Pitch Black
Tags: murder, cult, violence, atmospheric, flashback, action, suspenseful, sci-fi

Plot synopsis:
The space transport vessel "Hunter-Gratzner" is carrying 40 people on board in cryo-sleep (suspended animation). Debris from a comet's tail pierces the ship, waking the crew and killing the captain. The ship is knocked into the atmosphere of a nearby planet, and docking pilot Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell) tries to control the descent, but the rear-heavy craft will not stabilize. She begins jettisoning aft sections sequentially, and navigator Greg Owens (Simon Burke) realizes she intends to jettison the passenger cabin as well, saying, "I'm not gonna die for them." He stops her by blocking the airlock, but in the sliding crash landing he is impaled by a metal shaft.Carolyn apologizes to Owens, whom she assumes is dead, but he screams after she uncovers him. She orders a passenger to fetch painkillers from the medical kit, but they are missing. With Owens in terrible pain, Carolyn orders everyone out of the ship, and alone attends to him as he dies.The planet is a barren and hot desert-scape lit by three suns, promising everlasting daylight. There are 11 survivors now: Carolyn Fry, dangerous convict and experienced escaper Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel) in the custody of the armed William J. Johns (Cole Hauser), Abu "Imam" al-Walid (Keith David) and three young men he is escorting on hajj (a religious pilgrimage), antiques dealer Paris P. Ogilvie (Lewis Fitz-Gerald), stowaway teenager Jack (Rhianna Griffith), settlers John 'Zeke' Ezekiel (John Moore) and his partner Sharon 'Shazza' Montgomery (Claudia Black).As Johns explores the wrecked ship, Riddick attacks him and must be rechained. Riddick dislocates his shoulders and escapes the ship. Zeke buries the dead as the survivors send out a search party. They find gigantic skeletons, and Carolyn confesses to Johns her attempt to drop the passenger section.The find a small settlement, clearly abandoned by humans. Carolyn finds a model of the planet's solar system, and to their delight, a small shuttle spacecraft.Back at the ship, the nervous group thinks that Riddick has returned. Zeke shoots and kills a man, who turns out to have been just a passenger. As Zeke continues grave detail, he is dragged screaming into a tunnel, leaving blood everywhere. Shazza runs to the grave and finds Riddick there looking as well. A brief chase ends when Johns tears off Riddick's protective goggles, blinding him with the sun, and Shazza knocks him out.Carolyn questions the re-chained Riddick, who hints that he is no longer the group's biggest problem. As Carolyn looks at Riddick's peculiarly sensitive shiny eyes, the admiring Jack comes in and asks how to get eyes like that, since Riddick can see in the dark. Tethered by a safety line to the outside, Carolyn investigates deep inside the tunnel where Zeke disappeared, and finds his severed ankle and boot. As the planet's alien inhabitants threaten her, she attempts to escape. The group pulls her out, and then grabs her again as her tether pulls her back down into the hole.Johns decides to unchain Riddick to labor for survival, promising him freedom. Riddick says Johns should kill him instead. The group packs up some belongings and heads to the settlement, bringing along a power cell from the wreckage for testing the spacecraft, while Riddick hauls a sled. At the settlement Carolyn calculates they will need 5 more power cells to operate the small ship. Shazza offers to repair the solar-powered sandcat to carry the heavy cells.Jack shaves his head and dons a pair of goggles in emulation of his idol, Riddick. They determine that the settlement's former residents were geologists who left the planet. They try to rationalize the many items left behind, but Riddick states baldly that the former occupants are all dead. One of the young pilgrims enters a room and stirs up a nest of the aliens. Hearing his screams, the adults come and startle the flock of flying creatures who fly down into the coring shaft. They find and bury the boy's body. Shazza tries to apologize to Riddick for thinking he killed Zeke.Carolyn finds a coring sample dated 22 years ago. She returns to the solar system model and they realise that every 22 years there is a total eclipse of all three suns, plunging the planet into complete darkness.Johns insists to Carolyn they not fetch the power cells for the small ship until the last minute. He wants to prevent Riddick escaping by flying the ship, like he did for his last escape, killing the pilot. He intends to break his freedom deal with Riddick. Next, Riddick gets Carolyn alone and talks to her about his promised freedom, explains that Johns is a bounty hunter and not a cop, and hints about Johns' drug problem.Carolyn finds Johns shooting morphine into his eyeball. He insists he never said he was a cop. She looks at his stash and is angry about Owens' painful death. He shows her the wounds he received from Riddick.They see that the suns are actually going down. They ride the sandcat