A film review by Sam Floeter Copyright © 2000 Sam Floeter

Imagine, if you will, "Gilligans Island" in outer space. The island is infested with vicious, nocturnal aliens. The Professor is a black muslim, Mr. Howell is an alcoholic, The Skipper is an intergalactic mercenary, and Gilligan is a six-foot tall, musclebound mass-murderer who recently escaped from a maximum security penal facility. Sound interesting? Well, then you've only scratched the surface of writer/director David Twohy's sci-fi thriller "Pitch Black".

The movie begins with the merchant vessel "Hunter-Gratzner" hurtling through space. The passengers, a strange assortment of different personalities, are all sealed in "cryo-sleep" chambers. All unconscious. All except for one that is....Richard Riddick (Vin Diesel) a dangerously unstable convict being transported to "Slam City" prison in the custody of Officer William Johns (Cole Hauser). The craft is suddenly assaulted by a storm of miniature meteorites that vaporize the hull, killing the captain and destroying the ships navigating system. Pilot Caroyln Frye (Rhada Mitchell) and Officer Johns are awakened in the blast and manage to successfully steer the downed craft to a desert planet.

Once on the ground, they round up the survivors and make a head count, realizing that Riddick has escaped. The first act of the film spends much time introducing the personalities of the characters as they mount a manhunt across the wasteland for Riddick, who seems to elude them at every turn. At one point, they happen across a desolate village, housing a dormant spacecraft that, with a little elbow grease, could lead to potential
freedom. But the question now becomes "What happened to all the people?". In a quick scene, we discover the answer as one of the team is hungrily gobbled up by an alien hiding in a cave. The team figures out that the aliens can only thrive in the dark, so they're safe as long as they stay in daylight. Considering that the planet has three suns, that shouldn't be a problem, right?

Johns recaptures Riddick by using his unique weakness against him. Riddick has had his eyes surgically altered to allow him a killer night vision, a weapon that is extremely useful in the cavernous dark underworld of a prison city, but makes him virtually blind in the outside. On a planet with three suns that never stop shining, he's a fish out of water.

With Riddick recaptured, the team discovers an even greater problem-- a massive eclipse is coming that will blot out all the suns, casting the planet into pitch darkness, paving the way for thousands of bloodthirsty aliens to come out and play. Low on supplies and with darkness quickly rolling in, all must band together in order to survive....

"Pitch Black" follows in the footsteps of genre movies like "Aliens" and "Event Horizon" (a low budget movie that, in my opinion, has successfully pushed the envelope of sci-fi/horror within recent years). I found it to be highly entertaining and extremely original in its plot structure, however, I did not think it would rate well as a "scary movie" per se. Riddick was by far the most interesting, if not likeable character, and a silver-eyed Vin Diesel (Saving Private Ryan, The Boiler Room) helped to give the nocturnal convict a unique and menacing appeal.

My complaints about "Pitch Black" are more post-production gripes than anything, albeit there were a few cheesy one-liners here and there. Mainly, I felt that several of the more "dramatic" scenes were poorly edited and could have been pasted together a little better. Some of the running camera work could have used an artists hand also. The film has a few memorable CGI moments though, my favorite being when the darkness creeps in and thousands of winged aliens barrel into the night sky, engulfing the red face of a saturnian planet that hovers in the background. The lighting and use of cinematography is so effective in this scene that for a split second, I almost felt Achluophobia setting in. The aliens themselves remain a mystery to me, as I was given few clear shots as to what they actually looked like, (even though Riddick has a no-holds barred fisticuff fight with one of them). What I did see slightly resembled the frightening H.R. Geiger-esque creatures of the "Alien" quad-series, but lacked the aforementioneds diabolical presence.

Of course, there is always the standard issue with cardboard characters inhabiting the film. This is a common flaw with science fiction movies, as we tend to focus more on special effects rather than character development. In this aspect, Riddick is perhaps the only character with any real meat on his bones. Several actors make appearances, one of them Keith David (Clockers, There's Something About Mary) who unfortunately, in the confines of his insignificant role, isn't given a chance to show his acting talents. Although I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Diesels performance, none of the supporting roles could match his characters stage presence, and this was my biggest gripe about the overall story development. The conclusion of "Pitch Black" could have been better resolved, and although it was not a completely unsatisfing ending, it wasn't exactly what I had hoped for.

All in all, considering the diversity of Mr. Twohy's previous writing (the Kevin Costner flop 'Waterworld', 'The Arrival', 'Terminal Velocity', and the Harrison Ford blockbuster 'The Fugitive') I was pleasantly surprised with 'Pitch Black', and I had reasonably high expectations before going in. In short, I would reccommend "Pitch Black" to both science fiction fans and movie goers alike, but it's probably not the best movie to take your date to...unless, of course, she's a Vin Diesel fan.

	Running Time: 107 Min | Rated: R | US Release: February 18th | More >>

Related Links:

• Official Site
• SciFi.com: Into PB
• SciFlicks.com ---> Pitch Black
• Moviefan Online - Theatrical Preview

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