A nice low-key science fiction

Rating: 7/10 (19 November 2004)

Pitch Black was the inauspicious ramp into public consciousness for both director David Twohy and star Vin Deisel. Although nobody knew who they were before Pitch Black, nobody who paid attention during the credits would forget later. Twohy has since gone on to direct several B-level features along similar lines, whilst Vin Deisel has gone on to appear in a number of upstart action franchises, for good or ill. Indeed, one of the features planned for next year is called Hannibal. What the hell, it cannot be any worse than the last film I saw that was called Hannibal.
In this rather strangely-plotted piece, Deisel portrays what appears to be a vicious criminal. It's only after we're introduced to the rest of the cast that we discover there is more than meets the eye. Once Riddick is introduced, we are given a shallow, but curiously engaging Aliens-style premise. The use of bleach bypass in order to make the desert of Coober Pedy look like an alien world was a master stroke. Indeed, Deisel aside, the real star here is the cinematography.
Keith David gets an underdeveloped, underutilised turn as a Muslim cleric who, in spite of having three tenths of nothing to say, is strangely sympathetic. As tragedy befalls him, his dialogues about faith and belief with Riddick give the whole affair an ironic undertone that is strangely enjoyable in spite of being at times a little too confronting. Don't bother looking for other big names in this feature, however. I think they must have pillaged every location they shot in to find people who will play the (very) minor characters. Their artificiality makes it clear that they are from the Antipodes, and they won't be working in much else any time soon.
According to the trivia entries, Pitch Black was shot in the same desert as Mad Max. This doesn't seem right, given that Mad Max was short in locations to the North of Melbourne. Mad Max 2 was shot in a place called Broken Hill, a bit of a ways away from Coober Pedy. In fact, no Mad Max film has ever shot in a Queensland location, and the only possibility would be Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome being shot in Coober Pedy, which still makes this statement a little inaccurate (apparently more shooting on Mad Max 3 took place in New South Wales than South Australia, where Coober Pedy is).
Nonetheless, this film shows a clear reason why many productions are going to Australia rather than shooting in America or England. For one thing, in spite of all the horrid things I say about them, when an Australian in the film industry tells you they're going to keep quiet about your production, they mean it. George Lucas shifted production of his last and about-to-be-released Star Wars films to Australia for this very reason.
Another advantage of working in Australia, locations notwithstanding, is efficiency. An Australian crew can be trusted to get things done without delays or labour disputes, provided you don't abuse them. That shooting Pitch Black only took sixty days should convince one of this fact when they consider that films like this can often take twice as long. The film's estimated budget of a mere twenty-three million is also a mild shock when the opposed impressions of the shooting location and the strangely elaborate special effects are taken into account.
I gave Pitch Black a seven out of ten. It's not a classic, and it may not even be remembered in another ten years, but it is entertaining enough to watch a few times. This is an excellent example of how sometimes the smaller budgets produce better films. I'm glad I took the time to see it theatrically.