back to the crash site and load the power cells on it. Darkness falls suddenly, rendering the solar-powered cat useless. In the twilight they can see thousands of the aliens flying up into the sky. The passengers flee to the shelter of the ship, but Shazza and Riddick have to drop to the ground before reaching the ship due to the flying creatures. Shazza panics, and is torn in two and then carried off by the flying creatures when she tries to make a run for it. Riddick survives by laying low until the flock flies off.As they explore inside the ship, which has now become a prison for them, Riddick finds aliens inside as well. Another young pilgrim stumbles into the room, runs in fear and dies. Johns shoots an alien, and they realize that the creatures' light-aversion is due to the fact that light actually burns them.Carolyn wants to return to the shuttle in the dark, while Johns would rather wait for the suns to rise again. Carolyn points out that strategy did not work for the geologists. She decides Riddick can lead them with his night vision. Bringing as much light as possible, including glow tubes connected to a central machine on a sled, they head out.Jack drops a flashlight and leaves the sled to get it, sparking an alien attack. Jack is saved, but Ogilvie panics and crawls away, breaking the entire glow tube system. They continue on and cross their own tracks, where Riddick states he needed time to think due to a canyon ahead, and states that "the girl" is bleeding. The group is stunned to discover that "Jack" is a girl masquerading as a boy to protect herself. In the subsequent argument Johns reveals Carolyn's treachery to the passengers.As they walk ahead of the group, Johns asks Riddick to kill "Jack" to be a bloody decoy for the rest of the group. As they begin to fight, Carolyn orders the group to leave the sled. The fight continues and then the light goes out. Johns' bleeding wounds and movement draw an alien who kills him. Riddick finds the group again.He studies an alien skeleton and realizes they have a blind spot. The Imam offers to pray with Riddick, and Riddick explains that he believes in god ... and hates him. He ties the power cells together to prepare to run the gauntlet through the canyon.As they run, blue ichor drips down on them from the aliens fighting each other overhead in midair. The last boy pilgrim gets hurt, earning a bloody leg. Riddick keeps walking as if he is abandoning them, but "Jack" is attacked by an alien and Riddick turns back to save her, fighting it hand to hand. Suddenly it starts to rain, threatening what little light they have left. The last boy pilgrim is snatched by the aliens. Riddick finds a crevice for them to hide in, preserving their remaining light from the rain. He has Carolyn, "Jack" and the Imam enter, then pushes a boulder across the opening instead of entering.Jack worries aloud that Riddick is leaving them, since he has the power cells. They find glowing slugs on the cave walls, and fill their empty bottles with them to make lamps. Carolyn leaves the cave and heads for the ship, which Riddick is preparing to launch. He opens the door for her, and then tries to persuade her to get on the ship and leave with him, abandoning the Imam and "Jack". She cries, saying that she can't. As she gets on the ship, an alien calls in the background, and she flashes back to visions of the passengers on the ship. She attacks Riddick and insists they go back for "Jack" and the Imam. He holds a knife to her neck and asks if she would die for them, and she says yes.Back at the cave, the rock moves aside and Carolyn and Riddick are there to get "Jack" and the Imam. They run to the settlement, with Riddick lagging behind. An alien suddenly blocks his way between the buildings, and he sways back and forth with it, staying in its blind spot. Unfortunately, as he draws away, a second alien appears behind him and he is "visible". The others have hesitated at the ship, thinking him dead, but then they hear him yell. As Carolyn rushes towards the sound, Riddick drops down on the ground in front of her, bloody, wounded, gasping, but still clutching his knife. She tries to lift him to his feet, to get to the ship, but he is too big and heavy. She says "I said I'd die for them, not you." He is finally vertical when she is suddenly stabbed from behind by an alien, then pulled away into the air as it flies away with her. He collapses to the ground and says "Not for me," then shouts it.The Imam and "Jack" chat as Riddick turns on switches, getting the ship ready to go, powering up the engines. Surprisingly, Riddick shuts the switches back off, prompting "Jack" to beg for take off as aliens are drawn to the now-dark area, menacing the ship. He explains they can't leave without saying goodnight. He powers up the ship's engines again and they take off, the bright light and the force of the engines kill aliens all around them as they exit the atmosphere. In space, "Jack" asks what they should tell the authorities about Riddick when they are questioned. Riddick tells her they should say he died on the planet.

