( EW.com ) -- At a time when the budgets for sci-fi films are , like the universe itself , expanding at an astronomical rate , Riddick decides to go small . The franchise 's third entry shrinks back from the baroque , byzantine space opera of 2004 's `` The Chronicles of Riddick , '' placing Vin Diesel 's interstellar criminal in a story that 's more similar in scope to the series ' first film , the smart and stylish `` Pitch Black '' ( 2000 ) . Abandoned on a sere , hostile planet , the laconic antihero subsists off the meager landscape like a muscle-bound Robinson Crusoe until an ensemble of bounty hunters and soldiers ( including `` Battlestar Galactica 's '' Katee Sackhoff ) arrive looking to put his head â€ ” with those superpowered , see-in-the-dark eyes â€ ” in a box . Riddick , co-written and directed by David Twohy , scavenges a variety of genres for parts , morphing over the course of its run time from survival story to slasher film ( as Riddick hunts his hunters one by one ) to a climactic Aliens-esque siege by slithery , slavering creatures . Twohy succeeds in staging moments both tense and funny , but they 're fewer and farther between than one would hope , and the dialogue is served up with a heaping helping of cheese , especially when delivered in Diesel 's low-frequency growl . Still , by aiming more for suspense than bombast , the modest intentions of this threequel make its failures appear more modest as well . Grade : C+ . See the original story at EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved .
The new film is the fourth in the series . The main character is abandoned on a sere , hostile planet . EW gives it grade of C+ .