I saw the sequel to Pitch Black the other night. Part of the charm of Pitch Black was it being so low budget — it had such a sci-fi B movie plot, and so much was done by filming in an interesting setting and using color effects to show the light from the different suns on the doomed planet. It also was much more focused on character.

But the Chronicles of Riddick falls into the familiar trap of substituting CGI for character or plot. I mean, after Star Wars, it isn’t very new or innovative to show space battles or men in clanking armor shoot laser beams at each other. But! Of the vast cinematic oeuvre of Mr. Diesel, my favorite roles of his are Riddick and the voice of the Iron Giant. So I did like this summer sci-fi action movie, where the laws of physics don’t seem to apply on many of the planets. It has my new favorite action-hero threatening line. It has Riddick being more of a bad ass. It has Colm Feore (my sister’s favorite Pirate King from the Pirates of Penzance) being evil. There are explosions, and lasers, unhospitable planets and overzealous religious people who want to convert your soul and wipe out life on your home planet! Plots don’t matter! Things go boom! Are you afraid of the dark?!!!