Pitch Black [Blu-ray]

With the release of The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) aka Pitch Black 2, Universal Home Video has decided to try and squeeze a bit more juice from the original film, releasing a Special Wide Screen Unrated Director's Cut edition. Is it worth it, for all of you out there who've already bought one of the numerous previous releases? I'll answer this question later. Pitch Black (2000) was directed by David Twohy, better known to me for his writing credits, specifically the Kevin Costner suck fest Waterworld (1995). Despite that particular credit, he did write and direct The Arrival (1996), which I did enjoy, but when the hole you're trying to exhume yourself from of is Waterworld, you have a lot of digging ahead of you. The most notable star in the film is Vin Diesel as Riddick, and, while not his first film, this is probably the one that really got him and his bald head noticed by the public. The film also stars Cole Hauser as William Johns, an actor I most recall from the 1993 film Dazed and Confused and sometimes get confused with Ben Affleck, who was also in that movie. Also appearing in the film is the delicious Claudia Black, a woman that any sci-fi aficionado would recognize as Aeryn Sun from the popular Farscape television series and Keith David, popular character actor I recognize mostly from John Carpenter films like The Thing (1982) and They Live (1988).Anyhow, the film opens on a giant ship traveling through space. We see a number of people in cryo sleep, as since we all know, space travel takes a long time, so in order to pass the extended periods of time, people must be partially frozen, like green peas, and then thawed out when needed. Well, something goes wrong with the ship, and various peoples begin popping out of cryo sleep, as the computer, who probably screwed things up in the first place, now needs people to fix matters. But there's no fixing these particular matters as the ship makes a crash landing on a pretty crummy desert-like planet. As the surviving members of the ill-fated cruise extricate themselves from the wreckage, soon begin to learn more of these individuals. There's the Skipper, Mary Ann, the Professor...wait, that's not right...ah skip it...anyway, we do get to meet Riddick, the only passenger chained and bound during cryo sleep, who manages to escape his bonds, to which Johns begins to run around looking for him. As the others begin looking for water, a couple stay behind, one in particular to begin burying those who didn't survive the landing. As he's digging, he finds a hole, decides to stick his head inside, and poof, he's gone, leaving an awful lot of blood behind...where did he go? We see Riddick standing over the hole, to which everyone assumes he killed the man, but we learn pretty shortly afterwards that's not the case. An investigation turns up some pretty hideous (and hungry) creatures that can only venture out when the sun (or suns, as there's three of them on this world) is down. The stranded individuals eventually find water, in the form of a deserted mining camp. Also in the camp is a space skiff, a small ship capable of getting them off the planet and into space shipping lanes where they would most likely be picked up by a passing freighter. Only problem is the skiff needs power to operate, so heavy power cells from the crashed vessel must be transported to the skiff, and the distance is more than a hop, skip and a jump. Oh yeah, night is falling, causing the indigenous inhabitants to stir, and stir they do...by the millions...by the way, did I mention Riddick has some strange modification to his eyes that allow him to see in the dark? You can see where this might come in handy in the darkness of a planet inhabited by big, hungry, scary, carnivorous nocturnal creatures...So, is this film any good? Being so inundated by B-movie flicks over the many years of my movie viewing existence, I was pleasantly surprised to find this was actually a very good film with better than average special effects. Okay, originality isn't its' strong point, but certain elements within the story makes it better than most, the key being that there is a coherent story throughout. And real, honest to goodness character development, to the point where I became unsure who was actually going to make it to the end of the film. The presentation of the character of Riddick, the anti-hero, was fun, and the notion of fighting evil with evil, as the tag line states seems a misrepresentation, as I really didn't see the creatures as being evil, only doing what they would normally do...the one character I found most annoying was that of Jack, given his whining and such, and sacrifices made to accommodate him. The element about the story I enjoyed most was that very little seemed to be what it appeared to be, specifically with the major characters and plot lines. Things get a bit topsy-turvy as revelations are made.So, is it worth buying this version if you've already bought a previous DVD release of the film? Probably not...the special features included are commentaries by the director and stars Diesel and Hauser, additional commentaries by the director, the producer, and the guy in charge of the special effects, which were available on previous releases. The list of new features is listed on this website, but I found very little of them really worth my time, so if you already own a previous version (I didn't), you're not missing much. There was a free movie pass included in the DVD case, one for the new movie The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), so that's pretty sweet, give that going to the theater to see a new film has gotten so expensive.Cookieman108By the way, did they rename this film The Chronicles of Riddick - Pitch Black? Was this done to help people remember it was the first film with the Riddick character? If so, it was a daft manuver...it will always be Pitch Black to me..

