Review of Pitch Black (2000) by Stuart K — 28 Apr 2014

Written and directed by David Twohy (screenwriter of The Fugitive (1993), Terminal Velocity (1994) and Waterworld (1995)), this sci-fi thriller was made for $23 million and shot in Queensland and South Australia.

This manages to be very effective, even if it does tick the boxes of sci-fi films like this and it has a very simple plot, but it manages to be very effective, and it's got a good central idea at it's core.

Set in the distant future, the spaceship Hunter-Gratzner is travelling on autopilot, when it's hit by a comet, and it crash lands on the nearest planet. Hunter-Gratzner's captain Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell) survives with other passengers, including Muslim Imam (Keith David), Jack (Rhiana Griffith), supposed cop William J.

Johns (Cole Hauser) and convicted criminal Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel). The group explore the planet, and they discover it is kept in a state of perpetual daylight, by 3 suns. After finding an abandoned research facility, they use supplies from there to try and survives, but then the suns set, unleashing a terrible evil on the group, and Riddick might be their only hope.

It's a good piece of sci-fi hokum, and although you'll have seen this sort of thing done before years ago, it feels fresh. It would spawn 2 sequels, The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) and Riddick (2013), both not as good as the low-budget original, which keeps things tight and to the point.