Riddick is stranded on a desert planet, all alone.

Not as good as "Pitch Black", but a welcome return to the tight, simple science fiction survival story that the middle film departed from in favour of grand scale epic. The character is more suited for this kind of story, I feel, though I do appreciate they also took care to refer to and build on the continuity the previous film established, making it still feel an important part of the whole.

I found the male wish-fulfillment flavour of Riddick's aggressive (and, spoiler alert, fruitful) flirting with the sole female character rather a bit embarrassing to watch, but other than that, I liked the character interactions (including those of Kate Sackhoff's very badass character). The character based moments are where the enjoyment (beyond basic action thrills) come from in a film like this, and they were done rather well, I thought.

I also enjoyed the extended cut a lot, as it fleshed out the mythology bits and character bits early on in the film, while leaving the (in my opinion already slightly too long in any case) action-packed third act alone. Will definitely be watching this version on future rewatches. ( )