Pitch Black

Starring Radha Mitchell, Vin Diesel, Cole Hauser, Claudia Black and Keith David. Written by Jim and Ken Wheat and David Twohy. Directed by David Twohy.

Pitch Black is a formula Sci-Fi/Thriller that, while it doesn’t really break new ground, is professionally done, and exciting to watch. The plot is too familiar, but the strong performances and great special effects make up for it.

After a great opening crash sequence, we find the survivors of a passenger space ship searching for water. Led by the pilot of ship, Fry (Radha Mitchell), the dozen or so include an antiques dealer, some vacationers (including Claudia Black), a holy man (Keith David) and his disciples a mercenary named Johns (Cole Hauser) and his captive, Riddick (Vin Diesel), a merciless killer on his way to a prison planet.

This band soon finds a deserted encampment, complete with a ship, but they also find creatures that begin to kill the castaways one-by-one. They quickly find out that the creatures are hurt by the light, which is great, since the planet has three suns, but that there’s an eclipse on the way, which is really, really bad.

Then there’s the personal conflicts. The first quarter of the movie is spent establishing that Riddick is a very bad man, and of course, this means that Riddick has to be redeemed by saving the entire cast, or at least as much of the cast is left by the end of the movie. It’s Agatha Christie’s 10 Little Indians meets Alien.

As I said though, the performances are excellent, especially the ever-lucious Radha Mitchell, and the equally attractive Vin Diesel. Mitchell you might recognize as the lesbian leads in both High Art and Love and Other Catastrophes. Diesel, who has both Saving Private Ryan and Boiler Room in his background, really carries the film though. Other recognizable actors include the always great Keith David (with 72 acting credits according to the IMDB) and Claudia Black (Aeryn Sun on Farscape).

Director David Twohy vastly improves on his previous credits, which include the weak The Arrival. This Australian film actually utilizes the outback in an interesting and unique manner. The production design complements the other-worldly feel to the flick, and it all works. Unfortunately, it all just isn’t that original.

My Rating *** ½ out of 5.