3. The Visual Effects
Usually I'm not one to compliment on visual effects, for I see it as a big cliche nowadays with most big-budget films. Nothing is more annoying than having someone praise a film's special effects, but not say anything else about it other than the special effects were awesome, therefore making the film awesome. That's just not how it works. When I do compliment on visual effects, it's because they lent themselves to the storytelling and helped visualize the world to an appeased understanding.
Riddick is one of those fine examples; right from the opening act, it becomes obviously apparent that David Twohy went to shoot a film that retained its science fiction nature, but was also boosted by a huge dose of visual trickery that is unlike an science fiction film ever seen before in the past couple of years. Where
Pitch Black mostly relied on the visual effects of the planets and the winged predators,
Riddick ups the ante thrice as much. Not only do we get a planet and its vast landscape, we get the sky, other planets, various types of predators, and some wicked weather effects thrown into the mix. Perhaps the one that really stands out is the use of creativity behind the creature designs. While the hounds early on took inspiration from dingo dogs (they even referenced that in the film), some of the creature designs are remarkable, such as the main predators, which are these different sized creatures with elongated tails with pinchers at the end and two legs with a huge jaw that can kill a man with just one bite. The design in incredible, but it's the effects that really make it look fantastic. Not since
Avatar have I seen creature effects this good. The weather effects themselves are mighty impressive, too. The storm effects seem life-like at times, and the vast landscape is a wonder to take in at first glance. All these amazing qualities in visual effects really sell the illusion of science fiction as whole; the genre is known for its capabilities at putting the mind in awe with its grandiose appearance and scale, and
Riddick is no pushover when it comes to pushing the boundaries of just how far visual effects have come in today's entertainment world.