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#606 - Pitch Black
David Twohy, 2000
A spaceship is marooned on an alien planet that is inhabited by a vicious alien species that only attacks in the dark.
Pitch Black is sort of spoiled by the presence of two cinematic follow-ups starring Vin Diesel as the goggle-wearing renegade Riddick. This does undercut the fact that the first act of the movie involves the crew and passengers of the crashed ship trying to keep track of the extremely dangerous Riddick. Of course, it's not long before Riddick and the others have to deal with a new problem - namely, that of the nocturnal winged creatures that live underneath the planet's surface and have no problem tearing any creatures that aren't like them into shreds. On a planet with three suns, this would seem to be a relatively minor problem...that is, until the planet undergoes its first total eclipse in twenty-two years and the crew must not only survive the massive swarms of aliens but also find a way off the planet. Fortunately, the odds are tempered somewhat by Riddick becoming the group's unexpected saviour thanks to his sharply-honed survival instinct and the fact that his eyes have been altered to allow him to see in the dark.
The film is a fairly unapologetic B-movie kind of deal and deserves to be treated as such. Performances are generally serviceable - Diesel's gravelly delivery and imposing stature do make him a good fit for the role of anti-hero even as he undergoes a predictable character arc, while Radha Mitchell is decent enough as a more straightforward good character and Cole Hauser makes for an appropriately weaselly love-to-hate character. Character actor extraordinaire Keith David pops up in a supporting role and his presence is always welcome. The rest of the cast is unfortunately little more than poorly-developed prey for the creatures (with the exception of the youngest and most vulnerable kid who takes a liking to Riddick) and it shows. There are plenty of holes in the concept, especially the part about a perpetually sunny planet somehow having its only known lifeform be a species of flying cave-dwelling beasts whose main weakness is light, plus the film does fall prey to a lot of familiar horror tropes after it's finally spent enough time having its first act play out like Tucker and Dale vs. Evil in space. There's a decent enough atmosphere that I would not mind going through with watching the other Riddick films, but as far as being a great standalone film Pitch Black does fall awfully short.
David Twohy, 2000
A spaceship is marooned on an alien planet that is inhabited by a vicious alien species that only attacks in the dark.
Pitch Black is sort of spoiled by the presence of two cinematic follow-ups starring Vin Diesel as the goggle-wearing renegade Riddick. This does undercut the fact that the first act of the movie involves the crew and passengers of the crashed ship trying to keep track of the extremely dangerous Riddick. Of course, it's not long before Riddick and the others have to deal with a new problem - namely, that of the nocturnal winged creatures that live underneath the planet's surface and have no problem tearing any creatures that aren't like them into shreds. On a planet with three suns, this would seem to be a relatively minor problem...that is, until the planet undergoes its first total eclipse in twenty-two years and the crew must not only survive the massive swarms of aliens but also find a way off the planet. Fortunately, the odds are tempered somewhat by Riddick becoming the group's unexpected saviour thanks to his sharply-honed survival instinct and the fact that his eyes have been altered to allow him to see in the dark.
The film is a fairly unapologetic B-movie kind of deal and deserves to be treated as such. Performances are generally serviceable - Diesel's gravelly delivery and imposing stature do make him a good fit for the role of anti-hero even as he undergoes a predictable character arc, while Radha Mitchell is decent enough as a more straightforward good character and Cole Hauser makes for an appropriately weaselly love-to-hate character. Character actor extraordinaire Keith David pops up in a supporting role and his presence is always welcome. The rest of the cast is unfortunately little more than poorly-developed prey for the creatures (with the exception of the youngest and most vulnerable kid who takes a liking to Riddick) and it shows. There are plenty of holes in the concept, especially the part about a perpetually sunny planet somehow having its only known lifeform be a species of flying cave-dwelling beasts whose main weakness is light, plus the film does fall prey to a lot of familiar horror tropes after it's finally spent enough time having its first act play out like Tucker and Dale vs. Evil in space. There's a decent enough atmosphere that I would not mind going through with watching the other Riddick films, but as far as being a great standalone film Pitch Black does fall awfully short.