Shipwrecked on a desert planet, the survivors of a doomed commercial spacecraft explore the sharp sand dunes and bleached alien skeletons of a foreign landscape, seeking water and, with luck, the means to escape or send an intergalactic SOS. They aren't many in number, and even that sum soon begins to dwindle as untimely seasons shift and the sky falls into a months-long eclipse, instantly unleashing flocks of wild, hungry native night-hunters from their subterranean lairs.

Fortunately, one of the survivors is well-equipped for precisely this situation. Riddick, a violent prisoner headed for the high-security slammer, boasts extensive combat experience and a set of augmented eyes that work best in the dark. Vin Diesel is effortlessly cool in that part, one which clearly evolved during the writing process to grow from a simple, gimmicky tough guy stereotype into a well-rounded, wonderfully unpredictable instigator who throws the plot over one shoulder and almost single-handedly hikes it down the home stretch. We don't always like him, but we're constantly intrigued by him, and Diesel (in his breakthrough role) really makes the most of that duality. He's not just grunting and grinding; he's assessing and scheming, too, with the physical performance just as essential as the strong, fluid character writing.

The rest of the show is a little more mixed. It's an obviously over-performing low-budget science fiction / horror film, so some slips can be expected. Much of the egregious stuff is masked with low-grade film techniques or by abusing quick jump cuts and extreme close-ups. What serious special effects there are vary from shockingly effective (Riddick's tense, quiet staredown with one of the monsters) to downright bad (all exterior shots of the ship). It's efficient, though, visually ambitious and thematically novel. Those virtues, plus one star-grade acting performance, add up to a bit better than average in my book.