PITCH BLACK
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
"Is this whole planet dead?" asks one of the stranded space travelers in
David N. Twohy's PITCH BLACK. The planet is far from dead in this
ALIENS MEETS THE BIRDS tale, but the movie itself is close to terminal.
A spaceship with settlers, mainly Muslims, and one criminal in chains,
crash lands on an unknown planet with three suns. "We take this as a
good sign," the Muslim leader says of the three suns. It isn't.
When one of the crew goes near a small hole in the ground, he
disappears, leaving evidence that he may have been eaten alive by
something that lives down there. So what does the ship's replacement
captain, Fry (Radha Mitchell), do? Why, she climbs down into the
darkness with only a rope to tie her to the people on the surface. The
script by Jim and Ken Wheat is full of such illogical moments, which
fail any reasonable sanity test. I suppose I should have mentioned that
the captain died in the crash, but in generic sci-fi movies like this
one, the captain always dies in the crash, so I figured that you didn't
need to be told.
The aliens can function only in a pitch black environment, so guess what
astronomical event is on the way in this land of perpetual sunshine?
Talk about unlucky! But don't worry, Riddick, the criminal, played with
sleek charisma and rippling muscles by Vin Diesel (BOILER ROOM), has had
an eye job. With his glazed eyes, he can see in the dark. What a lucky
coincidence!
Most of the movie has the characters wandering around as they are
attacked from the sky by flying aliens. As they are pecked at by
noshing monsters with messy table manners, the actors mumble their
dialog. This is a blessing in disguise.
The movie has one redeeming feature -- its stunning cinematography.
Reasoning that the three suns would make for strange coloration, the
cinematographer denudes the color and oversaturates the shots. With an
effect similar to that in BOUND, the movie is told in shades of gray
with only one or two other colors coming through. Only the indoor
scenes, lit by artificial light, have a more normal color palette.
Riddick, even if he is a cold-blooded killer, frequently occupies the
high moral ground and is the bravest of all. In contrast, Johns (Cole
Hauser), Fry's second in command, is an unreliable dope addict. He
shoots up with a needle in his eye -- yes, the movie loves to gross us
out as well as scare us with loud noises.
As Macbeth said about the film, or would have, if he'd been born a
little later, "it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
signifying nothing." Oh well, at least the picture's artistic look
places it a notch above other such generic science fiction films as WING
COMMANDER.
PITCH BLACK runs 1:49. It is rated R for language and sci-fi violence
and gore and would be acceptable for most teenagers.
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Have I seen this movie: No
Will I see It: Yes