Interesting

This is one of my favorite sci-fi movies. Vin Diesel plays an awesome role. Buy this, you won’t regret it!

Enjoyable movie, watched it a lot as a kid.

Pitch black is one of my favorite movies

Great movie wish had more time to watch it again but great movie

Love the short series!

"Pitch Black" is a movie whose cast is mostly unrecognizable (at least they were to me, except for Keith David). As I began watching this film, I thought to myself, "There goes another 20 bucks down the drain." I guess I'm use to blowing a few bucks looking for something new that may have potential, but always seems to fall considerably short. Soon after the opening 10 minutes (which admittedly caught my interest), "Pitch Black" began to settle down to a hum-drum, routine flick with all the typical trappings; a stranded crew on a deserted planet with an assortment of oddball and unsavory characters. But just before losing total interest, a funny thing happened. This film began taking unique twists and turns that I hadn't expected, and I found myself getting very interested in what was going to happen next.Folks, this film fooled me. Instead of a low budget sci-fi movie that has plot holes the size of the Grand Canyon, this one began shaping up rather nicely. Yes, this film had its own assortment of plot holes, but nothing to the point of distraction. The ecology of the planet and deadly creatures within suddenly began to make sense. And the producers of this film didn't cheat the audience with marginal special effects. They spent some money, and it showed. I soon found myself hooked because, frankly, I didn't have a clue how this one was going to turn out.I'm not going to go into the plot or the characters except to say that some of the characters work and some don't. The pleasure in this film is discovering its surprising turns, and it does get very intense at times. No, there were no Oscar worthy performances, but this team did good work most of the time. And that's especially true of the script writers and the direction from Twohy.Between 1 and 10, I give "Pitch Black" a solid 7. While this film pays obvious homage to the movie "Alien", it stands pretty well on its own merits. If you are looking for something that is not quite run-of-the-mill, and come into it without great expectations, this movie may fit the bill. Who knows? You might find yourself leaning forward and grabbing the arm of your chair more than just a few times.

It's Riddick. What else is there to say. Massively flawed, but who cares?!

Ca permet de connaître le début de l'histoire mais franchement je préfère 100 fois Les Chroniques de Riddick.

It dose not work at all

Drei Riddick-Filme gibt es bis dato, wobei der erste die Hauptfigur noch nicht im Namen trägt. Hierbei handelt es sich im Pitch Black (deutscher Titelzusatz: Planet der Finsternis), erschienen im Jahr 2000 unter der Regie von David Twohy. Der Titel deutet darauf hin, dass der von Vin Diesel verkörperte Richard B. Riddick gar nicht unbedingt als alleinige Hauptfigur konzipiert gewesen ist und dass Fortsetzungen seinerzeit womöglich nicht geplant waren.In Pitch Black geht es um einen Raumfrachter, der in der fernen Zukunft von einem Meteoritenschauer getroffen wird und der daraufhin eine Bruchlandung auf einem unbewohnten Wüstenplaneten hinlegt. An Bord sind einige Passagiere, darunter der verurteilte Schwerverbrecher Riddick, der von dem Kopfgeldjäger William J. Johns (Cole Hauser) gefangen wurde. Obwohl es auf dem Planeten keine Nacht gibt, weil er sich zwischen gleich drei Sonnen (wobei zwei davon einen Doppelstern bilden) befindet, sind die (Raum-)Schiffbrüchigen zu einem denkbar ungünstigen Zeitpunkt gekommen. Denn es kommt zu einer seltenen totalen Sonnenfinsternis, bei der andere Planeten des Systems alle Sonnen verdecken und woraufhin für lange Zeit völlige Finsternis herrscht. Und während dieser müssen die Gestrandeten feststellen, dass in der Finsternis eine weitaus größere Gefahr lauert als der berüchtigte Riddick...Nun ja, ein Meisterwerk ist Pitch Black nicht gerade, ebenso wenig wie seine Nachfolger. Dennoch funktioniert der Mix aus Science-Fiction, Thriller und Horror ganz gut, auch optisch wurde alles recht ansprechend in Szene gesetzt. Der Antiheld Riddick ist vielleicht mit etwas zu viel Gewalt auf obercool gebürstet, und wenn er und Kopfgeldjänger Johns sich gegenseitig mit ihrem Alphamännchen-Gehabe überbieten wollen, wird's auch mal ein bisschen peinlich. Tja, und wer bei der Story so etwas wie Tiefgang sucht, ist bei Pitch Black völlig falsch. Für solide Unterhaltung ohne großen Anspruch taugt der Film aber allemal. Kann man jedenfalls auch heute noch gucken.

