Subject: Review: Pitch Black (2000)

From: Scott Hunt <[email-masked]>
Date: 26 Feb 2000 18:15:22 GMT

Pitch Black  (2000)

Review by Scott Hunt         Movie Hunt:
http://netdirect.net/~hunt/index.html

Rating: Good Shot  (3 out of 4 stars)

Cast: Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Keith David, Cole Hauser, Rhiana
Griffith, Claudia Black, Lewis Fitz-Gerald
Writers: David Twohy, Ken and Jim Wheat
Director: David Twohy

Pitch Black is a sheep in wolf's clothing. It is full of darkness,
danger and violence and if you buy into the marketing hype, an
unsettling and scary film going experience.

Don't be fooled.  Pitch Black is a morality play masquerading as a
scare-fest. 

It starts off with blistering intensity. A cargo spaceship crash lands
on a planet apparently leeched of life by the scorching heat of three
suns.  Among the survivors is Fry (Mitchell), the ship's pilot, who
spends the film wrestling with the fact that she tried to jettison the
other passengers in her effort to land the craft safely. There is Imam
(David), an Islamic leader whose faith in his god is tested repeatedly
throughout the film. There is a law enforcement officer in the form of
Johns (Hauser), who attacks every situation with square jawed
authoritarian zeal. And there is Riddick (Diesel), a menacing,
muscle-bound convicted murderer who's being brought back to justice by
Johns. 

The group quickly sizes up the situation and each other. Confident in
their assessment of matters, a plan is set in motion to escape their
hellish environment. Those plans are shredded by the appearance of one
of the planet's wildlife, a predatory,  sometimes winged, species that
enjoys the taste of blood and flesh. Fortunately, the creatures are
light sensitive and are forced to live in networks of catacombs under
the planet's surface. Unfortunately, the group has managed to land on
the planet moments before an eclipse is about to occur, taking away
their one protection from the monsters. The group's savior comes in the
form of Johns, whose decisive leadership looks to deliver them from
purgatory. Or does it?

Pitch Black deviates from the standard sci-fi fare by avoiding some of
the stock "escape the boogieman" conflicts  the genre typically serves
up. Just as the planet gave a false facade of lifelessness, first
appearances given by the survivors proves to be just as false. The
excitement of the film comes not from the danger posed by the creatures,
but rather from watching the shifting allegiances and emotional growth
of the characters as the planet serves as a deus ex machina of sorts to
catalyze emotional growth. 

A recurrent theme runs throughout the movie of faith, whether it be
religious or in a person, and how that powers their  motivations. I
found it telling that an accidental death occurs early on due to the
misperception of a self professed atheist. Conversely, Imam constantly
contributes any good fortune to Allah. One by one, his perceived heaven
sent blessings are taken away and crushed. Imam is forced to reassess
his faith. Another character expresses belief in god, along with a life
long hate. Yet another character makes a decision that echoes the
sentiments of Christ about selflessness and has lasting repercussions
for several of group. It is a fascinating character study hiding under
the guise of a scare flick.

Special mention should be made of Vin Diesel, who intriguingly conveys
feral menace combined with a truly mesmerizing presence. His character
could have easily slipped into a parody of the baddass killing machine,
but Twohy and Diesel add surprising depth to Riddick. They can be
excused for the two or three Shwarzenegger-like catch phrases that growl
their way out of Diesel's mouth.

The movie has its flaws that can be nitpicked. The creatures do look
derivative of the ones in Alien. The dialogue isn't the freshest at
times, reminiscent of a bad comic book. Yes, the appearance of Riddick's
vision skills are more than a little timely considering the situation.
These trappings are on the periphery of the story Twohy is really trying
to tell. Twohy may have lured you in under the pretense of scaring you
with film fabricated boogieman, but he shows the real boogieman to be
the prejudices and beliefs we use to direct decisions in our lives.