Pitch Black

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.

The 2000's great times for movies, the CGI is opening the possibility for new ideas, combine that with some great actors and you get Pitch Black a Great movie for the time.

The Director did a great job I could not find any mistakes so he gets a 10⭐ The actors did a nice job, maybe some improvements here and there but nothing major they get a 8⭐ The story is unique and fresh for the time with allot of focus on the surviving element and the unknown situation, maroon on a random planet with a convict on the lose is a fresh idea for the time and it gets a 9⭐ The effects are in the early stages, the CGI was just starting to make waves so from a modern standard it gets a 4⭐

This is a Sunday night movie with friends and family with some heavy popcorn and juice!!!

ENJOY!!!!

The spaceship Hunter-Gratzner crashes on a desert planet. Pilot Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell) tries to take control after the captain is killed. Bounty hunter William J. Johns (Cole Hauser) is transporting prisoner Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel). There are also holy man Abu 'Imam' al-Walid (Keith David) and his young charges, antiquities dealer Paris P. Ogilvie, runaway Jack (Rhiana Griffith), John Zeke Ezekiel and Sharon 'Shazza' Montgomery (Claudia Black). They discover that the planet's 3 suns align to have a nightfall every 22 years and creatures from below rise up to massacre every creature on the surface. They are forced to rely on the killer Riddick and his night vision.

This is great smallish sci-fi horror. Radha Mitchell does a nice Ripley. This reminds me a lot of Alien which I consider one of the greatest movies ever. It's got good desolate settings. Vin Diesel is the Man. This starts as an interesting character that turns into something great. The creature feature plus the darkness make this even better.

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.