The most suspenseful science fiction movie since "Alien"

Rating: 10/10 (16 February 2000)

WARNING SPOILERS THROUGHOUT REVIEW!!!
I was fortunate enough to see a screening of "Pitch Black" last night, and the overall impression I left with was astonishment. Not since I saw "Alien" have I been this involved in a suspense, and it is suspense not horror, movie. It starts off quietly enough with the ubiquitous shot of the ship passing through space. A nice effect in as it's quiet, simple, not flashy and noisy (this is space you know). Vin Diesel has a narrative voiceover that introduces us to some of the other players in the movie and helps establish the tone of the movie; dark, edgy, and menacing without being directly threatening. Diesel's "Riddick" is definitely not the type that you'd ever want to cross. Most people would get nervous being in the same hemisphere, and Riddick likes that. He's a loner, a survivor and definitely not a hero. He doesn't concern himself with questions of right or wrong, but operates at a more primal level that doesn't recognize the need for social niceties. The ship is pierced by meteorites, causing catastrophic failures and forcing them into the gravity of a nearby moon. The chaos and confusion of this scene is extremely well filmed. As crewmembers fall from their chryo chambers they are confused, scared and bewildered, a palpable air of panic is established. This leads to the crash sequence being one of disorganization as nothing can stop the ship from going down. The use of the personal point of view for this scene really helps to amp up the tension.
What ensues next could easily have been the stuff of cliches, a group of survivors of different ages, sexes and backgrounds gathers around the remains of the ship and begins to assess their situation. What keeps this from becoming trite is how well the characters are created. We have Fry an inexperienced pilot who's forced into decisions she's not prepared for, Abu al-Walid a Moslem and his charges who are on pilgrimage to New Mecca, Paris a hedonistic importer/exporter, Riddick a convicted murder who escaped from maximum lockup and is so dangerous that his jailer keeps him manacled hand and foot, blind-folded and gagged, Jack a young kid who's impressed with the menacing Riddick, Johns the man charged with bringing Riddick back to the slam, and a couple of incidental characters who aren't fleshed in as well. What facts we do gather about the group are picked up on the fly as director David Twohy doesn't allow a lot of wasted time for long character explanations before he starts cranking up the suspense.
As things would go, the survivors soon come to realize that they have limited options, negligible rations and are trapped on a dessert world in orbit around three suns. The use of sepia tone during the exterior shots on the planet creates a definitely distinct look and feel to this movie. As the other suns rise the color changes and the effect is startling and eerie. They also soon realize that they aren't alone and that something nasty is hiding under the surface. This is one of the more stock moments in the movie, when one of the characters goes tunneling after one of the survivors disappears. Perhaps they stopped watching horror films in the future and don't know any better. Twohy manages to keep this pretty spooky, though, and gives us our first glance at the menace that lurks below.
The alien creatures are used extremely well in this movie, and as the moon begins to fall into an eclipse (a beautiful effect) they come up to the surface like demons erupting from hell. This forces the crash survivors to change their frame of mind from escape to survival. This is where the writing of the characters begins to really shine through. Each one is a representation of a different aspect of human nature and as the crises worsens those traits come more to the front of things. Riddick and Moslem each wrestle with issues of faith and belief, and we wonder if the allegiances of the characters are what we think they are, or even if they are who we think they are. As they literally race through the darkness trying to reach their ship one can't help make the comparison of Ripley racing through the Nostromo in "Alien" trying to reach safety; but again, Twohy is ahead of us on that one and manages to plant some nice surprises in the plot for us to find.
Whether or not they make it I'll leave for you to find out. And believe me it's worth finding out. This is a movie that I went to expecting to merely be entertained, and I was, but what I didn't expect was to be dazzled, frightened, and intrigued. Credit has to be given to the entire cast, though Diesel clearly stands out, for creating a group of people that you're interested in and root for. Some problems exist in this movie, such as their initial need for using breathing devices that quickly seem to be forgotten and disappear, but the overall style, story, character and level of suspense more than make up for any trivial faults. A highly enjoyable movie that rates a high four out of five.