JLRVancouver
A crippled spaceship lands on a planet with three suns that only experiences darkness once every 22 years, things come out in the dark, and the crew must fight for survival, or die - that pretty much sums up "Pitch Black". The concept of a planet bathed in (almost) continuous light was the premise of Asimov's classic short story "Nightfall", but rather than being our own worst enemy, the "Pitch Black" planet is home to fierce, flying nocturnal carnivores. As space adventures go, this one is pretty good. The look of the glaringly illuminated desert planet is very well done and the various backgrounds (the bone filled canyon and the hollow towers for example) look great. The acting is what one would expect for this kind of movie, lots of gruff tough-guy posturing, semi-comic relief from the less-heroic characters, and the usual alien-chow that only live long enough to establish the threat. Vin Diesel's 'Riddick' character was so popular that he front-lined a couple of less-than-stellar 'sequels', but I didn't find that he was any more interesting that the rest of the main cast. Of course, the raison d'etre for this kind of film are the aliens, which, although usually only seen briefly, in the shadows, or through Riddick's enhanced eyes, are excellent. The plot does hang on some coincidences such as the crash occurring just hours before one of the rare eclipses and the abandoned geology base having an orrery (a somewhat archaic tool for an interplanetary mission) that conveniently explains the whole three-sun eclipse scenario, but those are minor problems in an otherwise pretty good story.
johnpelaro
The most difficult part of writing a review of this contrived and poorly acted film is trying to squeeze ten lines into this posting from a film so totally lacking in substance. Radha Mitchell is a very talented and stunningly beautiful actress ( check out " Everything Put Together " ), but the cast of characters and twisted ( perhaps even shopworn ) escape from the jaws of whatever plot line left me repeating " not again.... " . As might be expected when creativity falls short in developing a new ( and potentially interesting ) idea , an extremely long night as one planet eclipses another , the producers/writers resort to conflicts and weaknesses among the cast of characters to provide some substance . It doesn't work , and there's nothing you haven't seen before . Mitchell has been used all too often to provide eye candy for an attention grabbing title with little substance , much as Carol Baker during the '60s and '70s . She deserves better.....WOW ! I stretched it to 15 !
ma-cortes
This is a science fiction thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat . Exciting film packs intrigue , intense scenes , noisy action and astonishing suspense . Freak meteor storm cause a a commercial transport airship to make landing on an unknown planet . Then the spaceship and its survivors are marooned on a planet with three suns and apparently no life and where mysterious events spread across the land . The greatest danger facing our crew has been the planet's best kept secret...until now . Later on , the crew to be aware the planet is full of bloodthirsty creatures that only come out to feast at night . But then , they learn that a month-long eclipse is about to occur .Creepy and gory Sci-Fi with thrills , chills , suspense and some familiar elements . This is a pretty good as well as scary movie with violent events , intriguing incidents , starked outdoors , and chilling scenes . This is a peculiar rendition of ¨The only come out at night¨ in which some passengers , pilots , bounty hunters and prisoner discover that very nasty hunting creatures attack after dark and the planet is in for a total eclipse . Interesting screenplay from Jim Wheat , Ken Wheat and David Twohy . The film developed from David Twohy's unused idea for Alien³ (1992) , involving a space prison . The fantastic alien creatures are perfectly designed by Patrick Tatopoulos, they have three phases of evolution: 1) embryonic - little harmless Bioluminescent beings 2) youngish - which fly in flock to hunt and finally 3) adult - big gray creatures who are able to kill other members of the species to eat . Vin Diesel gives a hard-ass acting , as usual , as a convicted killer who has nothing to lose . Nice support cast such as Radha Mitchell , Cole Hauser , Claudia Black , Lewis Fitzgerald , Simon Burke , John Moore and Keith David . Thrilling and stirring musical score by Graeme Revell . Colorful cinematography by David Eggby who shows splendidly the desert landscapes from Queensland , Australia . In fact , the hot desert where they filmed was actually about 50F, they were misting water on the actors to make it appear as if they were sweating . As desert scenes filmed in the same location used for Mad Max , beyond Thunderdome (1985) .The motion picture was well written and directed by David Twohy , it had a 60 days shooting schedule. David is an expert writer and director of splendid Sci-Fi movies . As his first picture was the acceptable ¨Timescape¨ . He also wrote ¨Warlock¨, ¨Waterworld ¨, a script for ¨Alien 3¨ in 1988, but it was rejected . Back in May of 2000 , Fox Studios once inquired for his availability to write and direct "AVP: Alien vs. Predator" , but turned down the offer due to scheduling conflicts . David subsequently directed ¨Below¨, the successful ¨Pich Black¨ and its sequel ¨ The chronicles of Riddick¨ (2004) in which the wanted criminal Riddick arrives on a planet called Helion Prime, and finds himself up against an invading empire called the Necromongers, an army that plans, to convert or kill all humans in the universe , it stars : Colm Feore , Thandie Newton , Judi Dench , Alexa Davalos , Karl Urban , Linus Roache and again Keith David . Furthermore , a third installment : ¨Riddick¨ (2013) in which left for dead on a sun-scorched planet, Riddick finds himself up against an alien race of predators , it stars : Jordi Mollà , Katee Sackhoff , Dave Bautista , Matt Nable , Bokeem Woodbine , Raoul Trujillo , Conrad Pla , and , of course , Vin Diesel .
