In “Pitch Black,” Vin Diesel gets to run around a kick a lot of flying-alien creature-butt, all to the tune of a plot that could be boiled down to “the freaks come out at night.” Well, in “Chronicles of Riddick,” which takes place five years after “Pitch Black,” the freaks are around all day long for Vin to open a can of whoop-ass on. Is this a good thing? Well, sure, if you enjoy seeing Vin jump around and flex his muscles. But from a story perspective, this really isn’t so much a sequel or an ongoing story line as it is taking the main character and putting him in a new movie. Since the former film’s title is nowhere in the new film, I guess the Producers (which include Diesel himself) are well aware of that.

Since he left the planet (in “Pitch Black”), Riddick is still being hunted by Mercs (mercinaries) and there’s a new bounty on his head. When he finds out that the bounty was placed by Imam (Keith David), one of the people he saved (in “Pitch Black”), he travels to Planet 6 to find out why. Once there, Imam tells him about the coming Necromongers, who invade planets and “enlist” its inhabitants into the Necromonger Army, and asks for his help. Imam introduces him to Aereon (Judi Dench), an Elemental who tells Riddick his past and that he is from a race known as the Furion, and how it’s been prophesized that a Furion will defeat the coming Necromonger Warlord. When the Necromongers do invade Planet 6, Riddick finds himself in the middle of a war, and ultimately, his fate, and the fate of the universe, is in his hands.

Oh, and there’s some fighting along the way. Well, a lot of fighting, actually.

But this is to be expected, one would hope. The fight and action scenes, however, are so fast and furious (you knew that was coming, didn’t you?) that you really can’t see anything that’s going on. Riddick is big and bad, and disposes of the bad guys rather quickly and easily, but there really isn’t any excitement generated by any of the scenes. When you know he’s going to end up standing at the end of the fight with the defeated lying around him, is there any tension? Unfortunately, no, and this is the biggest thing missing from the film. Sure, there are plenty of eye-candy special effects that are worthy of viewing (although there are little-to-no “night” vision scenes like in the first film), and Vin is a special effect all to himself, but his one-liners and bespectacled-dome aren’t enough to save a rather weak and cliched plot.

Much of the appeal of the whole Riddick character is based on two traits. One, he’s a monster when it comes to killing, yet he does care for people. Two, that he can see in the dark! This film exploits the first trait to the Nth-degree, and plays a bit on his caring side, but with the exception of a pair of sunglasses that Riddick wears all throughout the film, the second trait is all but forgotten. In fact, a majority of the film is spent in the daylight. At least then the lighting is good so the ladies can see Vin’s sweat drip off of his biceps.

As for the supporting characters, Thandie Newton tries to be a cold and calculating villainous, but her persona rubs off as being rather, well, greedy. Greedy for screen time, and greedy for better dialogue. Even Dame Judi Dench can’t raise the grace of the film, but she does lend a certain presence to the screen whenever she appears as the wistful Elemental. Even Alexa Davalos, portraying the young Jack from the first film now all grown up as Kyra, lends her butt-kicking action as the tough-girl to Riddick’s tough-guy, but whatever bond that is supposedly between her and Riddick never shines through. We’re never sure if she’s attracted to him or looks up to him as a father-figure, but if their relationship is really not meant to signify anything, that’s exactly what they got on film.

Now, don’t get me wrong. As a science-fiction-action film, that’s just what “Chronicles of Riddick” delivers: a lot of science fiction and some action. If that’s what you go into the theater expecting, that’s what you get. This is the type of summer blockbuster that’s made for the big screen, with lots of big, gaudy sound and special mixed in with flying bodies and creatures. Too bad that the plot actually bogs down the action, and really gets in the way of delivering any type of knock-out punch for the film. The ending does leave the door open for another film (surprise!), so maybe next time they’ll go back to what made the first film so good: characters that you care about and action that’s exciting.