***1/2 out of 5

Rating: Null/10 (2 November 2002)

This is a brilliant science fiction film that got the treatment of no more than a modern day Alien rip-off. There is actually three films going on at once here, one is a story about a ship that crashes on a deserted planet and its crew must find a way to get off of it. Second is about an escaped convict named Riddick that the crew is searching for before he can kill them all and finally, the third is about a bunch of aliens who are prone to light, but just as luck would have it the crew decided to crash on the planet just at the time of a solar eclipse, rendering the entire planet in darkness. If this film were to stick with the second story then we may have had a classic on our hands but it decides to throw all three together and branches off in some many different directions that it is hard to pinpoint one set story pattern. The first half of the film is superb because it bases itself upon the unknown, we don't know what caused the ship to crash, we don't know why the planet is deserted, we don't know who or what Riddick is and we don't know anything about the alien that inhabit the planet. But that is a problem by the end of the film we still don't know anything about the aliens and I was even questioning why they were even there in the first place, they served no purpose at all and instead of adding to the story they only raised the body count. So after the first half of the film the impact of the film goes way down and it turns into nothing more but a bunch of sci-fi cliches and bloodshed while everyone walks around in a tense position fearing who will be the first to go if Riddick decides to snap. This film was what really put Vin Diesel into the picture and made him a household name and even though he now stars in huge action blockbusters it is nice to see him play the more atmospheric, character driven roles like that of Riddick. It was a smart move casting Diesel as Riddick because the film, as far as I can tell is basically all about him and Diesel easily outshines the whole cast and is the only one to produce any suspense and humour for most of the film. To science fiction fans what I am saying has more than likely already flown right over your head and you are probably drowning in a pool of your own drool by now, to everyone else this is just a retread of what you have already seen hundreds of times before just a lot less scary, but I do recommend this film because of the eye-popping special effect, a great performance from Vin Diesel and a highly entertaining first half.