Pitch Black is SCI/FI at its best

Rating: 7/10 (24 September 2000)

Science fiction movies are either so good they are instant classics or so bad it goes into the back of the shelf of Blockbuster never to be seen again. The movie Pitch Black, I believe, is a classic. It is by far a bizarre little film, but in no way is it a gory alien movie.
The story is fairly complex. In some time in the future, a passenger ship caring dozens of people causing the computer to fly it to the nearest planet that can sustain human life. The nearest planet is a hot, windy planet barren of life, or so it seems. Three suns encircle the planet creating a weird yellow effect on the camera lens. It is easy to tell the director and cinematographer had some fun with this. Through out the early part of the film, the camera has been distorted and creates the illusion that the actors are on a hot, sunny planet.
After the ship lands, only a few of the crew and passengers survive, the ships last member of the crew Fry, the antique dealer, a group of Muslim priests, the Prisoner Riddick, and Riddick's guard Johns. Riddick soon escapes. The rest of the survivors wonder the planet for water in fear that Radik will find them, and murder them. Eventually they find a human mining quarry that has been empty for twenty-two years. They soon discover that the planet goes into an eclipse every twenty-two years. Soon, the entire planet is covered in darkness, and the real fun begins.
Earlier in the movie, Riddick explains that in prison he had surgery on his eyes to allow him to see his victims in the dark. This seems a little too coincidental because once the lights go out, as they say, strange creatures start to fly out of the planet to kill them. This forces the group to keep Riddick around to help guide them to safety. I'm not a physics major, but how does a planet that only sees darkness every 50 years have aliens that any come out at night? As it turns out, light actually hurts these creatures.
Seeing this movie, I was amazed at its special effects. This is an independent movie, meaning some large production company like Warner Brothers or Universal did not pay for it, but out of someone's own pocket. This person must have had a very big pocket. The camera effects I mentioned earlier guarantee this movie a best cinematography Academy Award, or it at least deserves a nomination damn it. The acting does leave a bit to be desired, but that is not the point of this movie. This movie surprised me also with the fact that the humans fight each other more than they fight these creatures.
This has become one of my favorite science fiction movies, one that rivals the Matrix and the Terminator. I highly suggest this movie to anyone who doesn't have a weak stomach, the camera does some major shaking and quick turning. This film will make you have a new appreciation for the light. Overall, it's a fun little movie and you all should see it.
My Rating: ***1/2 out of ****