The Best Sci-Fi of the year 2000

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2000)

*Minor spoilers ahead*
All I can say about this movie is WOW! this makes my third viewing of it and it is still as intense and suspenseful as the first.
I have seen Pitch Black described as formulaic. Well, it's a formula that works.
After crash landing on a deserted planet, a small group of civilians, the only remaining crewmember left alive, a Bounty Hunter, and Riddick, a convicted killer being sent back to the slam after an escape. They have to figure out how to get off the planet which has three suns in different orbits around it, so they are constantly bathed in scorching light. Adding to the complications, Riddick (excellently played by Vin Diesel) has escaped and is sneaking around the wreckage. Soon however, they find that Riddick is the least of their worries, when one of the survivors, while digging a mass grave for the dead, is dragged underground by some nightmare creatures. Through their investigations, they find that the creatures cannot be exposed to light, so they stay mainly underground, you would think that a plan to simply stay in the constant sunlight provided by the three suns would be a good idea, right?
Unfortunately, the find through use of a model of the solar system that they are within days of a total solar eclipse that happens once every 22 years, cutting them off from all the light. They work to get a rescue skiff ready for launch, but the eclipse is closer than you think. They fail to get the final component (some fuel cells) for lift-off out of the crash ship before darkness finally falls and the creatures come out.
The movie is neatly divided into two parts: Before and after the eclipse. Before the eclipse is the setting up of the characters, the psychological Riddick and Johns (the bounty hunter) play with each other. How the characters are actually human, not your typical Sci Fi archetypes.
After the eclipse, it becomes a battle for survival. Characters change into ruthless 'every-man-for-himself' types, quivering cowards, or true heroes. There is no true good guy, just an antihero and the rest trying to survive as they are picked off one by one.
The ending is surprising and terrifying at the same time, and Riddicks cries of "Not for me!" will go with you long after the final credits have rolled.
If you have the means and ability, get the unrated directors cut. it flashes out the characters a bit more, and you get a better feel for them.
One of the great Sci Fi movies. Give it a 10.