TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: pitch black is a sheep in wolf 's clothing .
it is full of darkness , danger and violence and if you buy into the marketing hype , an unsettling and scary film going experience .
do n't be fooled .
pitch black is a morality play masquerading as a scare - fest .
it starts off with blistering intensity .
a cargo spaceship crash lands on a planet apparently leeched of life by the scorching heat of three suns .
among the survivors is fry ( mitchell ) , the ship 's pilot , who spends the film wrestling with the fact that she tried to jettison the other passengers in her effort to land the craft safely .
there is imam ( david ) , an islamic leader whose faith in his god is tested repeatedly throughout the film .
there is a law enforcement officer in the form of johns ( hauser ) , who attacks every situation with square jawed authoritarian zeal .
and there is riddick ( diesel ) , a menacing , muscle - bound convicted murderer who 's being brought back to justice by johns .
the group quickly sizes up the situation and each other .
confident in their assessment of matters , a plan is set in motion to escape their hellish environment .
those plans are shredded by the appearance of one of the planet 's wildlife , a predatory , sometimes winged , species that enjoys the taste of blood and flesh .
fortunately , the creatures are light sensitive and are forced to live in networks of catacombs under the planet 's surface .
unfortunately , the group has managed to land on the planet moments before an eclipse is about to occur , taking away their one protection from the monsters .
the group 's savior comes in the form of johns , whose decisive leadership looks to deliver them from purgatory .
or does it ?
pitch black deviates from the standard sci - fi fare by avoiding some of the stock " escape the boogieman " conflicts the genre typically serves up .
just as the planet gave a false facade of lifelessness , first appearances given by the survivors proves to be just as false .
the excitement of the film comes not from the danger posed by the creatures , but rather from watching the shifting allegiances and emotional growth of the characters as the planet serves as a deus ex machina of sorts to catalyze emotional growth .
a recurrent theme runs throughout the movie of faith , whether it be religious or in a person , and how that powers their motivations .
i found it telling that an accidental death occurs early on due to the misperception of a self professed atheist .
conversely , imam constantly contributes any good fortune to allah .
one by one , his perceived heaven sent blessings are taken away and crushed .
imam is forced to reassess his faith .
another character expresses belief in god , along with a life long hate .
yet another character makes a decision that echoes the sentiments of christ about selflessness and has lasting repercussions for several of group .
it is a fascinating character study hiding under the guise of a scare flick .
special mention should be made of vin diesel , who intriguingly conveys feral menace combined with a truly mesmerizing presence .
his character could have easily slipped into a parody of the baddass killing machine , but twohy and diesel add surprising depth to riddick .
they can be excused for the two or three shwarzenegger - like catch phrases that growl their way out of diesel 's mouth .
the movie has its flaws that can be nitpicked .
the creatures do look derivative of the ones in alien .
the dialogue is n't the freshest at times , reminiscent of a bad comic book .
yes , the appearance of riddick 's vision skills are more than a little timely considering the situation .
these trappings are on the periphery of the story twohy is really trying to tell .
twohy may have lured you in under the pretense of scaring you with film fabricated boogieman , but he shows the real boogieman to be the prejudices and beliefs we use to direct decisions in our lives .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: it 's now the anniversary of the slayings of julie james ' ( jennifer love hewitt ) best friends .
still besieged by nightmarish memories of the man responsible for it all , she seems to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown .
she ca n't concentrate on her schoolwork , ca n't get a good night 's sleep , and is even frightened by the shadows and the blinking strobe lights at a local dance club .
everywhere she looks , she sees visions of the man in a rubber slicker with the hook on his hand .
in the first movie , ` i know what you did last summer ' , julie and three of her friends accidentally kill a man , running him down while driving down a dark mountain highway .
to cover their misdeed , they dump the body into the ocean .
however , he never quite died and returned to hunt down julie and her friends .
julie and one other , ray ( freddie prinze jr . ) , survived only to make this dismal sequal .
