Home Media Catch Up - The Last Witch Hunter (2015)

Director: Breck Eisner

Cast: Vin Diesel, Elijah Wood, Michael Caine, Rose Leslie, Julie Engelbrecht

Country: United States

Rating: PG-13

Run Time: 107 min

Home Media Catch Up is a series dedicated to reviewing films released within the same year or prior year that I either missed upon theatrical release or have not got around to viewing on home media yet. Therefore, they won't contain the historical depth of a Retrospective Review, nor the initial reaction of a Theatrical Review, but more so something in between.

Even though Vin Diesel appears to be a muscle bound meat head (the Fast and Furious franchise asserts this), he is truly a nerd at heart. Diesel is notoriously a fan of Dungeons and Dragons, a fantasy based game that is immensely popular amongst nerd type crowds. Diesel also pours his heart and soul into each of his Riddick films, a series that represents his most nerd-like sensibilities with their vast mythos and world building. It seems that for every successful Fast and Furious film, Diesel partakes in either a science fiction or fantasy based film that pleases his nerd tastes. Therefore, it came as no surprise when Diesel starred in The Last Witch Hunter in 2015, a fantasy film that might as well have been Diesel's answer for a Dungeons and Dragons type film starring himself. 

Unfortunately, the The Last Witch Hunter turned out to be nothing more than a critically reviled flop, a weak and uninspired attempt at jump starting a franchise that more closely resembled Diesel's previous science fiction flop, Bablyon A.D., than a truly fleshed out genre epic like Diesel's Riddick series. Not only is The Last Witch Hunter a lazy retread of previous science fiction/fantasy films, most notably Blade, Constantine, and Highlander, but it barely features any action amidst its fantasy world building. The Last Witch Hunter is 2015's fantasy equivalent to Hitman: Agent 47, a pair of dull and emotionless action films with nothing but unnatural conversations about exposition and plots that make absolutely no sense. You know your movie sucks when you can't even top Constantine.

Am I hotter or Kaulder?

Kaulder (Vin Diesel) and his witch hunting buddies go after the Queen Witch and her followers in the opening prologue of the film set in medieval times in order to vanquish the source of the Black Plague. When every witch hunter falls, only Kaulder is left to stand up against the Queen Witch. Even though he defeats her, she strikes back and curses him with immortality in her final moments. Fast forward to the present day where Kaulder is now the last witch hunter in a world where witches and humans live in peace due to a truce. However, a witch decides to break the truce in order to bring back the Queen Witch to the present day. Kaulder, along with the help of his witch hunting buddies, Nolan the 36th (Michael Caine), Nolan the 37th (Elijah Wood), and Chloe (Rose Leslie), go after the Queen Witch and try to prevent the Black Plague from being cast upon the world once again.

The Last Witch Hunter owes a lot of its plot, character, and genre to Russell Mulcahy's flawed but fan favorite fantasy actioner, Highlander. It duplicates Highlander's time bending fantasy, as well as its never ending war between various factions and persons. It also grounds its action in gun and sword play, a distinct element of the Highlander franchise. Even Kaulder, who would most likely be a villain in a Highlander film because his name starts with a "K," is a rip-off of Connor MacCleod with his curse of immortality and collection of ancient artifacts. However, The Last Witch Hunter fails where Highlander and its counterparts succeed because it features no distinct style of its own. It's a corporate made studio film with no imagination and lazy fantasy designs that prove that no heart and soul was put into the picture at all.

One of The Last Witch Hunter's greatest sins is its failure to explore the implications of immortality. Even Highlander, which is a silly fantasy offering in the first place, is memorable because it places a huge emphasis on the effects of immortality and what it would be like to live forever. Highlander, along with its music video-esque style, would be nothing without its exploration of said theme. Whereas The Last Witch Hunter, a dull and lazy reworking of the Highlander mythos, features a protagonist who doesn't seem bothered by his immortality. Therefore, not only does Kaulder show no character in the first place, but he doesn't even seem to care about his own predicament. Talk about a forgettable and unrealistic fantasy protagonist.

I can at least admit that the Queen Witch's design is original.

The film also features several similarities to the Blade series. Kaulder is apparently feared by all witches as the ultimate witch hunter, more or less the way that Blade is feared by vampires. However, imagine if Blade had no personality or charisma to him, and you would have The Last Witch Hunter's protagonist, a character who is lazily nicknamed "the Weapon." Come on guys, "the Weapon?" That's the best you could come up with? The film also features witches who are referred to as "dream walkers," much the same way that Blade is referred to as a "day walker." These similarities are so shocking that The Last Witch Hunter might as well be a re-spray painted version of Blade, but with none of the awesome action or atmospheric horror.

