Netflix’s Intense Sci-Fi Trilogy Is the Perfect Binge for Sci-Fi Fans

The most well-known franchise Vin Diesel is attached to is probably Fast and Furious, unless you want to count Guardians of the Galaxy, which he has a voice role in (albeit a humorously limited one). In any event, Fast and Furious has more movies that make up the overall series, started further back in time (2001, specifically), and also has Diesel at the center of things. He’s absent from 2 Fast 2 Furious, and only has a cameo in Tokyo Drift, but is in all the other main films (not the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw) as a central character. But there is one film series of his that technically kicked off before even the first Fast and Furious movie: The Chronicles of Riddick.

Now, the first movie was called Pitch Black, which makes it a bit of an unusual series, since the other two movies feature the word “Riddick,” so it’s kind of the Riddick series, or The Chronicles of Riddick series, rather than, like, the Pitch Black series. Diesel, playing Richard B. Riddick, is a constant throughout, as is David Twohy, who’s directed all the movies to date. They’re all science fiction films, but they differ a little in terms of what they go for tonally, and also regarding what other genres they cross over into, and choose to emphasize. They’ve become available on Netflix, as of June 1, and are worth exploring if you like sci-fi thrillers, haven’t seen them before, and want to get a sense of why they’ve picked up something of a cult following over the years.

What Happens Throughout the ‘Riddick’ Trilogy

Image via Focus Features

To spend a little time on the narrative (but only a little, because it’s not always the most important or consistent of things), the Riddick series begins with introducing its titular character as a mysterious criminal with a shady past. He’s on board a commercial cargo ship in Pitch Black, being transported to a prison, but then the ship has to make a crash landing, which results in his escape. It lands on a planet where survival seems pretty much impossible, though, so Riddick reluctantly teams up with the others who are stranded, and transitions into a bit of an antihero by the time it’s over.

Then, The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) gets a good deal more expansive, with its premise involving Riddick escaping bounty hunters, getting captured again, and then finding himself wrapped up in a surprisingly large-scale war. There’s a very intriguing way it ultimately ends, but then that direction is kind of abandoned for Riddick (2013), which gets a little more intimate again, leaning more toward the sort of thing Pitch Black was going for. He’s once more on a harsh and unforgiving planet, and he has to team up with others he initially doesn’t trust if he wants to survive. It is a bit of a retread, but could also be a step in the right direction, if you preferred the sci-fi/horror angle of the first movie.

How the ‘Riddick’ Movies Mix Things Up Genre-Wise

It is technically a trilogy. The Riddick series is, for now, three movies. The first is modestly budgeted in a way that feels like it’s really going for an Aliens kind of thing, and then the second movie is more of a blockbuster, with its grand conflict feeling more than a little Dune-ish. Riddick (2013) is then easiest to compare to Pitch Black, and in line with the sorts of movies you might’ve been reminded of when watching that original film in the trilogy.

There’s some whiplash for sure, just because the ambition of The Chronicles of Riddick is on a whole other level, and it’s quite removed from the horror genre, which is perhaps most evident by the fact that it’s the only PG-13 movie of the bunch. They were going for more of a broadly appealing thing, and you really get the sense that The Chronicles of Riddick wanted to kick-start the franchise on a whole other level, and it’s a bit of a missed opportunity it couldn’t really keep going with the massive world-building. Riddick himself is in a position of immense power at the end of that second film, and your mind starts racing with where he could go, from there, and then it turns out, he kind of just goes back to being stuck on another planet, Pitch Black-style. It’s another action/horror/sci-fi/survival movie, and not a bad one, but it feels extra familiar, by that point.

The Future of the ‘Riddick’ Series

Image via Universal Pictures

This series is a bit all over the place, and so clearly isn’t perfect. There is fun to be had with the way it keeps shaking things up, though. Diesel does make an impression in the lead role, and it’s the kind he was pretty much always made to play. There is a sincerity that comes through, and you can feel a level of interest on the part of both him and Twohy in making this character work. The Riddick movies are sometimes goofy and a bit confused, but there’s a passion and an odd sort of confidence to them that’s admirable… the kind you do often find in the Fast and Furious movies, too, even when they get a bit out of control.

Those movies might’ve jumped the shark, in either F9 or Fast X, but Riddick hasn’t done it yet. There is a fourth movie that’s in production, at the time of writing, called Riddick: Furya, so time will tell whether that’s the one that gets a bit too weird, wild, or messy, potentially possible if they try and go back to the sort of thing the second film went for. But for now, it’s a decently fun trilogy that gets the job done if you’re after science fiction movies that also play around with the action, thriller, and horror genres.