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Pitch Black (Widescreen Unrated Director's Cut) Customer Reviews (22 - 24 of 69 Reviews)

IN THE BEGINNING....
IN THE BEGINNING IT WAS KIND OF SLOW, BUT THEN THE ACTION PICKED UP TOWARDS THE END. I LIKED IT ANYWAY, VIN DIESEL IS SOO HOT IN THIS MOVIE, AND IN CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK TOO.

As Good or Better than Chronicles of Riddick!
I saw the "Chronicles of Riddick" before this movie, and that may be a reason I liked Pitch Black better, because I had an idae of who he was. Anyone else might have found PB somewhat vague on Riddick's character, but I think that's the idea of the series: he's a creepy murderer (his crimes left up to your imagination), and we're only supposed to see his redemption over the course of the entire Chronicles (Vin Diesel said there would be 2 more sequels after the Chronicles of Riddick!). This is a pretty good movie, that has next to no B-movie moments except a few (diminutive) plot holes. Vin Diesel is awesome as Riddick, Radha Mitchell played her complex character very well (she was the only somewhat noble character in this movie, despite what she tried to do at the beginning), Hauser played a good loser/jerk, Jack was pretty funny, but I'm afraid the Muslims were nothing more than dog food and some "deep" philosophical crap that had misgivings about who God really was.
Here's the basic plot: a crew journeys space in cryo-sleep (suspended animation), housing some travelers, a cop, an a dangerous convict who is locked up and blindfolded. When their ship is hit by a meteor shower (the meteors are baseball-sized, go figure), the ship comes apart and crashes on a dried up desert-like planet with three suns. They come upon a civilization that was wiped out by...something. One of the crew members (an overtly expendable Aussie at first sight) gets sucked underground by..something, and our stranded characters (Fry the pilot, Johns the cop, Paris something or another the British archeologist, the aforementioned Aussie, the boy Jack, a British/Australian woman who something of a mystery as to why she's on the ship in the first place, and Richard B. Riddick, the convict who broke his chains and has eyes with a mysterious power) find that they are not as alone as once they thought. I won't go into the plot anymore, as I want you to find out the twists for yourself if you watch it.
Overall, it captured the essence of Riddick (or is that old, bad Riddick we never saw much of?) as gritty, dirty, and slightly sadistic. This is a solid movie, with good acting, no problems there. The "something else" I spoke of, yes, they're aliens (only "spoiler", as if everyone else hadn't told you). In the words of about fifty trillion other reviews, they bear similarities to hammerhead sharks (hammer-like bone protusions on its face, is attracted to blood, and has fin thingies), pterodactyls (on account of their wings) and bats (they use a sonar to "see"). The overall look of the aliens in Pitch Black bear little to no resemblance to those of Alien, except for the broad face and no eyes.
Overall, a really fun movie which was a little subdued in terms of fright factor, although there are some typical gross offages of various worthless cast members. However, the movie was not supposed to be a fantastic special-effects ride (like I sorta perceived the Chronicles of Riddick to be), but an insight into how Riddick and the core characters (Fry, Jack, Imam, and Johns) reacted to each other and sets the surviving characters up for the sequels, which gets into the meat of the Chronicles of Riddick. No sex scenes, but loads of cussing, so parents might want to take that into consideration. Definitely worth watching (I'm buying it), at least if you're interested in the toal history of Riddick. Good movie!

Richard B. Riddick, escaped convict, murderer.
Pitch Black begins with a spaceship carrying 40 people, mostly civilians traveling between planets. A meteor shower hits the ship killing the captain and forcing a crash landing on a distant planet. The crash kills all but a dozen of the passengers. The survivors, led by the second-in-command Carolyn Fry (Rahda Mitchell), find themselves on a planet with humid landscape, constant sunlight due to three orbiting suns, and a lack of water. Fry not only must help the survivors find food and water, but contend with a deadly criminal, Riddick (Vin Diesel), who is being transported to a prison cell, and guarded by a bounty hunter named William J. Johns (Cole Hauser). Every 22 years, the planets align and the three suns go into a total eclipse. Darkness brings out the planet's alien inhabitants. The aliens are flying scavengers, who eat anything that moves, including each other. The passengers must decide if it is safe to trust Riddick, who is the only person who can see in the dark and lead them to safety and off the planet.

"Did you run away from your parents, or did they run away from you?"

David Twohy (The Chronicles of Riddick, writer of: G.I. Jane, Waterworld, The Fugitive, Warlock and Critters 2) directs Pitch Black. He does a fabulous job with the special effects, and story line. The audience is interested in what is going to happen next, despite the story being strait line. Pitch Black excels in character development. Within the first half an hour you have a strong felling for each character and their personality. Twohy does a very good job with his cast, and develops Riddick marvelously. Remember, this is the film that launched Diesel, and he hasn't matched this performance in a movie since.

"It ain't me you got to worry about."

As mentioned above the story is nothing to write home about. A cargo ship crashes on a planet, needs to find a way off, and discovers an abandoned mining camp that happens to have an escape pod waiting for them. Since the story is so strait line, Twohy relies on an upcoming star, Vin Diesel to carry the film, and he does. He is one bad S.O.B. to start the film, and develops and matures as a character as the movie progresses. As stated above, this is Diesels best work, and an underrated gem.

"I'd rather piss glass."

Pitch Black is a must have DVD for all Sci-Fi fans. The character development for this type of movie is first rate. It is almost two hours long, allowing development of characters and story line. Twohy did an excellent job of producing a great movie with no major stars (at the time), probably a middle of the pack budget, and a dash of creativity. At least rent Pitch Black, and come to your own conclusion. Very entertaining, and deserves a solid viewing.

"I want you to remember this moment.


Grade: A-

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