Review: The task gets even more difficult when the nearest enemies can be found within your own surviving group.The plot of Pitch Black is quite usual and has been seen several times before in different variations.
But what makes this movie shine above others, is it's well-written characters.The group consists of very different people with few more interesting than the others: Jack, a boy with a secret; Fry, a pilot having hard time with her own conscience; Johns, a bounty- hunter with a drug-habit; Imam, a holy man facing the fact that God is sometimes cruel and Riddick, a convict and a murderer learning to value others, not only himself.
As for the story and how it plays out, the pace is good, not too encumbered with gratuitous special effects and all that, but where it does fit, the CGI is well done and appropriate.The one really glaring technical defect in this story is how everyone just gets out and starts walking around, breathing in the air without the slightest concern for differences in the atmosphere, microbes and so on, but this is a common flaw that is often somehow glossed over in many such stories, so I can't harp on that detail too much.As for Radha Mitchell, she is smokin' hot here, not in a ridiculous or frivolous way, but as her tough, seasoned interplanetary merchant marine ship's captain character "Fry", she nails it perfectly.
I've seen a number of sci-fi movies with great special effects but my roommate and I looked at each other after the opening sequence and he said plainly, "sensory overload."  The plot of the movie is pretty simple but the nice thing about this sci-fi movie is that it lets the audience figure out most of the technology for themselves instead of wasting time to "subtly" explain it.
The actors are amazing, Radah Mitchell (High Art, Love and other..) as Fry is truly a joy to watch on screen, while Vin Diesel as Riddeck is so captivating that you are dying just to hear him speak again.The look of the movie is breath taking, the contrast of blues, yellows and oranges due to the three different suns is amazing.
I then became hooked on Farscape, in its 3rd or 4th season at the time, and found Pitch Black on cable one night around bed time - so I said "oh why not, at least it has Claudia Black in it." Soon, I recognized Keith David, and began to realize that Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell and Cole Hauser could all act (why this should surprise me, I do not know).
I just watched the film for the 3rd or 4th time, and I still love it.This is not an art film, not an independent, and its not entirely original, but where it fails to break a lot of new ground, it utterly succeeds in providing interesting, realistic characters, hard-driving action in the medium of a compelling but simple plot, and non-stop entertainment; an absolutely beautiful environment with tastefully rendered special effects.
Checking out the DVD version of Pitch Black, with the audio comments on might just blow you away.The film is about the crew of an inter-system transport ship stranded on an unknown planet after a crash-landing in which their captain was killed.
The CGI and effects serve the plot, and not the other way around.The critters are fantastic (although I have to wonder what they eat when there are no hoomins around).As with all films like this, there are a couple of troubling plot holes, but far fewer per running foot of celluloid than the average George Lucas movie, and far, far fewer than average.
They conclude that it is not with Riddick that they have to be worried about.After sixteen years, "Pitch Black" is still a great B-movie that may be considered a new-classic in the present days.
"Pitch Black" brought the attention of the audiences to Vin Diesel in his first success; Radha Mitchell, from "Everything Put Together" of the same year, is perfect in the role of Carolyn Fry; and the always efficient Cole Hauser and Keith David have also great performances.
Now all that being said no film is without flaws and if you have watched enough sci fi or horror then the 'plot twist' at the end was lined up for us from the beginning but I for one didn't care in that I fell hook line and sinker for Riddick and wanted to find out what he would and wouldn't do and it was such a delicious way to get there.
A crippled spaceship lands on a planet with three suns that only experiences darkness once every 22 years, things come out in the dark, and the crew must fight for survival, or die - that pretty much sums up "Pitch Black".
The acting is what one would expect for this kind of movie, lots of gruff tough-guy posturing, semi-comic relief from the less-heroic characters, and the usual alien-chow that only live long enough to establish the threat.
Vin Diesel's 'Riddick' character was so popular that he front-lined a couple of less-than-stellar 'sequels', but I didn't find that he was any more interesting that the rest of the main cast.
A nice twist on the Alien formula, with a surprisingly good script and a great performance by Vin Diesel.
Vin Diesel brought the Riddick character to life and made you feel good and bad about him on different levels.I also saw Iron Giant and Vin is perfect.
Relatively simple as the premise may be, it is undeniably effective with the film's best moments coming from the crew and passengers scurrying about in fear of Vin Diesel's killer, accidentally shooting one another in the process.
