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Pitch Black (Widescreen Unrated Director's Cut) Customer Reviews (52 - 54 of 69 Reviews)

Don't be afraid of the dark, be afraid of what's in the dark
With the release of The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) aka Pitch Black 2, Universal Home Video has decided to try and squeeze a bit more juice from the original film, releasing a Special Wide Screen Unrated Director's Cut edition. Is it worth it, for all of you out there who've already bought one of the numerous previous releases? I'll answer this question later.

Pitch Black (2000) was directed by David Twohy, better known to me for his writing credits, specifically the Kevin Costner suck fest Waterworld (1995). Despite that particular credit, he did write and direct The Arrival (1996), which I did enjoy, but when the hole you're trying to exhume yourself from of is Waterworld, you have a lot of digging ahead of you. The most notable star in the film is Vin Diesel as Riddick, and, while not his first film, this is probably the one that really got him and his bald head noticed by the public. The film also stars Cole Hauser as William Johns, an actor I most recall from the 1993 film Dazed and Confused and sometimes get confused with Ben Affleck, who was also in that movie. Also appearing in the film is the delicious Claudia Black, a woman that any sci-fi aficionado would recognize as Aeryn Sun from the popular Farscape television series and Keith David, popular character actor I recognize mostly from John Carpenter films like The Thing (1982) and They Live (1988).

Anyhow, the film opens on a giant ship traveling through space. We see a number of people in cryo sleep, as since we all know, space travel takes a long time, so in order to pass the extended periods of time, people must be partially frozen, like green peas, and then thawed out when needed. Well, something goes wrong with the ship, and various peoples begin popping out of cryo sleep, as the computer, who probably screwed things up in the first place, now needs people to fix matters. But there's no fixing these particular matters as the ship makes a crash landing on a pretty crummy desert-like planet. As the surviving members of the ill-fated cruise extricate themselves from the wreckage, soon begin to learn more of these individuals. There's the Skipper, Mary Ann, the Professor...wait, that's not right...ah skip it...anyway, we do get to meet Riddick, the only passenger chained and bound during cryo sleep, who manages to escape his bonds, to which Johns begins to run around looking for him.

As the others begin looking for water, a couple stay behind, one in particular to begin burying those who didn't survive the landing. As he's digging, he finds a hole, decides to stick his head inside, and poof, he's gone, leaving an awful lot of blood behind...where did he go? We see Riddick standing over the hole, to which everyone assumes he killed the man, but we learn pretty shortly afterwards that's not the case. An investigation turns up some pretty hideous (and hungry) creatures that can only venture out when the sun (or suns, as there's three of them on this world) is down. The stranded individuals eventually find water, in the form of a deserted mining camp. Also in the camp is a space skiff, a small ship capable of getting them off the planet and into space shipping lanes where they would most likely be picked up by a passing freighter. Only problem is the skiff needs power to operate, so heavy power cells from the crashed vessel must be transported to the skiff, and the distance is more than a hop, skip and a jump. Oh yeah, night is falling, causing the indigenous inhabitants to stir, and stir they do...by the millions...by the way, did I mention Riddick has some strange modification to his eyes that allow him to see in the dark? You can see where this might come in handy in the darkness of a planet inhabited by big, hungry, scary, carnivorous nocturnal creatures...

So, is this film any good? Being so inundated by B-movie flicks over the many years of my movie viewing existence, I was pleasantly surprised to find this was actually a very good film with better than average special effects. Okay, originality isn't its' strong point, but certain elements within the story makes it better than most, the key being that there is a coherent story throughout. And real, honest to goodness character development, to the point where I became unsure who was actually going to make it to the end of the film. The presentation of the character of Riddick, the anti-hero, was fun, and the notion of fighting evil with evil, as the tag line states seems a misrepresentation, as I really didn't see the creatures as being evil, only doing what they would normally do...the one character I found most annoying was that of Jack, given his whining and such, and sacrifices made to accommodate him. The element about the story I enjoyed most was that very little seemed to be what it appeared to be, specifically with the major characters and plot lines. Things get a bit topsy-turvy as revelations are made.

So, is it worth buying this version if you've already bought a previous DVD release of the film? Probably not...the special features included are commentaries by the director and stars Diesel and Hauser, additional commentaries by the director, the producer, and the guy in charge of the special effects, which were available on previous releases. The list of new features is listed on this website, but I found very little of them really worth my time, so if you already own a previous version (I didn't), you're not missing much. There was a free movie pass included in the DVD case, one for the new movie The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), so that's pretty sweet, give that going to the theater to see a new film has gotten so expensive.

Cookieman108

One Of My Favorite Movies...Wost Special Edition Ever
I am a huge fan of Pitch Black. This is one of the greatest reasons I purchased the special edition. Big mistake. You can save alot of money if you just buy the original on DVD. This is by far the worst "Special Edition DVD." I have ever encountered. The Bonus Features are on average about 1 minute long. The Picture quality is the same and the missing scenes are nothing you would care about missing. I can just see some big wig saying "hey let's just throw together this movie with a few commercials for the game, upcoming movie and 20 seconds of making of footage and make a quick buck off these sucker fans of ours." Even the "Encycolopedia" is an outright insult to anyone. Poorly done, this narrated encycolopedia has 3-4 concept art sketches and lasts about 20 seconds. RETARDED AND A HUGE DISSAPOINTMENT. Definately buy this movie...just not the Special Edition if you dont have to. Vin Diesel-your new game is awesome but how could you let them do this... Its like spitting in our faces.

Huge Build Up Huge Let Down But a Must See
The characters in this movie, especially Vin Diesel (Boiler Room, Shout), set the stage for a great story. The character developement and interactions are very realistic, adding a little bit of credibility to an otherwise cheesy plot. Following the characters as they unravel the rogue planet's mystery adds much needed suspense that is often missed by other similar genre movies (i.e. Supernova, Mission To Mars(uggh)). Past the 30-45 minute mark into the movie it's all climax. The character developement comes to an screeching halt as the action sequences start. These very dynamic characters start to take on the stereotypical roles as the movie starts to wrap up. The ending does somewhat redeem the latter part of the movie by throwing in one last character twist, but in my opinion it is too little too late. The main reason I recommend this movie to everyone is Vin Diesel who plays an escaped convict with exceptional(and very convenient) abilities named Riddick. His character is very well developed and extremely dynamic. His role alone makes me beg for more. Any good chef will tell you that if you serve food in small portions and the person is still hungry when they are done their mouths will water. That is exactly what Twohy does with Pitch Black. I'm going to add this movie to my collection, but unless your the kind of guy who watches Starship Troopers at least once a week, I'd probably recommend this as a rental. I personally hope to see Vin Diesel in a sequel that goes into more detail of this very elaborate life and universe Riddick is a part of. Final summary, great background and characters, poor story and follow through.

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