Predictable marooned-in-space entry

Rating: 5/10 (20 February 2000)

"Pitch Black" is an undistinguished entry into the "marooned in space" genre. A very mixed group of space travelers (including a psychopathic convict and a family of devout Muslims) crash land on a barren planet, only to find they are not alone. The planet is inhabited by man-eating monsters (did someone say Alien). One good thing is that the monsters are photophobic and can't come out into the light. Another good thing is that the planet has three suns and is always in light (the monsters dwell bat-like in caves). But then comes a major problem: the travelers learn that every 22 years, the planet gets thrown into a total eclipse (of all three suns no less). And guess what! This is the 22nd year! Uh-oh. This could be a neat and scary premise, but director David Twohy hasn't figured out a good way to film scenes in the dark. The monsters look like they could be terrifying, if only you could see them better. There is the predictable one-by-one reduction of main characters, but because of the darkness, you can't even be sure which character has been eliminated. None of this is helped by the awful performance of Radha Mitchell as the spaceship's tough commander (there seems to be a genre trend toward female spaceship commanders). Mitchell showed she could act in "High Art," so we will charitably assume that she was just miscast here. She seems about as tough as a val-girl at the mall. Directors seem to think that if you just take any actress and dress her in a tank top and let her curse a lot, she will turn into macho-woman. Not here. The saving asset of this movie is Vin Diesel as the mysterious psycho convict, Riddick. Diesel adds welcome depth to the character, and imbues him with an impressive Darth Vader voice. There are also hints of a back story on Riddick that seems to be more interesting than this movie. Perhaps we will find out.