Speaking of action, The Last Witch Hunter features very little of it, which is damning considering the monotony of the film's dull plot that will put viewers to sleep in the first place. Although I expected the film's affective prologue to simply be the bottom of the hill, it turns out that the dark and violent opening sword fight is where the film's action peaks. From there, Diesel partakes in very few supernatural fights and shockingly short set pieces that barely even classify as sequences. Even the finale, which pits Diesel and friends up against a tree-like monster and the Queen Witch, lacks any imagination or style and operates as an anti-climax to what desperately wants to be a blockbuster film. For those hoping to see Diesel duke it out with other witches using his sword and gun, don't get your hopes up.

Another damning criticism of Diesel's fantasy is that it features some of the most unnatural world building that I have ever witnessed in a wannabe franchise. It's much the same as 2005's Constantine, another "this world versus this world" kind of fantasy film where the world is established through conversations and dialog instead of natural cinematic language. Kaulder and friends spend most of the film walking around and explaining elements of their fantasy world to one another instead of inhabiting or developing said world in a natural or engaging manner. Combined with the film's extremely lazy fantasy designs (seriously, a tree monster and a plague of flies?), The Last Witch Hunter is as low rent as fantasy fiction comes.

Here's your trio.

Although I expect Diesel to appear in schlocky B-movie affair like this, it pains me to see the rest of the film's cast flounder in a fantasy fiction undeserved of their talents. Poor Michael Caine plays Dolan the 36th, more or less the film's equivalent to Whistler, Kris Kristofferson's mentor in the Blade series. Caine has to spout ridiculous dialog about the world of witches and the Axe and Cross and this and that, purely to receive a pay check that can go next to the ones he earned for similar schlock-fests Jaws: The Revenge and On Deadly Ground. His screen time is so short anyways that you just might forget he is in the film after all.

The other hilarious supporting performance comes from Elijah Wood. It's sad to see the mighty fall, as Wood has gone from The Lord of the Rings, the greatest fantasy series of all time, to this. Viewers will be able to call Wood's allegiance's from the get go and will find his performance possibly the most cringe worthy. It's no insult to Wood, I love the guy, but he's always been a rather cheesy performer. Therefore, if you pair the guy with cheesy material, you are going to score laughs.

The last piece of the wasted talent puzzle is Rose Leslie, who more or less acts as the co-lead of the picture next to Diesel. Leslie, much like Wood, is most well known for one of contemporary media's greatest fantasy stories, the Game of Thrones television series. To see her stoop from that to this is just about as cringe worthy as it sound.

Fire sword! Activated!

The Last Witch Hunter is a desperate franchise starter that offers up barely enough material to suffice a franchise, let alone one film. Director Breck Eisner, who I have failed to mention until now, barely suffices as a competent director either. If you pair Eisner's bland style with the film's awful script and lazy fantasy designs, you have yourself one bland fantasy film that somehow made its way from the Syfy Channel to theaters. At least it's not as bad as Highlander: The Source. While Diesel may be fun to watch in fantasy affair like this, even he appears tired and lazy in a film that is nothing more than routine. Despite the film's horrendous reviews and lukewarm box office, Diesel has guaranteed that a sequel is on the way. While it may be fun to see how much worse this series could get, I would prefer that Diesel focus his cinematic efforts on his much beloved Riddick series. Heck, I'd rather see The Pacifier 2 than another The Last Witch Hunter.

Rating: 3/10 - Let's hope that this is the last The Last Witch Hunter. Enough said.

Furious 7 (2015) - Theatrical Review

Director: James Wan

Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Dwayne Johnson, Kurt Russell

Country: United States

Rating: PG-13

Run Time: 137 minutes

Furious 7 had more hype surrounding it than any other Fast and Furious film before it. The previous entry, Fast and Furious 6, ended on a cliffhanger that finally caught the franchise up with The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and set up a revenge filled seventh entry. If that wasn't enough to raise one's anticipation, tragedy struck when co-star Paul Walker died in the middle of production. Fans and the studio themselves were all left wondering what would happen to Furious 7 now that Paul Walker had died. After a year long delay and numerous reshoots, Furious 7 miraculously made it to theaters completed. 

