Pitch Black (2000)
US 109m, Colour
Director: David Twohy; Cast: Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Claudia Lee Black, Cole Hauser, Keith David, Lewis Fitz-Gerald
Pitch Black is a visually imaginative science fiction thriller which begins with the crash landing of a spacecraft on a seemingly barren planet. The survivors, which include mostly civilians, also include an extremely dangerous criminal named Riddick who escapes shortly after the crash. Despite the very real threat he poses to the other survivors, they are all forced to join forces against a common enemy in an effort to escape the planet. The film’s largely unexpected success helped launch Vin Diesel’s career and spawned a big budget sequel: The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), which lacked the originality of Pitch Black (Klaus Ming August 2011).
“Original” is right. This is a straight-ahead, eat-popcorn-by-the-handfuls film that does little more than attempt to entertain and succeed at it.
I also think that the first half of the movie is the most interesting. Once the creatures are fully revealed its not nearly as suspenseful, and pretty much turns into an action movie. Still, a lot of fun if you’re into this genre.