Unexpectedly good sci-fi.

Rating: 8/10 (24 September 2010)

"Finally found something worse than me, huh?."
I'm somewhat of a rabid Radha Mitchell fan (the woman is gorgeous and talented; she should be a much bigger star), so seeing her in a solid, gritty sci-fi/horror flick like this is a pretty good use of two hours for me.
The basic story is about a transport ship (piloted by Mitchell's character) that is forced to crash land on an unknown planet. A planet that happens to be inhabited by deadly, light- sensitive predators that come out to feast every twenty-two years when a cosmic event shields the planet from its three suns for a time. One of the passengers of the ship also happens to be a deadly, light-sensitive predator (Vin Diesel) on his way back to the maximum-security prison world that he escaped from. The rest of the crash survivors are forced to rely on Riddick because of his ability to see in the dark and his natural survival instincts, but will he ultimately help them escape, or leave them to their dark fates?
Pitch Black isn't perfect. There are a few rather large plot holes (What do the beasts do for the rest of the twenty-two years, just hang out? And what do they live off of on such a barren planet?), but nothing that really took me out of the story. Some of the characters are overly dumb, annoying, or inexplicably antagonistic, but such story devices and character archetypes come along with the genre, more often than not. The special effects and monster designs do look their age, but that can be forgiven in a movie that's more than eleven years old, and they're really not any worse than what you'd see today on the average made-for-TV sci-fi flick. On the other hand, the filmmakers did do a good job of using visual trickery to make the outback of Australia where the movie was filmed look a lot like a harsh, alien world, and on a small budget I'm assuming. So they get props for that.
As for what I liked about Pitch Black, it was a pretty entertaining ride. Mitchell was great as the flawed, conflicted pilot unceremoniously promoted to leader, and Diesel was well- suited for Riddick, who's really the main character of the movie. There are likable characters to get attached to and fear for, several tense situations (though calling the movie scary would be a stretch), and a solid amount of action.
All in all, Pitch Black was a pleasant surprise. I was more impressed with Diesel than I've been at any other movie of his that I've seen, and none of the lesser elements of the movie are significant enough to stand out much. Recommended.