Many people are singing the praises of Furious 7 as both one of the best of the series and the ultimate love letter to Paul Walker. While I agree that the film is the perfect tribute to Walker, I disagree that the film is one of the best of the series. In fact, I would say that this is a big step down from the highs of Fast Five and Fast and Furious 6. I personally believe that many people are letting their feelings for Walker's passing cloud their opinion of the film. I don't mean to come off as insensitive, but I couldn't help but think of the infamous Game of Death debacle while watching this film. The plot presented here is one of the most confounding and nonsensical plots in the franchise's history. Whether this is due to the original screenplay or the rewrites that resulted from Walker's passing, Furious 7 is a confounding mess of a sequel that is purely an excuse for various set pieces. That being said, Furious 7 is still a fun blockbuster that delivers numerous stunt-filled set pieces and bids farewell to the beloved Paul Walker.

Walker takes one last ride with his final on screen performance.

Oh boy, the plot. Furious 7 easily could have been a simple and straightforward revenge film with souped up cars and explosions. After all, this is why I thought James Wan (director of the straightforward revenge film, Death Sentence) directed the film in the first place. Unfortunately, the plot goes haywire within the first 30 minutes and never finds its footing again.

After the death of two significant team members in Fast and Furious 6, Dominic Torretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), and friends find themselves in the crosshairs of Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham). Shaw wants vengeance for his brother's injuries during the finale of Fast and Furious 6. Before Shaw and Dom can throw down, Frank Petty (Kurt Russell) shows up and enlists Dom to help him find the God's Eye, a form of technology that allows one to locate anyone on the planet using cell phones and cameras. If Dom can get Frank the God's Eye, than Frank can get Shaw for Dom. However, Shaw repeatedly shows up to complicate Dom's opportunity to get the God's Eye every step of the way...which he needs to find Shaw...who shows up every time Dom tries to get the God's Eye anyway. Why do we have to put up with this ridiculous God's Eye plot when Shaw shows up every step of the way anyways!? You don't need the God's Eye Dom! Shaw always finds you! Just stand still and he'll show up!

This is Furious 7's biggest downfall: it's insane plot. It literally makes no sense whatsoever and I picked up on this during my first viewing, not after a second viewing or even hearing about the issue from someone else, so this isn't a minor nit pick. The only reason that the God's Eye plot is incorporated into the film is so that there is an excuse to transport our character's around the globe for various set pieces. I don't understand how Wan and screenwriter Chris Morgan could not have whipped up a more simplistic plot when the God's Eye is literally of no use to them. If Shaw keeps showing up, than they don't need this device to locate him! What ever happened to the basic revenge plot? This is not basic or simplistic at all. It is nothing but confusing, confounding, and convoluted. 

Diesel and Statham stare one another down.

This leads into the other major fault of the film: James Wan. I am sad to say it but James Wan is completely mismatched for this franchise. Even though I was excited for Wan's leap from low budget horror to big budget blockbuster, I didn't think that Wan would fail to understand the franchise as he did. Watching Furious 7 made me realize how accomplished a filmmaker Justin Lin was and how great his Fast installments were (installments three through six to be exact). Lin understood the franchise better than anyone else and knew how to balance the ridiculous excess with grounded character emotion and compact storytelling. Wan's Fast installment is plot driven from straight to finish, offering little to no time for the characters to breathe or act themselves until it comes time to say goodbye to Paul Walker. 

And even though Wan's installment is fast, fun, and entertaining, his failure to pace his action sequences well kills the film. That's the other problem with Wan, he knows no restraint. Lin's action sequences were short, compact, and edited in between lengthy character driven moments of his films. Lin understood restraint and knew that the action sequences would be nothing without significant character moments in between them. Wan on the other hand simply goes straight for the action and barely, and I mean barely, gives his characters a chance to act human in between the set pieces even though they launch their cars in between buildings and off of mountains.

Furious 7 is essentially three insanely long action sequences that run for far too long. Not counting small bursts of violence, the three massive set pieces of the film are a car chase down a winding mountain road, a vehicular heist inside of a skyscraper, and an all out war on the streets of Los Angeles. The all out war that ends the film must run for over 15 minutes. I didn't count, but I'll be damned if that isn't one of the longest action finales in cinematic history. I'll be honest by saying that the best action set piece in the film is the mountain road chase scene heavily advertised in the film's trailer. It's jam packed with stunts and a fight scene between Walker and Thai superstar Tony Jaa (Ong Bak), making his Hollywood debut. It also opens with our characters skydiving inside of their cars on to the top of the mountain, so you have to love that. There is also an awesome stunt where a henchman's car flies through the air and impales upon a spiked tree branch. It got a definite "oh!" out of me.

