Review of Pitch Black (2000) by Walker S — 05 Sep 2013

Pitch Black is one of my favorite science fiction films. It is not a masterpiece like the original Star Wars films, Aliens, Blade Runner, etc. However, I find Pitch Black a very cool and fun film that I have watched many times over. The mark of a truly good film is how many times you can watch it. Films like the Departed are good, but I would not re-watch them again. Pitch Black is a decent film and also a very entertaining movie. It has good characters especially the main character Riddick (Vin Diesel). The story is simple but effective. The effects are great as well especially considering when this was made.

The story is as follows. A transport ship is transporting a small group of people including a notorious criminal named Riddick to a space outpost called New Mecca. However, the ship crashes on a remote planet with three suns. The survivors try to find a way to get off of the planet when there is an eclipse and the planet goes completely dark. Afterwards, strange creatures that live in the dark surface and hunt them down one by one. Riddick has to lead the remaining survivors to safety.

The cast is really solid. This is the film that introduced me to Vin Diesel and made me a fan of his. The character of Riddick is badass and has a great deal of mystery surrounding him. We know he is a notorious criminal but we do not know anything else about him including what he did that made him a criminal. He also has somewhat of a superpower. He had these special eyes which allow him to see in the dark. We get more information about Riddick in the sequel to this film. Normally not knowing much about a character is a negative but in this case it makes him more fascinating. He is one of the big reasons why I love this film. The other characters are good, but without Riddick the film would not be as memorable.

The other characters are decent as well. You have Fry (Radha Mitchell) who is a junior pilot on the ship. She is the one character who goes through a character arc in this film. At the beginning she tries to kill the rest of the passengers to ensure that they survive the crash. Throughout the film she tries to make amends for that. You also have Johns (Cole Hauser) who is a police officer in charge of bringing Riddick in. He is kind of the semi-villain of the series.

You also have a priest named Imam played by Keith David. I am a fan of Keith David. He is my favorite voice actors. He voiced Spawn in Spawn the Animated Series, the Arbiter in Halo, and he has even done a number of documentaries. He does well in this film as well, though he is not given that much to do. The characters have good chemistry with each other especially Fry and Riddick. They make the film very fun to watch since the aliens themselves do not appear until the third act.

The effects are amazing too. The look of the planet is awesome. That scene in space at the beginning is also done very well. The aliens themselves look great. They look like creature I see in some anime. They really did well with the low budget that they had to work with.

Overall, Pitch Black is a fun science fiction film that is worth seeing at least once if you are a fan of the genre. It has memorable characters like Riddick, great effects, and great action when you have it. If you have not seen it and are interested I'd say give it a look.