Riddick (2013)

Vin Diesel’s night-vision bad ass hero returns in the aptly named “Riddick,” a sequel to the overstuffed “Dune”-wannabe “Chronicles of Riddick,” a boring, wrongly safe PG-13 pitched sequel to the lean “Pitch Black,” a bloody R-rated flick. Life is restored. Mostly. Think of Riddick as akin to the Man With No Name films set in space, but here we know the man’s name. A man of few words, Riddick is a just killer hunted by criminals and lawmen alike. (If only he smoked, but even that is too un-P.C.) Minutes from the start he is stranded on a blighted planet and becomes the prey of bounty hunters (among them is Katee Sackhoff of TV’s “Battlestar Galactica”). Mayhem ensues before hunters and hunted must join forces to battle freakish worms that thrive at night. So the plot is “Pitch Black” throwback, but the worms slurping out of the mud and eating people had me thinking of the Kevin Bacon comedy “Tremors.” And laughing. Oops. I liked the Sergio Leone feel; hated the unneeded female nudity and the tired “Chronicles” follow-ups best left forgotten. Vin Diesel makes a great hero with a growl. Put this man in a Western already. B-