Nachdem ich die beiden Videospiele der Chronicles of Rididick Reihe nachgeholt habe, die zeitlich vor Pitch Black spielen, wollte ich nahtlos an die Filme anschließen und alle drei Teile nochmal schauen.Die Handlung von Pitch Black startet so ähnlich, wie auch die Videogames, dass Riddick (seines Zeichens Verbrecher, Mörder und Gefängnisflüchtling) zusammen mit seinem "Bewacher" auf einem fremden und scheinbar unbewohnten Planetèn mit einem Weltraumfrachter abstürzt. Die Co-Pilotin und einige Passagiere überleben ebenfalls.Der Film hält sich nicht groß mit Erklärungen auf. Wer die Leute sind, woher sie kommen usw. ist geradezu egal. Jeden Charakter kann man vollumfänglich mit zwei Sätzen beschreiben. Nachdem (fast) jeder mal sagen konnte, wohin er mit dem Frachter wollte, gehen die Protagonisten auch schon auf Erkundungstour und dann startet eigentlich schon die "Action".Star des Films ist natürlich Vin Diesel alias Richard B. Riddick. Und Vin Diesel spielt halt Vin Diesel. Entweder man mag ihn als Schauspieler (Antiheld, Cooles Gehabe, Muskeln, basslastige Stimme, One-Line-Dialoge) oder man kann mit ihm nichts anfangen.Die Co-Pilotin und der "Bewacher" spielen ihre Rollen auch ganz gut, der Rest sind eher Statisten.Der Film an sich ist relativ billig produziert. Es gibt nicht wirklich nennenswerte aufwändige Kulissen. Der Film spielt in einer Wüstenwelt und später komplett im Dunkeln. Der Großteil des Budgets ist wohl in die Animation der Aliens geflossen, die auch heut noch ganz ansehnlich animiert sind. Regie und Schnitte wirken teilweise ziemlich abgehackt und zusammenhanglos.Nichtsdestotrotz schafft es der Film ab und an sehr gut inszenierte und stylische Bilder zu produzieren, gerade wenn Monster, Licht und Dunkelheit beteiligt sind. Eine Sterbeszene ist z.B. unheimlich gut inszeniert.Weiterhin hat der Film zumindest mich durchgängig unterhalten und hat Spannung und Action relativ konstant auf hohem Niveau gehalten.Der eigentliche Plot ist an sich nicht sonderlich originell und clever geschriebene Dialoge darf man auch nicht erwarten.Vin-Diesel und Riddick Fans würden wohl ohnehin 5 Sterne geben. Nüchtern betrachtet ist Pitch Black aber eher ein durchschnittlicher Science-Fiction-Action-Film, der allerdings eine ikonische Filmfigur einführt und den Auftakt zu einer bisher dreiteiligen Filmreihe startet (die später auch ein höheres Budget hat).Von mir 3 Sterne.