The furious team wind up in Abu Dhabi.

And while the Abu Dhabi heist in which Dom launches a car in between two buildings is pretty cool, the finale in which Dom and friends wage war against Shaw and generic bad guy Mose (Djimon Hounsou) is exhausting to watch. The sequence is filled with individual fights, shootouts, and chases that range from boring to exciting. There is simply too much going on in this finale to make sense of. Even the long awaited fight between Diesel and Statham, arguably two of contemporary action cinema's biggest icons, pales in comparison to everything else. I forgot to mention that there is a great fist fight between Statham and Dwayne Johnson at the beginning of the film as well. It completely slipped my mind. 

Still, there is some great visual eye candy in this finale, once again in the form of a fist fight between Walker and Jaa. This finale contains my personal favorite stunt of the film in which Jaa knees Walker into a door which they proceed to slide down a staircase on top of. It's absolutely awesome. Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) also shows up in the finale and steals the film from everyone else with some of the most hilarious and self aware dialog from the series yet. You'll be laughing along with Johnson once you see him snap his cast off like it's nothing. 

As far as the cast goes, all of the regulars do as fine a job as ever. Walker is unfortunately sidelined in favor of Dom's revenge plot against Shaw. I should probably mention that the digital effects and body doubles used for Paul Walker's incomplete scenes are pretty convincing. At least James Wan didn't resort to cardboard cut outs a-la Game of Death. Newcomer Jason Statham is great as the villain and adds a whole layer of epic bravado to the mix. Unfortunately, many of the supporting newcomers are completely devoid of character and barely even given names. Mosse is a generic villain, plain and simple, even though he is played by the great Hounsou. Jaa, an international action star in his own right, isn't even given a name or visual introduction. He simply appears on screen during the mountain chase. Rhonda Rousey also appears as a nameless bodyguard during the Abu Dhabi heist who has no purpose but to fight Michelle Rodriguez, a.k.a. one of the worst actors ever. Overall, I think the cast is very hit or miss despite their impressive international pedigree. Nobody tops The Rock though. He owns this movie for all of his limited screen time.

Nobody beats the Rock. I love this guy with all of my heart.

Despite all of Furious 7's pros and cons, the last ten minutes are the best farewell that anyone could have put together to honor Paul Walker's place in the franchise. It's rare, even unheard of, for a franchise featuring the same characters to last so long and to have one of their own die in real life. Therefore, Furious 7's farewell to Walker is one of the most meta farewells in cinematic history. Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again" is a beautiful farewell song for Walker that perfectly underscores the final scene in which Brian and Dom drive their separate ways. It's a fantastic visual to end on and arguably the best piece of filmmaking within the film.

I'm sad to say it, but Furious 7 is a mixed bag. Convoluted plotting, over long action sequences, and excessive computer graphics hamper the film from being as tight and grounded as the previous entries. However, few franchises do "fun" as well as Fast and Furious does. Therefore, you still get some blockbuster bang for your buck despite the film's flaws. Plus, Paul Walker's farewell tribute is a must see for fans of the series. A definite recommendation for fans of the series but a hesitant recommendation for the non-Fast fans. Even though I had major problems with the film, I could see it showing up as an honorable mention for the best action films of 2015 at the end of the year.

Rating: 6/10 - Furious 7 is a flawed sequel that properly pays tribute to Paul Walker.

Franchise:
The Fast and the Furious (dir. Rob Cohen, 2001)
2 Fast 2 Furious (dir. John Singleton, 2003)
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (dir. Justin Lin, 2006)
Fast and Furious (dir. Justin Lin, 2009)
Fast Five (dir. Justin Lin, 2011)
Fast and Furious 6 (dir. Justin Lin, 2013)
Furious 7 (dir. James Wan, 2015)

Riddick: Unrated Director's Cut (2013)

Director: David Twohy

Cast: Vin Diesel, Karl Urban, Dave Bautista, Matthew Nable, Katee Sackhoff, Jordi Molla

Country: United States / United Kingdom

Rating: R 

Run Time: 119 minutes

After nearly nine years since The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), David Twohy and Vin Diesel brought Riddick back from the grave with the third live action installment of their underrated sci-fi series. Many viewers and action fans may or may not remember the Riddick series at all since its first two installments were all the way back in 2000 and 2004.

