You could chart a brief window of Hollywood history using only the Riddick franchise. The bizarre Vin Diesel-led sci-fi franchise has gone from low-budget slasher to opulent blockbuster and back, all in the course of just three movies. And while that alone would be reason enough to check out the trilogy of Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick, and Riddick before they leave Prime Video on April 1, the added bonus is that all three movies are actually pretty good in their own ways.The original Riddick movie, Pitch Black, felt both familiar and like a breath of fresh air when it was released in 2000. Set in a totally original sci-fi universe, the movie takes place almost entirely on a sparse desert planet, where a prison ship has crash-landed. Everyone on the ship may be at least a little dangerous, but the notorious prisoner Richard B. Riddick (Diesel), held in maximum security, is by far the scariest of the bunch. But when the surviving passengers find out that the planet gets overrun by monsters when its dark, even Riddick has to cooperate to survive.On the one hand, the inspiration from the Alien series (particularly Alien 3) is obvious the crash-landing, the mismatched group of people, and the sense of alien danger lurking around every corner. On the other, the sci-fi world around the action feels lived-in, with carefully crafted spaceship sets that feel like portals into a full-fledged franchise that the movie is too cool to fully let us in on. Meanwhile, the characters are surprisingly well drawn, particularly given their doomed fate, and the filmmaking and special effects turn the deserts of Australia into a convincing alien wasteland filled with horrifying monsters.Pitch Black feels like an almost perfect midpoint between the Hollywood of the 1990s and the Hollywood of the 2000s. Its clearly running on the indie spirit of the 90s, but with a little bit of studio money behind it. In addition to Alien 3, Pitch Black feels like a stew made from all the different kinds of sci-fi the 90s had to offer: The antihero Riddick saving the day brings out shades of T2, the haunted sets cant help but echo Event Horizon, and even the movies monsters feel evocative of Jurassic Park in their own way. The whole thing feels like pieces of movies from the previous decade cobbled together into something surprisingly fresh. But even with all these influences, its still a far cry from the money that made the 2000s sci-fi blockbuster boom happen a trend the sequel would find itself the perfect poster child for.While Pitch Black was originally intended to be more of an ensemble movie, its easy to see how Riddick became the breakout star character. He feels exceptionally well realized from the very first moments, like a pulp comic book character whos existed for decades finally getting his own film. He feels like a character with history, stories, grudges, and kills he can explain with a particularly brutal code even if the movie never even gestures at any of that. Most of this is thanks to Diesels performance, as well as the way hes shot in the film. Rather than the quiet brooding hes often done on screen, Diesels Riddick performance feels constantly on the edge of action. Hes always lurking in scenes, scanning the rooms hes in or the fears of the people around him. Diesel makes him feel like a constant threat, which is fascinating to watch.But just because Riddick is a great character, it doesnt necessarily mean the movies guaranteed a sequel (at least not until we get a little further into the 2000s, and movies like Underworld and Resident Evil start to become box-office hits). Suddenly, taking a big swing on the Riddick universe doesnt sound like such an out-there idea, and thats exactly what happened with 2004s Chronicles of Riddick.A complete and total departure from the movie that came before it, this movie is a top-to-bottom sci-fi blockbuster about Riddick taking on a space army called the Necromongers. Its got space-opera vibes, a tie-in novels worth of proper nouns, and a tremendously overcomplicated plot that feels impossible to remember even a few minutes after the credits roll. And yet, its pretty great. Diesel is still captivating as Riddick, and the prisoner-turned-hero archetype expands surprisingly well into the savior of the galaxy.Sadly for us, however, Chronicles of Riddick, and just about every other movie like it, flopped at the box office, and gave way to the superhero and franchise IP boom that Hollywoods only just starting to emerge from. Despite the previous movies flop, though, in Hollywoods eyes, Riddick was an IP, and that was all that mattered, which is exactly how Vin Diesel convinced studios to give him and series writer/director David Twohy another movie in 2013.Riddick is probably the least interesting of the three movies, but that too feels like a product of its time more than anything else. Like 2010s Predators, or any number of movies that were released in the wake of The Dark Knight, the apparent goal of Riddick was to be edgy, grounded, and realistic. So, despite the fact that Riddick fought an army of space marines in the previous entry, Riddick sends him back to a remote planet to survive hordes of aliens who want to hunt him and the people hes with. Its a sort of semi-remake of Pitch Black, but also a sequel.But Riddick succeeds where most of its contemporaries fail by virtue once again of Diesels performance, as well as Twohys direction. While Dominic Toretto may be Diesels most popular character, Richard B. Riddick is still the part he seems born to play. Its a character entirely built out of strange mannerisms, bizarre facial expressions, and a surprisingly big heart beneath an exterior that seems poised to kill everyone in the room at a moments notice. Riddick tells jokes in a way that feels dangerous to laugh at, and with 13 years experience playing the character, Diesel makes it look effortless in Riddick.Similarly, Twohy pulls out all the stops in Riddick, crafting a gorgeous movie out of a similar budget to what he made Pitch Black for more than a decade earlier. The landscapes look more alien and desolate, and the creatures Riddick and crew have to survive are far scarier than the excellently designed but terribly hard-to-see bat monsters from the first film.While its the least ambitious or unique of the three movies, Riddick does feel like it captures the soul of the series well. In other words, its exactly what youd hope for when two creatives get the chance to revive a series they love, but thought theyd never make again. In fact, it was Vin Diesels cameo in The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift that earned him the IP rights to the character and allowed Riddick to happen.And thats probably what differentiates the Riddick franchise most from nearly any other IP similar to it: Diesel and Twohy have a passionate love for the character, and more stories they want to tell about the life of Richard B. Riddick even if those stories often mirror the Hollywood trends of their era to a T.Its now been longer between Riddick entries than ever before. Dont let that fool you, though: apparently Diesel and Twohy are hard at work on another sequel. But since that movie may never come to fruition, use the last few days of these movies Prime Video availability to catch up on Riddick, the strangest blockbuster series of the century.Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick, and Riddick are streaming on Prime Video until April 1.