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Movies / On DVD / Pitch Black
Pitch Black

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Pitch Black (2000)

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Reviews Counted:99

Fresh:56

Rotten:43

Average Rating:5.6/10

Consensus: This sci-fi flick fails to deliver enough spills and chills.

Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: A spacecraft carrying an assortment of passengers including Riddick (Vin Diesel), a dangerous, shackled murderer between prisons, is forced to make a crash landing on a barren, triple-sunned planet... A spacecraft carrying an assortment of passengers including Riddick (Vin Diesel), a dangerous, shackled murderer between prisons, is forced to make a crash landing on a barren, triple-sunned planet after the craft suffers severe damage during a meteor shower. The ship is ripped into pieces, killing several crew members and leaving meek officer Fry (Radha Mitchell) in charge of the survivors. After two unfortunate deaths, the survivors discover that the only visible life form on the planet is a species of light-fearing, carnivorous, occasionally cannibalistic aliens dwelling in caverns beneath the desert surface. Using a model of the planet and its suns in an abandoned research station, Fry deduces that she and her fellow travellers have unfortunately descended on the planet on the day of its first total eclipse in 22 years, giving them mere hours before they are bathed in total darkness. Only then is it safe for the hungry subterranean creatures to emerge, seeking to feed on the remaining survivors. However, the dangerous Riddick, through black market injections received in lock-up, is able to see in darkness- causing the surviving crew members to reluctantly remain dependent on the potentially harmful criminal. As the survivors are killed one by one by the hungry creatures, they realize that Riddick may be their only hope. [More]

Starring: Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Keith David

Starring: Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Keith David, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, John Moore, Claudia Black, Simon Burke

Director: David Twohy

Director: David Twohy
Screenwriter: Ken Wheat, Jim Wheat, David Twohy
Producer: Tom Engelman
Composer: Graeme Revell

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for Pitch Black

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41 - 60 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

There's lots of promise for this Twohy guy, assuming he gets hold of a more audacious story (maybe not his) next time around.

Full Review Source: Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus

It has no aspirations to be more than what it is, yet another ALIEN ripoff with a half-baked premise. It just wants to be a really good ALIEN ripoff with a half-baked premise.

Full Review Source: AboutFilm.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Carlo Cavagna
Carlo Cavagna
AboutFilm.com

Made to please those who can't get enough rote, cheesy sci-fi, Pitch Black promises to make us long for the glory days of Species 2 and Deepstar Six.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
01/01/00
Chris Vognar
Chris Vognar
Dallas Morning News

Even those who shun the gripping effect of horror films might find Pitch Black a challenge worth taking on.

Full Review Source: CinemaSense.Com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Cornell & Petricelli
Cornell & Petricelli
CinemaSense.Com

Flawed and ambitious, Pitch Black's murky challenge to SF-action heroic conventions is its most redeeming feature.

Full Review Source: Nitrate Online | comment Comment
01/01/00
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
Nitrate Online

This is filmmaking that's lean, mean and (in Diesel) boasts one hell of a fighting machine.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Darren Bignell
Darren Bignell
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

To say the movie could have been great is most accurate; unfortunately, neither the characters nor the story have anywhere to go once the nightfall has settled in.

Full Review Source: Cinemaphile.org | comment Comment
01/01/00
David Keyes
David Keyes
Cinemaphile.org

It is easy to root for the aliens to possibly, against all odds for such formulaic films, pick off all the survivors of the spacecraft.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

We've seen this movie before.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Vin Diesel's demeanor is refreshing and the combination of his voice and physical build make his character memorable.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Dwayne E. Leslie
Dwayne E. Leslie
Boxoffice Magazine

Ferocious attacks by the planet’s monstrous creatures manage only partially to alleviate the tedium that defines the movie.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
01/01/00
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Despite its rip-offs (mostly of Alien), Pitch Black delivers not only on thrills and suspense, but on artistic direction and clever plotting.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

It may not linger in the memory any longer than your last Nintendo session, but it's an exhilarating two hours.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
01/01/00
Gary Mairs
Gary Mairs
culturevulture.net

The latest film from writer/ director David Twohy, a man whose career seems aimed at proving that low-budget genre-based entertainment can be just as inventive and character-driven as its big-budget competition can be lazy and boring.

Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY | comment Comment
01/01/00
Gemma Files
Gemma Files
eye WEEKLY

Proving that low-budget genre-based entertainment can be just as easily ferociously inventive and character-driven as its big-budget competition can be lazy and boring.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Gemma Files
Gemma Files
Film.com

Dumb, direct and derivative.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
01/01/00
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star

[The actors] are graduates of the Arnold Schwarzenegger School of Emoting.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Glenn Lovell
Glenn Lovell
San Jose Mercury News

This movie is so disposable and indistinctive that I don't want to review it -- I want to briefly mention it in a conversation about silly sci-fi and then forget it forever.

Full Review Source: UK Critic | comment Comment
01/01/00
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
UK Critic

It's not an especially challenging part, but Diesel handles it with aplomb.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

A better example of this type of movie than most.

Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page | comment Comment
01/01/00
James O'Ehley
James O'Ehley
Sci-Fi Movie Page
 
 
41 - 60 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
all

Latest News for Pitch Black

August 03, 2009: David Twohy Talks Riddick Sequels Opens in new window
They're still at the idea stage, but David Twohy and Vin Diesel are committed to continuing "The Chronicles of Riddick" -- and in a new interview with Shock Till You Drop, Twohy... More...

March 10, 2009: Vin Diesel Talks Next Riddick Game, Sequel Opens in new window
Vin Diesel is out promoting his next "Chronicles of Riddick" videogame, "Assault on Dark Athena," so now seems like a pretty ideal time for a chat with GameSpot about the future... More...

August 26, 2008: Diesel Promises a Double Shot of Riddick Opens in new window
His latest movie, "Babylon A.D.," might be running at a woeful 0 percent on the Tomatometer, but Vin Diesel has bigger fish to fry; according to a recent interview with MTV, the... More...

November 20, 2007: A Third Installment for The Chronicles of Riddick?
Despite the underwhelming reviews and receipts that greeted 2004's Pitch Black sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, writer/director David Twohy still hopes to film a third... More...

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