Pitch Black

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

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.

The opening scene of this movie is pretty incredible. I've seen a number of sci-fi movies with great special effects but my roommate and I looked at each other after the opening sequence and he said plainly, "sensory overload." The plot of the movie is pretty simple but the nice thing about this sci-fi movie is that it lets the audience figure out most of the technology for themselves instead of wasting time to "subtly" explain it. The creatures in this movie are also very interesting. You don't get a really good look at them until about two thirds of the way through. Overall, a very entertaining movie.

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!

A nice twist on the Alien formula, with a surprisingly good script and a great performance by Vin Diesel. Riddick is one of the most likable anti-heroes in recent memory, and in this film he's given equal doses of hero and villain. The exposition is nearly perfect, introducing all the characters very well and setting up the story adequately. It moves a little too fast after that, though, bypassing a lot of the story in favour of quick kills. Still, the visuals are solid and the direction is quite innovative - I liked the high contrast showing how bright it was on the planet. Diesel carries the movie, but Radha Mitchell is pretty solid opposite him. Some pretty nice gore scenes too. Just a pretty good creature feature.