Good directing and a great anti-hero keeps "Pitch Black" out of sci-fi cellar

Rating: 5/10 (5 October 2008)

Science-fiction films can be some of the most entertaining and intelligent films ever made and they can also be the cheesiest. "Pitch Black" falls somewhere in between, caught between the desire for alien horror flick entertainment and an intriguing concept for suspense and drama.
Basically a group of space travelers awake from hypersleep to find their ship crashing. Their captain, Fry (Mitchell) manages to land them without killing them all on an unknown planet with perpetual sunlight. Man-eating aliens inhabit the underground though they are afraid of light, which isn't a problem until the travelers realize they will witness a total eclipse before they can repair a ship to escape on. They've also got a convict named Riddick (Diesel) as cargo.
Riddick makes this film, in honesty. Everyone loves a good anti-hero, a guy with a bad rep that lays a beating on everyone and uses others' prejudices about him against them to look really clever. Oh, and a dude with night vision. Diesel gives Riddick the on-screen command his character requires. He comes off as brutish, but somewhat trustworthy. It's strange, but it really works.
The rest of the characters aren't so great. Mitchell is a pretty good protagonist, but Cole Hauser, who plays Johns, the arrogant cop, acts like he's intentionally trying to be a poor man's Josh Lucas or Matthew McCoughnahey. It also doesn't help that the characters are under-developed, including Riddick, though that adds to his character in ways despite us wanting to know his past.
The concept for this movie is cool, the way it goes from light in the first half to complete darkness in the second and the way that transition corresponds with our thoughts about Riddick is interesting. The plot, in general, is pretty lousy. For some reason, the writers opted to go with the disaster/horror movies formula of the 90s--kill off one person from the group at a time so only the characters that are well-received survive. Yes, there's that and the "get the fuel back to the ship on time and don't leave anyone behind so we can escape" cliché.
David Twohy really saves the plot in those regards by keeping things interesting. He does some interesting shots that involve a lot of quick, simultaneous cuts and close ups--a more radical style that definitely works for sci-fi. In general, the color palette is very carefully chosen with the light and dark contrast and overall the special effects were very satisfactory for 2000
"Pitch Black" is not a consummate suspense or sci-fi thriller, but it does keep you interested enough to want to know more about Riddick or what else the imagination of "Pitch Black" has drafted. Basically, what could have ended up really "b-movie-esque" and terribly cliché and awful ends up solid thanks to some good decisions by Twohy.