Theatrical Pitch Black release poster. Universal Films (C) 2000.
Riddick: [voiceover] "They say most of your brain shuts down in cryo-sleep. All but the primitive side, the animal side. No wonder I'm still awake. Transporting me with civilians. Sounded like 40, 40-plus. Heard an Arab voice. Some hoodoo holy man, probably on his way to New Mecca. But what route? What route? I smelt a woman. Sweat, boots, tool belt, leather. Prospector type. Free settlers. And they only take the back roads. And here's my real problem. Mr. Johns...blue eyed devil. Plannin' on taking me back to slam. Only this time he picked a ghost lane. A long time between stops. A long time for something to go wrong...."
These are the calm and cool opening lines from our antagonistic hero Richard B. Riddick. A monologue that sets the mood for the rest of the film's dark, shady, gritty ..and uncertain story.
Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel) Pitch Black (C)2000 Universal Films.
Hey! Deadsurfkiss here, with a DVD review that was supposed to go up last friday...due to many time restrains and real life obsticles (I do have a real life, really, I do! .......or do I? O_0) Anyways, regardless, thanks for returning to my weekly movie recommendations and DVD reviews! This week I look at a great film that came out in 2000 and has also spawned a sequel, and a handful of video games and a cartoon "prequel". But nothing made an impact on me more than the simple, low-budget story that started it all, Pitch Black!
I'm not gonna cop out and call this a survival film, eventhough in some cases it plays out like one. Because there's so many things going on here, woven into a simple fabric of story telling style directed by David Twohy (Screen play by Jim and Ken Wheat). So I will give a brief opening into this story, with little to no spoilers, just enough to set up this movie. Just enough to give you a taste.
The survivors of the crash. Pitch Black 2000 (C) Universal Films.
OPENING PLOT: The movie opens in the 46th century, as a cargo spacecraft accidentally crosses through a comet's tail while on auto-pilot. The ship along with 10 passengers survives a crash onto a strange, brightly lit desert planet. Due to the planet's complex orbit among its three suns, there is perpetual daylight. Among the survivors are Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell), the ship's docking pilot; a police officer named William J. Johns (Cole Hauser); a Muslim Imam (Keith David) with his three novices Ali (Firass Dirani), Hassan (Sam Sari) and Suleiman (Les Chantery); a young stowaway named Jack (Rhiana Griffith); an antique dealer named Paris (Lewis Fitz-Gerald); and two Australian prospectors, Zeke (John Moore) and Shazza (Claudia Black), and Johns' captured target, a dangerous criminal named Richard B. Riddick (Vin Diesel) who (by some accounts) has had an illegal surgical procedure performed on his eyes to give him perfect night vision, at the expense of rendering him very sensitive to light, forcing him to wear a pair of shaded welding goggles during the day.
Riddick manages to escape, and Johns leaves to track him. When Zeke goes to bury the bodies of the ship's navigator and another dead colonists he is attacked by unseen creatures and brutally killed. Riddick is caught shortly afterward by Johns, and Shazza accuses Riddick of killing Zeke. At Riddick's urging, Fry investigates a cave and discovers that a colony of vicious creatures exists underground (How Riddick knew is a mystery), though fortunately they stay in the caves where it is dark, the light seems to affect them with fatal results.
An abandoned mining settlement with a supply of water and a small escape ship is discovered several miles from the crash site, near a canyon filled with the bones of the planet's ancient life (similar to Earth's elephant graveyards). While exploring the deserted settlement, and with much dismay about "every belonging of the settlers being left behind", the crash survivors have a much more pressing issue, however. An astronomical model (of the planet system they are in) reveals that a month-long total eclipse of the planet is imminent and the survivors must get off the planet before this happens. They realise that power cells from their crashed ship could power the escape vehicle in the settlement, and maybe get them out of there before it goes completly pitch black. Oh..and those monsters that they found underground? Well, they seem to really like the dark, so you do the math ;)
So this intro I gave you takes you about 30-40 minutes into this 2 hour film, not too bad I guess. I try to refrain from giving spoilers and twists in movies because I think they are best discovered by you the viewer. And believe me, this one has tons of twists and turns!
OK enough about the story for now, we'll talk about some of the characters, because afterall, the characters in this film make Pitch Black unique and interesting on thier own merits alone.
Our first character is the character you hear talking in the begining before the crash, Riddick. This was a perfect casting in my belief, because at the time, Vin Diesel was kind of an unknown (I think he did Boiler room in 2000 and introduced him as a force in hollywood, then did Fast and the Furious in 2001 which really set his career off) So the first impression is this guys voice. Calm, deep, cynical, and a hint of Dirty Harry perhaps. The lone hero, the pale rider. But is he as bad as John's says he is? Well, yes and no. Afterall he's been convicted of murder (how many is not really relevant) When you first see the brooding muscular frame of Riddick (especially his fighting style), you realise to yourself that he's capable of what he's been convicted of. Does he care about the rest of the survivors? Partially, but maybe for an alternative reason. He has a bitter relationship with William Johns (A police officer), so obviously, these two guys have met before under brutal circumstances, and one I won't get into here right just yet. But we have a group of survivors Riddick seems to stick close to like a wolf circling a flock of sheep, even Johns, who reluctantly lets Riddick move around without any restraints and with weapon. This was an odd move to me, after John's explained that Riddick was a murderer that he was transporting back to prison. He lets him roam among the other survivors? But it seems as Riddick begins to talk to the rest of the survivors and puts seeds of cryptic info in thier heads(especially about Johns), we soon realise that the law enforcing hero John's has some secrets of his own.
