The Reviews Are In For Vin Diesel's Riddick - High-Tension Action Or Sloppy Sequel?

Vin Diesel’s Riddick, which hit theatres this week, was something of a pet project for the actor. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Diesel accuired the rights to the Universal sci-fi franchise with a trade-off – the character rights to Riddick, in exchange for a cameo appearance in Tokyo Drift.

Check out the Riddick Trailer Below.

Seven years later, the project is finally available for the general public to enjoy and for critics to possibly tear apart, which is exactly what they’re doing. In general, the reviews tend to cite good ol’ sequel fatigue as an explanation for Ridick’s lackluster performance. "Plenty of bone crunching and blood gushing, along with some selective nudity, have boosted the movie’s rating up to an 'R,' but lacking the distinctive visual style, robust production design and planet-hopping pace of its predecessor, Riddick feels mired in stasis," The Hollywood Reporter’s Justin Lowe wrote.

It isn’t all terrible news though. New York Times critic Manohla Dargis sees hope in the film’s minimalism. She comments that the production team has scaled back the action – and it works. “Gone are the silly costumes and wigs, the overstuffed plot and exotic-sounding villains like the Necromongers, the religious fanatics that Mr. Diesel’s character, the escaped convict more formally known as Richard B. Riddick, once battled. Now, there’s one man alone, stranded on a seemingly desolate distant planet with only his wits, his fists and his voice-over," she writes.

The actor is apparently really invested in the project.

The same back-to-basics attitude was panned by The Associated Press’ Jocelyn Noveck, who is of the opinion that while Diesel can be entertaining on his own, the complete lack of other storylines is where the film suffers. Clearly, there are a lot of conflicting opinions, but the critics seem unanimous in their decision that Vin Diesel has made a solid genre flick. The reception hinges solely on whether or not this will appeal to a wider audience.

But was that enough?