Barely intermittent, reminding us that the B-movie is still very much with us.
Pitch Black (2000)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:101
Fresh:56
Rotten:45
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
Reviews for Pitch Black
The screenplay, credited to Twohy with Jim and Ken Wheat, for a scary movie hasn't a scary idea on any of its pages.
Logic is definitely not the strong suit of Pitch Black. But then, neither is consistent characterization, smart dialogue, originality, subtlety or any of the other benchmarks of quality filmmaking.
Director David Twohy, who made the aliens-among-us thriller The Arrival, keeps things moving.
A routine sci-fi/horror action-adventure, takes us where we've been countless times before.
Pitch Black is so jaunty, so limber, and so visually self-assured that art peeks through where crap has traditionally made its home.
In the thrills department, Pitch Black is a hands-down winner. It has a good setup, and all of the suspense sequences are perfectly paced.
Though highly derivative of Alien, this handsomely photographed, briskly directed sci-fi fright picture is enjoyable enough on its own limited terms.
A very streamlined exercise in interplanetary mayhem and the logistics of the body count.
Was everyone so gung-ho on making a stylish sci-fi flick that it never occurred to anyone how nonsensical and even amoral the whole thing was?
Pitch Black will leave you with the sudden urgency to leave the hall light on.
Latest News for Pitch Black
August 03, 2009:
David Twohy Talks Riddick Sequels ![]()
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 ![]()
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 ![]()
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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