needing some desparate rest and relaxation , she is elated to learn that her college roommate , karla ( brandy ) , has won a trip for four to a secluded tropical island .
accompanying these two girls are karla 's overbearing boyfriend , tyrell ( mehki phifer ) and a potential beau for julie .
but was this contest too good to be true ?
the resort is filled with a skeleton staff that seemed like love boat rejects .
meanwhile , the hotel is practically deserted as the storm season is about to begin .
this presumably creates a venue where they will be secluded and will have no possible means off the island .
eventually , they will be hunted down during power outages and chased around during intense lightning storms .
as you might have guessed , somewhere in the shadows lurk a mysteriously strange figure that is wearing a rubber slicker and wielding a hook .
julie tries to convince her friends that the killer is on the island ( an eerie touch is when she is singing " i will survive " at the karaoke bar and the words scroll " i still know . . . " ) , but her friends chalk it up to paranoia .
but the body count soon starts to rise , and for julie , it 's going to be the worst vacation of her life .
the funny ( yes , i used the word ' funny ' ) thing about this movie is that i heard more chortling and giggling ( maybe it was my giggling ) than i heard screaming .
this movie boils down to a mindless slashfest that never conjures up any amount of wry wit or even a quirky campiness .
there is n't even any suspense that leads up to the deaths .
here 's an appropriate example .
knock - knock .
" housekeeping " , says the diminuitive cleaning lady .
the door suddenly opens up .
slash .
next victim ! is there any reason to go and see this movie ?
not unless you want to see four uninteresting college kids run around in circles for about 90 minutes .
but i do want to say one thing about this movie that satisfied me .
i was thoroughly irritated with tyrell , who incessantly ranted and raved about his sexual libido .
i secretly wished for him to get filleted .
did he get ' hooked ' ?
well , let 's just say that if he did n't , i would give this film a grade of " d " .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: just how inseparable is the team of sgt .
martin riggs ( mel gibson ) and sgt .
roger murtaugh ( danny glover ) ?
let 's just say that when one partner asks the other partner to strip to his boxer shorts and then further asks him to run out into the middle of the road , flapping his arms while feverishly cackling like a chicken just to create a distraction , his partner actually does it !
the familiar lethal weapon family is back , including rene russo , who is now the expectant mother of riggs ' child and joe pesci as the soprana - like , foul - mouthed former accountant who has decided to become a private eye .
new to the team is chris rock , also a fast - talking , up and coming detective .
trouble seems to follow the two veteran detectives where ever they go , and in this film , that is no exception .
even when they are just taking a leisurely boat ride , they somehow manage to collide with a freighter ship .
we here some ominous music , which clues us that a confrontation is about to happen .
gunfire ensues , and when it 's all over , the detectives want to learn more about this freighter by questioning a chinatown crime lord .
although they do n't know what they 're looking for , their inquisitiveness causes the bad guys to take some action .
and there 's plenty of action here for two movies .
led by fighting sensation jet li , whose martial arts skill is nothing less than impressive , he does what he can to make sure that no one finds out what they are up to .
li is ruthless in his approach , will kill anyone just to make a point , and develops enormous disdain for the two detectives .
there are terrific car chases , explosions and gunshot galore .
it 's a summer action recipe followed to the letter , and the result is nothing less than pure , unadulterated summer fun .
but even too many explosions can get boring .
to counter that , we are treated to several amazingly choreographed fight sequences with jet li .
luckily , he 'd rather fight hand - to - hand instead of firing off guns .
meanwhile , when the detectives are n't reloading their guns or running from fireballs , they 're engaged in sophomoric banter and silly conversations that provide a nice diversion from the hail of bullets .
everybody gets in on the shtick .
russo screams during her delivery , the crime lord has a few funny bits when he 's being interrogated while being given laughing gas , and pesci and rock are very funny as they go at it discussing the drawbacks of having cellular phones .
gibson and glover are always in sync and the film moves at a brisk pace to get to the final and terrific mano a mano .
score one for the old guard .

SOLUTION:
P