Pitch Black has almost perfect pitch. A passenger ship crash lands on a deserted planet and while trying to find a way off the surviving passengers and crew discover that the planet�s sun goes into total eclipse on a regular basis. Even worse, when it does vicious nocturnal creatures reminiscent of the raptors, meat-eating dinosaurs shown in Jurassic Park, come out in a near endless swarm. Caught in the dark, surrounded by these aliens who are being held off by the feeble lights the heroes have erected, our heroes are picked off one at a time and the question is�who, if any, will be left alive at the end? Fortunately, the survivors have an ace in the hole, a convicted criminal named Riddick who was being transported to prison on their ship and whose surgically enhanced eyes can see in the dark. The problem is that Riddick, who�s probably tough enough to go one on one with a Terminator, may be as dangerous to our heroes as the monsters that surround them.
Pitch Black is just about as good as this sort of movie gets. Not quite up to the standards set by the movie Alien, but durn close. The problem is that you know some of these characters are going to die and you can usually make a pretty good guess as to which ones so the suspense isn�t all the movie�s producers would hope, or advertise, for. A certain amount of uncertainty as to who will live and die does exist in Pitch Black though which, along with it�s stunning special effects and fairly complex characters, makes Pitch Black very entertaining. The best part of the film though is Riddick. Tough, smart, smart mouthed and more complex then he first appears Riddick dominates the movie even while you just know he�s going to change his spots and die a hero�s death before it�s all over�or will he? Riddick and Ripley, the ultra tough heroine of Alien would hit it off wonderfully provided they didn�t kill each other first. I�d advice seeing Pitch Black before it fades into the dark.
Average Grade: B+