So Riddick, as bad as he's made out to be, begins to change, in the "light", or lack of, shall I say, of this film and takes on recognizable qualities of a hero, but a darker avenger at that. At the same time, never jumping quickly to call him an actual hero. Maybe just a bruised and scorched spirit from a differant age(with the mental scars to prove it), a differant quality of life, thrown into an environment he hasn't tasted in a long time...or ever for that matter, civilization.
William J. Johns (Cole Houser) and Richard B. Riddick (Vin Deisel).
So you have two mysterious characters, Who seem to have somewhat of a story between each other, or a grudge for that matter, among relatively normal and civilian like survior characters. So, out of the other 8 survivors (the other 29 parished in the crash of the vessel), the ship pilot we'll look at next, Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell). She seems strong, and concerned of the safety of the rest of the characters, and oddly attracted to the mystery between Riddick and John's, knowing there is something more here, niether men are telling her. She's pretty authorative, maybe too authoritive at times, getting ahead of herself in soom instances. The other survivors see her as the one hero who crash landed the ship. But one with other intentions who could have turned the events around otherwise. I think she was great, I think she plays off Riddick and John's perfectly, bringing a sensibility and logic to thier sometimes neanderthal quick judgements of situatons. And saving thier collective asses in the process a few times. I really like Radha Mitchell, I think she's beautiful and has a really nice emotional subtlety about her, and does it flawlessly. She also embodies a character with emotional baggage, and a heavy guilt that later gets ripped open and changes the course of the story. I've seen her in a few films, she wa great as the lead female in Silent Hill. So you can say this is another meaty starring role for her. It stands out nicely..
The other characters are differant and eclectic enough to have thier own little back stories. You have a holy man named Imman accompanied by his three sons, who through events in the story, begins to question his own belief system and the existance of a god. You have an antique dealer named Paris who seems to always have something of use, resulting from his pack~rattiness and need to hang on to everything. In his eyes, "everything has a price". You have a prospector named shazza(Caudia Black) who is cautious of Riddick but then later begins to see the trustworthiness in the unlikely individual. And lastly you have a young boy named Jack who is a stow-away, and who may be there by accident, and one that almost costs all of them there lives, the scent of blood is in the air, literally. But through all these differances they become somewhat of a "family" and learn a valuable lesson, that there is strength in numbers in order to survive on this desolate, desert world! With no weapons, no body protection, no transportation, and ultimately no food and water, how long can one survive in pitch black terror?
I think this film is amazing because the humanity of these people is contrasted against something so alien, and dark, and terrible. Something that has no regard for anything living whatsoever. Sometimes in the darkest corners of the galaxy, there is a little flame burning in the cold, that flame is hope.
So for a Director's cut DVD this disc is small on extras. There's a couple commentary tracks. One with David Twohy, Vin Diesel and Cole Houser who give really nice insights as the movie plays scene by scene. I really like this kind of stuff (as you all know already) Because again, it's nice to hear the actors talk about thier characters and the road they took to get to those characters. The other commentary is by Twohy and film producer and visual effects supervisor talking about the work they put into this film. Again, another insightful look into film making processes.
"A View in the Dark" is a character study of Riddick. David Twohy and Vin Diesel discuss the anti hero and explore the layers of the scarred, mysterious character.
There is supliments that lead into and talk about the other films and projects related in the Chronicles of Riddick universe. One being the Visual Encyclopedia which looks at mercs, the "slam", and other elements of the Riddick Universe. This one is narrated by Cole Houser (Johns) "John's Chase log" Follows the month long hunt for Riddick, which leads into the begining of this film. There is an inside look at "Dark Fury" An animated film which takes place between Pitch Black and the Cronicles of Riddick (the sequel to Pitch Black) and lastely there is a peak at the video game Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. This is the game that leads into the chase between Johns and Riddick and ultimately leads into Pitch Black.
Now I'm sure if you've read this far and not noticed any spoilers thats because I'm talking about the director's cut kiddies. A director's cut sometimes ruins a movie (A good example would be Ashton Kutcher's "the Butterfly Effect". Good lord the original ending that they exchanged for the theatrical ending was stupid and pointless) But in this instance, it filled in gaps that didn't need filling, but once you've seen them you wonder how you went without them. So the only spoiler I can say is directly related to WHY this director's cut is the best version of Pitch Black. So if you don't want to read the spoiler, I WILL ALERT YOU NOW, and just skip the last bit of this paragraph now. (((SPOILER))) [We find out why Johns (cole hauser) the bounty hunter/merc is addicted to morphine...why you ask? because when Riddick escaped butcher bay he stabbed jonhs in the spine and there's still a shard of metal in his back that can't be removed. ] (((END OF SPOILER)))
This is my favorite Vin Deisel film, only because this is the templete that he kind of built off of to create his XXX and Fast in the Furious characters. The only differance with them is the wise crack comedy thrown in and more kinder and nicer mentalities. And the two later characters end up almost being the same guy, which is problebly not his fault really. He did an awesome job in Saving Private Ryan and Knock Around Guys. His role in Ryan was just a little too short though, but benefited the film greatly!
Either way, Deisel is a solid actor and if he continues to make a third act in the "Riddick Stories" I hope he goes back to the "Pitch Black" Riddick, rather than the lighter, more sympathetic Riddick in "Cronicles". Because the roots of this series are what started it all, and those roots are directly embedded in the Riddick we see in this film.
So yeah, another long review, but not too long. I love this film greatly and I think you will too if you haven't seen this. because it gives you a differant take on a hero, and a differant take on a villain. Sometimes the two are exactly the same.
10/10
Later film fans! Deadsurfer out!
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