best sci-fi of 2000

Rating: 6/10 (10 January 2001)

"Pitch Black" kicks right off with a pretty spectacular scene. In this scene a spaceship serving as a sort of inter-galactic subway train crash lands on a strange planet. Among the surviving passengers is a convicted mass murderer, Riddick (Vin Diesel from "Saving Private Ryan"), being transported back to prison or somewhere nasty. There's the co-captain of the ship, Fry (Rahda Mitchell from "High Art"), who finds herself in charge. There are about ten others to begin with, but that number of course is reduced to about four by the end.
The planet is very desert-like (what world of your typical sci-fi movie isn't?) Luckily (by golly, what a coincidence!) they land near a settlement now seemingly abandoned. There's also a canyon nearby filled with the bones of alien creatures. The group sets out in search of water, concerned by the presence of Riddick. But then something else starts killing people. They discover that the planet's only remaining life forms are these nasty, hammerhead shark-looking things that fly. The planet has three suns and for some reason, these creatures can't live in sunlight. Day lasts 22 years. At night, they hunt. Thing is, night lasts maybe as long as the day (a very cool concept that put a grin on my face). Oh and wouldn't you know it, after almost 22 years of daylight, these poor people crash land on the planet only a few days before the long night falls. sucks to be you I guess.
The film is actually the best sci-fi flick I've seen lately (which only demonstrates how bad the sci-fi has been this year). It's quite entertaining if you can get past how absurd it is. The trick is not to think too much when you're watching it. The script cleverly plays the personalities of the characters against each other. It plays the horror movie game of "who's the real bad guy?" for the entire length of the film as well as another old favorite, "who's going to die next?" If you just concentrate on these questions and not the story itself, which is full of holes, you'll have a good time at "Pitch Black."
Grade: C+