A Dark Vin Diesel Action Movie Is Streaming For Free
Vin Diesel may be a superstar right now, but one of his earliest films is streaming on Amazon Freevee. This film sees Diesel in an action and science fiction starring role.
This article is more than 2 years old
Grab a bowl of popcorn, your favorite drink, and settle in for a night of sci-fi action with Vin Diesel. The actor’s big-breakthrough film, Pitch Black, is now streaming on FreeVee where you can tune in for your next movie night. While Diesel’s name and the action genre go steering wheel in hand, it’s with the 2000 David Twohy-helmed film that he really broke out onto the scene.
In it, The Fast and the Furious franchise star led a cast made up of Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, and Keith David in a sci-fi action thriller that kept audiences everywhere on the edge of their seats. In the movie, we watch a deadly and clever criminal named Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel) as he attempts a narrow escape after his prison transport ship crashes onto a desolate planet. While things were dangerous in prison, they’re tenfold on the strange planet which is quickly discovered to be the home to a brutal alien race ready to destroy anyone who may come their way. Knowing that he can’t survive on his own, Riddick teams up with his fellow prisoners and their once captors to take on the aliens and make a push to escape the planet.
Although it was working with a smaller budget, audiences took a liking to the film which led to it receiving two follow-ups over a 13-year time span. The film currently sits on Rotten Tomatoes with a 59% critic score while audiences celebrated it with a 77%. During its global release, the film brought in well over $54 million, making it no surprise as to why it was ultimately made into a trilogy. While viewers loved the imaginative plot and space-age themes, it was Vin Diesel’s portrayal of Riddick that sent the film over the edge.
2004’s The Chronicles of Riddick, picked up after the events of Pitch Black and saw Riddick once again outrunning his captors. Of the three features, Chronicles was the highest-grossing film and boasted a cast that included some incredible names. Starring alongside Vin Diesel is Karl Urban, Judi Dench, Thandiwe Newton, Alexa Davalos, Keith David, and Colm Feore. Almost a decade later, in 2013, the third and (so far) final film in the franchise was dropped. Riddick acted as a continuation of The Chronicles of Riddick with both Diesel and Urban returning to reprise their roles. Sci-fi royalty Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, The Mandalorian) also joined the cast along with Matthew Nable, Jordi Mollà, Dave Bautista, Bokeem Woodbine, and Raoul Trujillo.
As for his life before and after the debut of Pitch Black, Vin Diesel can chalk up much of his following success to the film. Prior to the first installment in The Chronicles of Riddick trilogy, the star appeared in small parts in films like Saving Private Ryan and even held down the vocal performance as the titular character in the animated sci-fi film, The Iron Giant. While these credits, along with those the actor held in the 2000 crime thriller Boiler Room, were the building blocks of Diesel’s career, Pitch Black was what put it over the edge.
For longtime fans of the Fast and Furious franchise, they’ll know that 2001 was the year the first Fast movie came out, leading Vin Diesel to become a household name. From there, the sky has been the limit. Not only did he star in two more Riddick-based films, but he would star in high-octane flicks such as XXX, Knockaround Guys, and The Last Witchhunter as well as comedies including The Pacifier and Find Me Guilty. And then, of course, there’s his turn as everyone’s favorite Flora colossus from Planet X, Groot, in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.
Most recently, Vin Diesel’s name has been tied to the next Fast movie, Fast X. The tenth installment in the franchise will see Diesel bringing the family back together again as Dominic Toretto. All the familiar faces are back to carry on a story that’s been spread out over two decades with an ensemble cast set to include the likes of Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jordana Brewster, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang, Scott Eastwood, Michael Rooker, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, Hellen Mirren, Cardi B, Jason Momoa, Daniela Melchior, Brie Larson, Alan Ritchson, and Rita Moreno. The film is eyeing a release date of May 19, 2023.
