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Pitch Black
http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies/pitch_black.html

/Pitch Black/ is standard sci-fi action fare that has its moments in
terms of the visual cinematography, but the plot is mostly derivative
and uninspiring.

The film follows a simple plot: a group of space-faring voyagers are
stranded on a planet. The planet is inhabited by a race of aliens that
appear only in the dark, and go about on a killing spree feeding on
other living things that have become stranded.  The planet is
surrounded by three suns, which means constant sunlight and safety for
the stranded voyagers, but as luck would have it, they happen to have
crashed just before a total eclipse is about to occur (design or
coincidence?).

There is some tension between the people stranded on the planet, but
it is secondary to the feel of the movie itself: among the motley
crew, Fry (Radha Mitchell) is the captain who almost jettisoned the
passengers who were in cryosleep to save herself; Riddick (Vin Diesel)
is a sociopath with special talents being transported shackled; and
Inam (Keith David) a religious preacher whose primary purpose is to
inject some form of a spiritual/religious message into the film.  Of
course, they must all work together to combat the greater evil
(calling an alien species that just wants to survive "evil" is amusing
to me).

The acting is passable and the pacing is decent, if you're comfortable
with the "aliens kill off survivors until the last few manage to
triumph" story line.  The visuals are surreal and are done incredibly
well, this is what rescues /Pitch Black/. Thinking back about this
film, I feel as though I was dreaming about what I saw.  The many
views of the aliens (from looking through the killer's specialised
eyes to their complex flying patterns) are done in an excellent manner
(though the alien creatures themselves are modelled after the ones in
/Alien/, albeit with wings).

Director and writer David Twohy does a fine job in giving us a visual
glimpse of his universe, and while the plot of this film is not as
conceptually sophisticated as his previous work, /The Arrival/, it is
a great piece of eye candy to look at and enjoy on the big
screen. Worth the matinee fare.

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