Review of Pitch Black (2000) by Tristan J — 08 Jul 2011

I will have to remind readers of my bias for sci-fi horror again in this review. I think in this situation I feel like I am anjoying this film for the genre over the actual film. On one hand it has some stuff going for it, and a great concept, but as I said for the Cloverfield review it didn't pan out too well. I feel that Pitch Black was tryting to tell too many stories in one film (unless it's based on something I don't know about) and really overall was slightly below average. Still worth watching if like me sci-fi horror is your crack, but otherwise, meh.

The movie is about a spaceship that crashes on a desert planet with eternal sunlight. Among the survivors is Riddick, a serial killer and overall action movie badass with night vision. Soon discovered after arrival is that there is a race of subterranian monsters whom are hurt by light, but are extremely deadly in the dark. They then discover that they are around at just a precise moment in time where an eclipse creates a long night on the planet. Horror movie ensues.

The Good:

I don't know about anyone else, but I love the colour in this movie. It plays a lot with colour filters for various effects (different light sources, different coloured suns etc) and I found this to be an amazing feat. Director of Photography on Pitch Black gets a gold star and a complete kudos from me for this.

The Bad:

This movie tries to be a horror movie and action movie at the same time without succeeding in either. It tries to be a horror movie with the aliens but doesn't really have the tension and jump aspects to create fear or anxiety ing the audience. And it tries to be an action movie, but due to how dark the film needs to be it doesn't have many cool looking sequences.

The film is also trying to focus on two stories and failing to cover either one to any justice. First they are trying to sell this Riddick character and hammering his development way above everyone else fromt he very beginning. I know they wanted to make a movie series out of him, but if you wanted a riddick movie, it should have focused on him more. It also tries to tell his alien horror story at the same time, often getting distracted over which is more important. Honestly, this movie would be like 10 times cooler without Riddick and just give Riddick his own movie instead. Riddick is a cool character and the universe built is really neat, just I felt Pitch Black was being shoehorned into this continuity.

The aliens are cool, but don't have much unique about them besides their weaknesses. They aren't acid blooded or parasitic like the Xenomorphs or invisible hunters like the Predator. I think it needs something that makes it stand out amongst other alien movie monsters.

Conclusions:

I think I looked on Pitch Black fondly because I first saw it when I was 11 or 12 and anything with monsters was cool. Upon growing up I find it lack luster and unfocused.

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