Then there is the amazing coincidence of the characters crash landing just before the planet is about to plunge into several days of complete darkness - but this is a pretty decent film when one focuses on trust/mistrust themes and the portrait of diverse individuals all banded together in the name of a common goal to survive.
Diesel is very good too in the role that really kick-started his career; he has an awesome line towards the end about saying good night, and with his blacked-out contact lenses and designer goggles, his character leaves an indelible impression that lasts long after the movie has ended..
Seriously, I can't remember any others and I can only remember Babel because it was so boring and bad, and I watched it, which is time I cannot get back.This movie only has one flaw that I will not mention, because lefties will have a fit, but other than that, enjoy and appreciate this fine film..
Vin Diesel is not really my cup of tea as an actor, but in fact he put on a very good performance in this futuristic sci-fi drama as Richard Riddick, a convicted murderer who's being transported to prison on a spaceship that crashlands on a strange alien world.
They then discover, though, that the planet is about to go into an eclipse, plunging it into complete darkness for an unknown length of time, and releasing the creatures to hunt them down.Diesel's Riddick ends up as the hero of the movie, because he has surgically enhanced eyesight that allows him to see in the dark, and so he takes on the task of leading the others to safety.
The cutting in the movie is very good and emphasizes the mystique that shrouds around the anti-hero and male protagonist: "Riddick." The story in Pitch Black is, as already mentioned, to some extent very unoriginal and dissatisfied, but the clipping and cutting in the movie blended with some surprising elements which has been added to the story helps it to still support itself very well and one is afterward left behind with a hybrid feeling of satisfaction and hunger for more.
Vin Diesel acts really well in the role as Riddick and even though his character is a hardcore, tough survivor he still takes morale decisions almost on the verge of good, but that does not mean his decisions do not turn in his favor at the very end...
It could maybe be described as a cult movie and it is definitely a recommendation for people who wants a spiced up sci-fi story blended with some minor psychological moments and an intriguing protagonist, namely Riddick..
I went into the theater thinking that this movies would be another cheezy sci-fi film in the mould of ALIEN with 3rd rate actors.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
I don't say surprisingly because I don't like SF movies; more because cheap SF movies tend to be kind of bad -- and they certainly never challenge social norms.But then comes Pitch Black: four Muslim characters who are not terrorists (I'm looking at you, True Lies, and any season of 24), plus, and this is the biggie, a movie that acknowledges that women menstruate!
I'm only human.Anyhoo, I'm sure that there are people who will compare this movie to Alien, but really, it's completely different, and it's well worth seeing if you enjoy the SF thriller genre, or, indeed, if you just enjoy your basic thriller that's well paced, has hot guys, chicks who kick arse.One small criticism: I felt that it was a little bit anti-Australian.
Its easy to call Pitch Black a dumb movie, because of the terrible sequels and the quick pace of the film.
When I first saw "Pitch Black" about seven years ago I didn't know what to think of it, I thought it was a very good Sci-Fi horror flick and that was pretty much it, But now seeing it again I has a whole new meaning.
But if you can over look that this Vin Diesel vehicle is pretty good.Pitch Black offers you a new insight to the creature feature genre.
While action at its core, with Vin Diesel as Riddick (as Bruce Willis was to John McClane, Ah-nold Schwarzenegger was to the Terminator, Sylvester Stallone was to Rambo, and (more notably) as Sigourney Weaver was to Ellen Ripley), this movie somehow take a generic spin on SCIFI and make it incredibly captivating.While I thought the beginning was kind of slow to start and a little "meh" considering the writers threw in Muslim stereotypes and other generic spaceship cadets, with Riddick being the only one who stood out as the more interesting one out of the bunch, that all changes 15 minutes into the film.
Johns), Keith David (Abu al-Walid), and Rhiana Griffith (Jackie) are the ones I grew to like over the course of the movie.The acting is not particularly strong thanks to the weak performances given by supporting cast members like Radha Mitchell (who's current claim to fame among fans is 'Rose Da Silva' in the 2006 Silent Hill movie) while Vin seems to come out okay and pop out the occasional 'one-liner' joke when he's not trying to be the "cold-as-steel" badass.One of the things that I liked were the different hues used to portray the different parts of the world (which is inhibited by three different suns).
But if you're going to copy a film, then copying one known for it's atmosphere of claustrophobic tension is not such a bad idea, and there's a lot of original detail in 'Pitch Black' as well, some of it good, other bits less so.
For example, the central idea is of a spaceship crashing on planet bathed in near-permanent light, thanks to three suns; but on which, like a desert in the rain, all sorts of things come alive when (every twenty years or so) there's a solar eclipse.
