Short Round: Pitch Black (2000) ***/*****
When Pitch Black first came out in 2000, it was a pretty simple science fiction thriller about a group of people getting terrorized by an alien monster. Something like The Thing, but not set on Earth. Due to the popularity of the charismatic character at its center, the deadly criminal known as Riddick (Vin Diesel), Pitch Black has somehow stumbled into being a trilogy of films though. All these years and all of that attention later, it’s kind of amazing how simple director David Twohy’s first Riddick film is. Out of context, it’s mostly just a B-grade horror movie with broadly drawn characters, less than impressive visuals, and acting that’s inconsistent at best. Really, it’s the sort of thing a cable station would play late at night to fill time.
In addition to the problems listed above, Twohy’s style leaves quite a bit to be desired here, as well. The camera work is so full of whip pans and sudden zoom-ins that it almost feels like the flourishes are intentionally desired to have a cheesy effect. And in order to establish the harsh environment of the planet the film takes place on, and to establish the fact that the Riddick character has a unique way of seeing that makes him better in the dark than he is in the light, a whole host of color filters get used over the images shot, and though they do serve a purpose, they get so extreme that they make big chunks of the movie appear to be washed out and just difficult to look at. Factor in the fact that his effects people weren’t able to pull off very real-looking creatures and he wasn’t able to get very convincing performances out of many of his actors, and you wouldn’t think that Pitch Black could be the sort of showing that could make a guy like Twohy a known name.
He should thank Diesel then, because it’s his star presence as the immoral center of the film that props everything up and makes the whole thing an entertaining enough watch. Riddick is a great anti-hero, and even when all of the people around him are complete bores, it’s at least interesting enough to watch him struggle between the darkness that lies in his soul and the pesky morality that starts to bubble to the surface once everyone around him starts getting killed by deadly, flying creatures. Okay, and Cole Hauser is awful good at playing the douchey authority figure who you’re supposed to hate as well. He’s damned punchable. A good hero, a good villain, and a handful of fun action sequences make Pitch Black a movie worth checking out, even if it’s nothing special overall.
