This prequel to the more heavily publicized (but not as good) Chronicles of Riddick was the first movie that really showcased Vin Diesel to good advantage. He plays a captured murderer, one who escapes when his transport spacecraft has to make an emergency landing on an unknown planet. A few of the passengers survive, then must battle both the planet’s heat and the indigenous life-forms that seem to have a taste for human blood. One-line summary? Alien meets Nightfall.
This basic run-from-the-monsters plot is embellished and fortified with better than average acting and a storyline that incorporates more character depth and arc than most sci-fi horror flicks. Along the way, Diesel’s muscular physicality is used to good effect and he definitely holds his own in a cast composed of some really excellent character actors; Keith David and Radha Mitchell are particularly good.
This movie wasn’t given a lot of publicity, but if you want something fun and somewhat scary this one won’t disappoint. Also, I personally happen to love the throwaway one-liners that tough-guy flicks all seem to have inherited from Clint Eastwood, and this one has one of the best.
2 Comments
I agree. It had some really good lines.
“Did not know who he was fuckin’ with.”
Hahahaha!
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