Review of Pitch Black (2000) by Michael Y — 08 Oct 2011

The back then rising star, Vin Diesel, finally gets the jumpstart he needed in Pitch Black to become a genre and cult favourite. And Pitch Black isn't a bad movie either.

A ship carrying crew, civilians, a cop and a HIGHLY DANGEROUS murderer crash land on a remote planet. Loosing most of the travelers, the remaining survivors try to find a way to survive. ESPECIALLY when the murderer is one of the survivors who ESCAPES. But when the survivors will encounter a horror even more threatening than the murderer. Pitch Black succeeds as a great sci-fi thriller because it is an original and well told story. The most interesting character being Vin Diesel's serial killer character, Richard B. Riddick. Riddick is an animal with the pure instinct and ability to survive. But can a murderous criminal have a heart? That's what we'll find out. Pitch Black isn't just a creature feature or an action movie, it has likeable characters, an intriguing plot, and tells its themes of humanity, honor and duty in a way you wouldn't expect.

David Twohy gets his big break in directing this stylish and big budget movie. And he does direct it with style. Instead of instinctivly making this story a flat-out action thriller like others might, Twohy paces this new and creative story and lets us savour the calm before the storm. We're given a taste of mystery and suspence on the 3 suned planet for the first half of the movie, then with the mix of the creature feature element we are given a more survival and thrills as the characters learn to work together. This interesting direction on the story gives way for a lot of memorable scenes. Some awesome and paced with thrills and gore, and some scenes that are surprisingly dramatic as well. The cinematography is to thank for that as well. The camera angles and shots are great, but what I'm most interested in is the lighting. The desert shooting area is great, but with the CGI planets and 3 suns, the blinding lighting contains 3 distinctive colours which I find pretty cool. The details to sets and other props is very well done, and the CGI is pretty good. And I love the music score by Graeme Revell.

Take it as average of not your cup of tea, but for me who has seen many different sci-fi movies, Pitch Black is not only original, and is not only awesome because it has Vin Diesel, but it is creatively crafted, well directed, and gives the combined genre or action and sci-fi a refreshing twist that I sure can enjoy watching many times.