By ANGELA DAWSON
Front Row Features

Vin Diesel reprises the role of Richard Riddick, a dangerous escaped convict wanted by every bounty hunter in the known galaxy in “Riddick,” now available on DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack.

This third installment of the popular sci-fi franchise picks up with Riddick leaving his lofty post as Lord Marshal of the Necromongers at the advice of an untrustworthy colleague (Karl Urban) to find a distant planet where his people are rumored to be. When he lands on Furya, the place is full of hostile creatures that are trying to kill him. While trying to avoid becoming a meal, Riddick also has to contend with a ship of mercenaries that arrives in hopes of collecting the bounty on his head (literally) and another ship, helmed by a fellow with a personal grudge. While Riddick plays a game of cat-and-mouse with his pursuers, a deadly storm threatens to take everyone out. The question becomes who can make if off the planet alive. Jordi Molla (“Colombiana”) plays the sadistic, machete-wielding bounty hunter Santana and Matt Nable (“Killer Elite”) plays the revenge-minded Boss Johns. Rounding out the cast is Katee Sackoff, as a take-no-prisoners second-in-command to Boss Johns and Dave Bautista as Diaz, Santana’s muscled henchman.

As the producer and star of the independently financed R-rated film (written and directed by David Twohy, who wrote and directed the previous “Riddick” films), Diesel had more at stake than his reputation. He put his house up as collateral to help secure the financing for this latest action-packed sci-fi adventure. Although not a blockbuster when it was released in theaters last September, “Riddick” managed to perform adequately, taking in a cool $98 million worldwide.

With the release of the Blu-ray Combo, which comes with the DVD and Digital HD versions, home viewers will see exclusives including the unrated Director’s Cut, which includes an alternate ending, featurettes on “The World of Riddick,” “Riddickian Tech,” where the filmmakers, including the film’s expert effects team, talk about the extraordinary technologies used to create the eye-popping sci-fi elements, from the practical effects to the green screen wonders that made it possible to bring this high-intensity, futuristic thriller to the big screen. In a short film extra, called “Twohy Touch,” writer/director David Twohy explains the development of “Riddick.” Interviews and on-set footage detail Twohy’s vision and inspiration, as well as the creative collaboration between the filmmaker and Diesel that takes the cult franchise to a new level. Features on the DVD include “Vin’s Riddick,” “Meet the Mercs” and “Riddick: Blindsided,” a motion comic prequel to “Riddick” that fills in the gap since 2004’s “The Chronicles of Riddick.”

Also available through Universal Studios Home Entertainment are “Riddick: The Complete Collection,” which includes “Riddick,” “Pitch Black” and “The Chronicles of Riddick,” plus “The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury.”