Review of Pitch Black (2000) by Kendra J — 14 Dec 2009

This one was a surprise for me. Recorded on a whim by my husband, we both found ourselves enjoying this sci-fi suspense film.

The premise is that a ship full of humans in suspended animation winds up crash-landing onto a deserted planet where they find the remnants of some sort of human-run research facility. A dangerous murderer who was also on-board the ship menaces the other survivors, until he has to band together with them once they realize the true danger that lives beneath the planet.

The story works surprisingly well, and the suspenseful bits were very well done, leading to a few genuinely chilling moments. The movie suffers a bit from some less-than-impressive CGI on the part of the monsters and could have used a bit more old-school special effects help, like more use of animatronics and costuming in lieu of CGI. Apart from the CGI however, they did a good job with the general look of the picture. The gimmick of the three suns all casting a different light at different times of the day lent a very interesting and alien atmosphere to the film.

This film also didn't pull any punches when it came to dolling out death to the small band of main characters, which was a refreshing change from some films where nearly everyone seems to escape unscathed from ridiculously large amounts of peril.

I'd say that this is worth checking out for anyone who is a fan of suspense and science fiction, you probably won't be disappointed.