very harsh circumstances.
Altogether, a very pleasing flick...and one that I may just pay for again.