The Chronicles Of Riddick (2004)

Directed and written by David Twohy.

"There is no future until you settle the past."

Twohy and his star Vin Diesel resurrect the character of Riddick from the earlier film Pitch Black (2000) - a well made and effective sci-fi thriller in which ex-con Riddick attempts to help a group of people escape from an alien planet.

As the new film opens Riddick is on the run from bounty hunters in a well realised alien landscape; which updates the story very quickly and smartly.

Eventually he becomes involved in the main action of the film as he battles against a race of near-dead/undead/space zombies who travel the universe seeking out civilisations to either enslave or eliminate.

The sets, both digital and physical, certainly look impressive and it's easy to see where most of the reported budget of $110 m. was spent.

It's a shame though that some of that money wasn't spent on hiring a scriptwriter to better deliver Twohy's ideas and story outline to the screen.

Although the action moves along at a brisk enough pace and there's plenty of set-piece action sequences the story is so badly under written that there's no tension or surprise in the film, characters are flat and one-dimensional so that it's impossible to care about them, sub-plots are introduced and then disappear without resolution and the ending is telegraphed from several miles out and it becomes simply a matter of waiting for it to arrive.

The revised directors cut available on DVD adds nothing to the story and, in fact, simply lumps in some flab to a film that could already have done with a bit more of a ruthless edit.

Clearly a "one man's vision" film , it's harmless enough and but could really, really have done with a second person being involved on the creative side - if only to tell the director-writer when to cut a scene or move the action along a bit quicker.

Not a bad film (whatever that means) by any means - but nowhere near as gripping and engaging as it's predecessor.