Pitch Black (2000) began the series with both a hard "R" rating, a small scale story, and a low budget. The Chronicles of Riddick on the other hand chose to be entirely unique and expanded Riddick's universe to a Dune / Star Wars level of grandiose space opera. However, due to the whopping $100 million budget, Twohy and Diesel settled for a PG-13 rating, essentially a kiss of death to action fans. The film was also unfortunately a finacial and critical flop (but not to me, I love the Unrated Cut of the film).

Now that Diesel is big box office dollars again thanks to Fast Five (2011), Riddick was allowed to return to the big screen. Twohy was smart and brought back the three most important elements of Pitch Black's success: a hard "R" rating, a small scale story, and a low budget. Read on to see if Diesel and Twohy were able to resurrect their favorite anti-hero...

"Let me just slide on by here you thank you."

Riddick finds himself stranded on yet another unfamiliar and distant planet in the aptly named Riddick. We flashback to reveal how Riddick found himself in such a mess. After taking over the Necromongers and becoming Lord Marshall at the end of Chronicles, Riddick quickly became bored with his title. He soon longed for his lost home world, Furya. Lord Vaako (Karl Urban) claims that he knows exactly where Furya is because he was apart of the campaign to overthrow the planet long ago.

After Vaako sends some of his troops with Riddick to find the planet, Riddick realizes that he has been duped. The Necromongers strand Riddick battered and scarred on a random sunny and dry planet filled with poisonous creatures, hungry dogs, and no way out. In order to escape the planet, Riddick must activate a homing beacon in order to hail a ship to come find him. However, Riddick's beacon activation brings nothing but bounty hunters.

Riddick (2013) harkens back to the small scale storytelling that Pitch Black nailed so well. Riddick ends up becoming another Pitch Black by the end when Riddick and a group of bounty hunters have to fight off hordes of hungry aliens. We just have to sit through a very long and slow second act to get to it. The film also packs the "R" rated action that left the franchise back in Chronicles. The harsh language, graphic nudity, and intense gore is amped up higher than any Riddick film before. One character's head is literally sliced in half down the middle by a machete! It doesn't get any gorier than that (until the top half of the character's head slides off to reveal their brain and tounge, ew).

Necromonger Fashion.

The absolute best thing about this film is the first act. After having fallen off of a cliff, Riddick must heal his wounds and survive the wild creatures of the planet. He soon discovers that in order to proceed towards the more habitable area of the planet he must make his way through a small crevice in a mountain. That area of the mountain however is guarded by poisonous mud creatures that look like two legged creatures with a scorpion's tale. Riddick takes his time and makes himself immune to the creatures, crafts a bone sword that he can use to decapitate them with, and hunts for food. He also befriends an alien dog and strikes up a cool friendship with the creature.

This whole survival portion of the film was just great. I wish the entire film had been like this. With little dialog and slow but efficient storytelling, David Twohy and Vin Diesel were crafting a very true to character Riddick film like no other. Once the film gets past the amazing opening flashback and this great survival act, the film goes downhill for me. But we'll get to that in a minute.

I also adore the film's gorgeous color scheme. The film uses dark blues and orangish browns to beautiful effect. The entire flashback sequence and final night time scenes look great in blue. Everything else in the film looks pretty yellow, brown, and orange. I love an action film that can find a way to distinguish its settings with varying colors. Therefore, I think that Riddick is the best looking of the three films.

Best friends forever.

The special effects in the film are also worth mentioning. If you go back and watch Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick, the CG effects are pretty weak. While they aren't "X-Men Origins: Wolverine terrible", they are pretty lousy for early 2000's films. This film finally seems to strike that perfect balance between good looking computer graphics and sweet practical designs. Whenever Riddick is battling one of the mud creatures in a close up shot, the creature is completely practical and it looks great. The CG in the film's backgrounds and for the alien dog all look great too. For a film made for only $38 million, Riddick proves that you don't need $200 million to have great effects.

Riddick is also pretty light in the action department. While Pitch Black was almost barren in terms of action, The Chronicles of Riddick proved itself to be a full blown action fest with numerous shootouts, fight scenes, and battles. Riddick saves most of its action scenes for the final fight between the humans and the mud monsters. However, the best action scenes occur early on in the film. Riddick has an exciting fight with one of the mud monsters and its the highlight of the film if you ask me. He also gets to kill a few Necromongers during the flashback. Therefore, the film has more action than Pitch Black but nowhere near as much as Chronicles.

