First I want to talk about baseline tolerance. You know how some people have to put on more cologne each day just so they can smell it, while the rest of us gag? That is baseline tolerance.

Now let's talk about Computer Generated Imaging: Starting with the 1973 Yul Brynner oater "Westworld" and decades later "Avatar" in 2009, we have seen so much CGI, we gag. Hollywood can't seem to smell it yet and I admit some of it is dazzling, but how about a good script? Lots of cologne can't mask a failure to bathe, nor can lots of CGI mask a lame script. Which brings me to this third installment of a third Vin Diesel franchise ("Fast and Furious" and "xXx" are two others); it has brilliant CGI but some of the dialog made me wonder how the actors kept a straight face...

Here they are:

• * Vin Diesel ("The Pacifier") is Riddick, the legendary loner who sets his own broken leg (don't ask).
• * Karl Urban ("RED") in a 30-second bait and switch. Do NOT go if you are expecting to see Mr. U. in an actual role...
• * Jordi Mollà ("Knight and Day") is Santana, the bounty hunter. To him, Riddick is worth more dead than alive.
• * Matt Nable ("Killer Elite") is Boss Johns, seeking Riddick to learn more about his son's death.
  

The story? Left for dead on a sun-baked planet, our hero fights against all odds and plots revenge. That pretty much covers it.

This has some of the best CGI work I have seen to date, the production design is wonderful, the photography is masterful, the story is basic but involving, and like other Diesel outings, includes an anti-drug bit. On the other hand, the R-rated plot is rudimentary, the comedy is crude, the fight scenes are endless, and one of the monsters eats its own entrails. Fan boys loved the action, while I admired the CGI. Yup, I said it!