Pitch Black

I think Pitch Black is one of the few movies I consider to be the pinnacle of sci fi story telling. Suspense, terror, honor, aliens, survival, humanity, fear, and sacrifice, all wrapped up evenly and perfectly timed to smoothly digest in one sitting. The universal physics doesn't require explaining, you never get pulled out of the moment. The build up is perfectly done. It touches you. I think a Hitchcock lover would be proud.

This movie remains on my top 10 sci fi movies. I can immerse my self in this movie and feel deeply for every character in the brief moment they strut upon the stage.

Just watch it, even if you've seen it. Watch it again.

Exciting and interesting from the start, I have to say that while I approached this movie with at best limited expectations I came away from it pleasantly surprised. Vin Diesel is not really my cup of tea as an actor, but in fact he put on a very good performance in this futuristic sci-fi drama as Richard Riddick, a convicted murderer who's being transported to prison on a spaceship that crashlands on a strange alien world. Once there, the survivors discover that there are terrifying creatures who come out only in the dark, which at first doesn't seem much of a problem since the planet has three suns and is never dark. They then discover, though, that the planet is about to go into an eclipse, plunging it into complete darkness for an unknown length of time, and releasing the creatures to hunt them down.

Diesel's Riddick ends up as the hero of the movie, because he has surgically enhanced eyesight that allows him to see in the dark, and so he takes on the task of leading the others to safety. This movie is at times frightening, and on the odd occasion graphic, but not gratuitously so. A lot of effort was put by director David Twohy into developing the character of Riddick, and into portraying the change as the others slowly learn to trust him with their lives. I thought it slowed down a bit in the last third or so of the movie, and somehow became less interesting once the creatures were actually released by the eclipse. There seemed to be far more suspense as the survivors tried to figure out some of the mysteries of the planet and as they faced the approaching darkness. Once the darkness came, in some ways the movie became a pretty standard sci-fi monster type of movie. Still, it was a lot better than I had expected it to be. 7/10

While most movies that pit humans against horrendous extra terrestrials end up being cheap imitations of the 'Aliens' series, Pitch Black stands as a fine piece of Sci-Fi, and an excellent movie all around. Perhaps my favorite aspect of the film is the lighting. This movie beautifully employs many different colors, shades and intensities of light which set the mood and lend a unique feeling to the film itself, something different than the 'normal' movie lighting we are generally subjected to. Vin Diesel brings his character to life in an excellent manner, skillfully avoiding the routine portrayal of the hardened criminal. After all, the film is about Riddick's (Diesel's character) personal journey, so thankfully Vin doesn't drop the ball. The remainder of the cast (with the exception of the talented and gorgeous Claudia Black) were unknown to me but all turned in marvelous performances, animating the diverse characters with unique quirks and mannerisms. Pitch Black is a perfect example of making a great film with out the resources of an excessive budget. The special effects are more than adequate, but at the same time they are by no means the sole focus, as in many high budget 'blockbusters'. It's a great movie because it uses Science Fiction as a medium to tell an engaging, provoking story, rather then telling a mediocre story to use the flash of Science Fiction.

I remembered this as a tight, well made and exciting little sci-fi film, but either I've become more judgmental twenty three years ago or this just hasn't aged well. Actually, it's just the first third or that is a problem. The beginning has quite a bit of poor acting and preposterous behavior from the survivors of a crashed space ship on an unknown planet. They adjust to the monstrous crash they've just been through, which is well done, and new surroundings astoundingly rapidly. They barely seem shook up and are not remotely believable. However, it gets better and the last two thirds are still pretty exciting. I kind of remembered the final scenes, but not the actual ending, so I was a little surprised, which is always good. Bottom line, this is a pretty good sorta Grade B type movie that gave the world Vin Diesel for better or worse. There was a terrible sequel to this, with Judi Dench no less, and another that I don't think I saw. The director hasn't made a film since Riddick 13 years ago and is now making two more. This character is this guy's directing career!

Pitch Black is a survival story. It's about how to survive in an hostile, alien world against even more hostile enemies. The task gets even more difficult when the nearest enemies can be found within your own surviving group.

The plot of Pitch Black is quite usual and has been seen several times before in different variations. But what makes this movie shine above others, is it's well-written characters.

The group consists of very different people with few more interesting than the others: Jack, a boy with a secret; Fry, a pilot having hard time with her own conscience; Johns, a bounty- hunter with a drug-habit; Imam, a holy man facing the fact that God is sometimes cruel and Riddick, a convict and a murderer learning to value others, not only himself. Characters start to live in the movie. They aren't only paper like in many other movies of this genre. You start to care for the characters, especially for Riddick though that feels quite odd. He is supposed to be the bad guy. In this movie, the line between light and pitch black is very thin. All characters are familiar with both.

Other thing that works in this movie is the casting. Rarely do actors fit to their roles this well. Radha Mitchell is suitable for Fry. Cole Hauser brings the right amount of cruelness and sense of responsibility for Johns. But the most impressive work is done by Vin Diesel. He does great job as Riddick. In his hands Riddick is quite creepy, definitely very dangerous and also deep character, just as he is supposed to be.

So, how do you survive in Pitch Black? Keep your friends close and enemies even closer.