As for the characterisation, the dynamics of a group whose members have their own selfish agendas are well portrayed, but the film lets itself down by making clear its sympathies for two crew members over the others, especially as the two characters it favours are essentially the least believable: vin Diesel's super-criminal Riddick, and the unlikely babelicious ship's commander, played by Radha Mitchell.
Riddick's eyes could help the survivors, because he could see the dark and he could guide them through the darkness.Directed by David Twohy (The Arrival, Below, Disaster in Time) made a fascinating Sci-Fi/Horror/Action/Thriller that is nicely filmed by cinematographer:David Eggby (Mad Max).
Good Performances by Diesel, Mitchell, Hauser and Keith David (Who is no stranger to science fiction films like Armaggedon, They Live and The Thing-1982).DVD has an terrific anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer and an superb-Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound (Also in DTS).
I think that most people are better than that and it's time that movie makers recognised the f*ing fact!What the film really did have going for it - which impressed me very much - were three things.Firstly, it relied on the age old rule that what you *dont* see frightens you most.Secondly, the use of light (before the eclipse!) gave a more alien look to the planet than anything I have ever seen before.
Let me be specific why i called that disappointing movie because its story is quite boring n plain with no twist at-all.it could be ignored as there are many films with simple plot.but id film is carry star names like Vin Diesel etc then u expect a bit more.few people are stranded at some new planet after crash and only there hope is to escape through space craft abandoned by some early settlers.the alien predator are same like we have seen in some "crash and survive" type of alien movies.scenes were pretty bad directed some times.it does not have any interesting element.quite boring concept "person with no faith + person with faith" was repeated again.so if you guys are Sci-Fi fans you will be very very disappointed from this.so i will recommend you to avoid if you have some other option..
Very good special effects, decent sound an interesting Alien-ripoff sci-fi/horror story are the good points of this movie.
THIS MOVIE WAS ONE OF THE WORST I HAVE SEEN FOR A LONG TIME I LEFT HALF - WAY THROUGH AS IT WAS JUST SO TIRESOME.WHOEVER TOLD VIN DIESEL THAT HE COULD ACT WERE LYING.The film was slow and did not keep me interested at all.I very much enjoy Sci-fi films but this was not one of them and it shouldn't even be getting a 1 out of ten but a minus 10.
The crew's only hope of survival is one of the passengers  a dangerous murderer with the ability to see in the dark.This film has the reputation as being Vin Diesel's breakthrough movie and I therefore expected it to be pretty good.
There are some exciting moments in the second half and the film manages to be enjoyable without being that good.I understood that Riddick can see in the dark, but didn't get why (at the start) he was walking round in daylight and the characters seemed unable to see him.
Bad bad bad.Wannabe Alien-like movie with wannabe sci-fi action, and a wannabe Schwarzenegger/Stallone #2 - Vin Diesel - who absolutely can't act to save his life.
The actors are all rock solid -- Vin Diesel's "Riddick" is by far the coolest movie character since Neo or Darth Maul.
Cheesy being what so many sci-fi movies have come to be.Up-and-coming Vin Diesel as Riddick quietly steals the scene.
Rated R for violence and gore, and language, this film is collectible for Vin Diesel fans and anyone who likes good science fiction..
I say this, because, the sun that shines is so hot that it will eat at your skin and the horrific pterodactyl/hammerhead like creatures will gobble you up at night.Good lord!The first time I watched Pitch Black I was so afraid, I couldn't turn the light off in my bedroom.
There's more to the story, mostly to do with the character of Riddick played by Vin Diesel, but I'm not interested in writing about that at the moment.
I think also the other film of Vin in this category is a must see for everyone who likes movies of this genre.
Riddick), who has shining eyes that allow him to see in the dark, has just been captured by a small group of bounty hunters.the ship crashes onto a desert planet that seems to have no life, no water and oddly...three suns.not all of the acting is A grade but that is not enough to spoil the movie.they find out something strange that happens every 22 years that to their horror could just mean the end of their lives.so people find this movie has too many coincidences but i reckon thats what makes this movie great entertainment..
Really good science fiction film made better by the character Riddick..
But the star of "Pitch Black" is undoubtedly Vin Diesel as Riddick, an escaped prisoner that the rest of the crash survivors rightfully fear.
Considering the amount of dreadful monster films that have come out in recent times, the grittiness, setting and Riddick make this movie a complete success.