Pitch Black (2000) R - 4½ Stars

Well I said I don't normal like Vin Diesel movies but I REALLY loved this one. So much so, instead of returning the video to Blockbuster, I bought it from them. It has everything for the Sci-Fi fan, complete with some pretty cool alien monsters that only come out in the dark. Being a Sci-Fi fan, I really have to say this is one of the better ones I have seen. It starts out slow but I loved the escape scene in the dark. Lighting has a lot to do with the flavor of the movie from it's warm tones with one sun setting to the cool tones of another sun rising to the barely lit tones by glow sticks, it all paints a eerie scene of the planet. Radha Mitchell does a good job at being a believable hero to me.

A crew and passengers are on their way through space, traveling to a distant outpost known as New Mecca. But as they sleep, a damaging asteroid shower, awakens them, calling for an immediately manual landing that rookie pilot Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell), must contend with. As the ship begins to break apart upon entry to the atmosphere, Fry must make important decisions to eject certain parts of the ship in order to have any chance at surviving. Either cut lose the precious cargo of passengers or try to to land everyone safely.

The ship crashes into this lifeless world, and as the survivors band together in search for water, they are faced with Johns (Cole Hauser's) prisoner, Riddick (Vin Diesel). When one of the passengers is suddenly killed, Johns assures everyone Riddick is to blame. But as Fry tries to uncover what exactly took place, she also discovers they are not alone. Strange creatures lurk just below the surface and for now, these flesh eating aliens stay below, avoiding any contact with light. However, Fry has also discovered that even with three suns, keeping predators safely below, calculations predict the suns are about to be replaced by a total eclipse, sending their new eerie world into complete darkness.

Gramercy Pictures, USA Films
Director: David N. Twohy
Writers: Jim Wheat, David N. Twohy, Ken Wheat
Producer: Tom Engelman

I viewed 3/09