Okay, so the film has those things going for it. But what did I not like? For starters, the second act drags the entire film down. Riddick vanishes from the film completely as numerous bounty hunters become the main focus of the film. All of these bounty hunters are boring and annoying though. They all spout groan worthy dialog like, "I don't f*** guys, but I'll f*** them up if I have too," and "You're name is...too late." I felt like all of these terrible lines and annoying bounty hunter characters would probably appeal to middle aged men who go crazy for crap like that. But not me, nope.

Side by side, Johns and Riddick.

So yes, I got really tired during the second act and completely lost interest. Therefore, by the time the characters all gather up at the end to take on some mud monsters, I simply didn't care anymore. I seem to be encountering this problem a lot lately with several action films I have seen recently such as Max Payne (2008) and Death Wish 3 (1985). It seems that many action films in general have trouble creating an engaging and successful second act. I know many films like to start big and/or end big, but I think that it's important to be exciting and thrilling throughout the entire picture and not just the bookends.

The performances in the film all range from good to bland. Vin Diesel and Karl Urban are great as their respective franchise characters. Urban only appears as Lord Vaako from Chronicles for a few minutes but his time is well spent. After three films, Diesel has made Riddick his own and I love to see him in the character. Riddick's outfit and goggles also look cooler than ever. It seems that the art department finally found a way to make Riddick look truly awesome instead of lame and muscly like in the previous films.

All of the bounty hunter performances are fairly bland. Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) can't save her character because she has to spout such horrible lines. Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) also isn't given much to do except fight Riddick at the end of the film in a short but satisfying fight. My least favorite character in the film is the lead bounty hunter named Santana (Jordi Molla). Even though he is quite evil, I think he is given far too much screen time. I just wanted to see more of Urban's Vaako character over these bland and pitiful characters.

I also want to point out that I viewed the extended cut and highly recommend it to fans. It expands the mythology with some extended scenes and ends the film on a cliffhanger instead of the lame ending the theatrical cut got. There are two additional character deaths but no major violence additions.

Until next installment...

Riddick is a pretty solid sci-fi actioner. It suffers from a slow middle act, annoying characters, and awful dialog. However, for all of the film's faults, there is still a lot to love. After nine years, it was nice to finally see Riddick return to the big screen and in glorious "R" rated action as well. I enjoy the opening act of the film with all of my heart and wish the entire film had just been a stripped down survival film. Overall, Riddick gets the job done and delivers a small but essential installment by returning Riddick to his primal and savage roots. I highly anticipate the next film because Twohy and Diesel have promised that it will be a large scale film along the lines of Chronicles. If the two can deliver an "R" rated Chronicles sized film, than I will be one happy camper.

Rating: 8/10 - Riddick makes for fun and violent sci-fi entertainment. I'll take a true science fiction film with human characters and a nice mythology over the dull CG ridden crap that Michael Bay is calling science fiction any day.

Franchise: The Chronicles of Riddick
Pitch Black (dir. David Twohy, 2000)
The Chronicles of Riddick (dir. David Twohy, 2004)
Riddick (dir. David Twohy, 2013)

Action Icon Profile: Vin Diesel

Profession: Actor/Director

Born: July 18, 1967

Birth Name: Mark Sinclair

Career Summary: Vin Diesel is an American actor who made his first big splash in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan WWII epic. He soon followed up that film with what was his first true leading action film, Pitch Black. From there, Diesel has bounced around doing all types of films, even a terrible Disney action comedy called The Pacifier that I saw in the theater! I am ashamed. His most notable roles are that of Dominic Toretto and Richard B. Riddick in the Fast and Furious and Riddick films. He'll soon be joining the Marvel Universe in a motion captured role as Groot, the talking tree. Diesel's films range from gritty R-rated violence to cheesy but enjoyable PG-13 action fare.

Personal Favorite: The Chronicles of Riddick (Director's Cut) (2004)

Films:

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Pitch Black (2000)

The Fast and the Furious (2001)

Knockaround Guys (2001)

xXx (2002)

A Man Apart (2003)

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)

Dark Fury (2004)

The Pacifier (2005)

Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

Babylon A.D. (2008)

Los Bandeleros (2009)

Fast and Furious (2009)

Fast Five (2011)

Fast and Furious 6 (2013)

Riddick (2013)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Fast and Furious 7 (2015)

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2017)