Remember when Vin Diesel was heir apparent to the Schwarzenegger/Stallone action movie throne? Yeah, I know, it lasted all of ten minutes, but his first “real” staring vehicle, Pitch Black, poised Diesel to leave an imprint as certified badass. I was sold on Pitch Black based solely on word-of-mouth buzz on the character of Riddick, though I wasn’t sure if an original science fiction tale was behind him, or if he was surrounded by another typical watch-people-get-picked-off generic faux horror film. It turned out to be the former, and, needless to say, I was delighted at the time, but what about nine years later?
I fully expect anyone reading this website to be 100% familiar with the film, but I also understand that everyone makes mistakes and its tough being the only perfect human on the planet, so I’ll do a quick recap. Some sort of interstellar vessel crash lands on a seemingly uninhabited planet. Most of the crew and passengers die, but a few manage to survive with minor injuries. The league of survivors include the co-pilot Carolyn (Radha Mitchell), a mercenary, Johns (Cole Hauser), a stereotypical Islamic male, Iman (the always entertaining Keith David), and a semi bratty kid, Jack (Rhiana Griffith). A couple more meat sticks round out the cast, but, save the alcoholic Paris (Lews Fitz-Gerald), they don’t really bring anything significant to the table.
Upon crashing the usual quest for necessities is in play. The remaining crew tries to find food, water, or evidence of a settlement, and they do so in the wonderment and awe of a planet that apparently has three suns. While they marvel at the assumed lack of a nocturnal cycle, Johns decides to point out that the crashed ship was also transferring a considerably dangerous (understatement) criminal, Riddick (Vin Diesel).
Riddick, for lack of a better description, was the most badass fiction character to emerge from the 2000 run of films. Riddick escapes John’s containment and walks around the crash site and engages in some minor tomfoolery, but he appears to have no plans for serial killing that afternoon. He’s completely psychotic, sure, but he also appears to be a man of calm principle. From a visual standpoint Diesel ships out with a default commanding presence, but that wasn’t quite badass enough, so his character also was also granted with a “shine job” on his corneas. Visually it means his eyes reflect light like a cat, but mechanically it allows him to see in the dark (and, as a caveat, has to wear tinted goggles to see in the light, also badass).
This comes in pretty handy, because it just so happens that the ship crash landed on the eve of what appears to be a 22 year solar eclipse cycle. And when the lights go out, oh man, you don’t want to be anywhere near that place.
If nothing else, Pitch Black is a film that takes your expectations and turns them on their heels. Director David Twohy stole my point on this from one of the featurettes, but it really does a masterful job on defying expectations. My roommate thought the film was about evading a killer and, after the first twenty minutes, it was hard to convince her otherwise. Jack’s secret comes right out of nowhere, and the body count reaches into territory that films typically fail to cross. Pitch Black makes a habit of preying on typical genre conventions, and the payoff, while sometimes nonsense (why in the world do they keep stopping to talk on the trip back to the ship) is usually for the better.
The film also has its share of considerably iconic scenes. Nothing in the way of Citizen Kane or The Godfather, mind you, but it’s tip-top in the line of action films. The instant-P.O.V. of Riddick drinking on top of the ship, Paris’ flamed out last drink, Carolyn’s fate, and a complete masterwork of lines and actions from Riddick. This is dabbling into spoiler territory, but the man engages in hand to hand combat with one of the bloodthirsty aliens, comes out on top, then utters one of the most insanely simple and fist-in-the-air lines of the year. Match that with Riddick’s relentless commitment to dropping awesome lines with his undying wave of confidence and you’re left with a sadistically appealing and screen devouring character. He’s dumb and, sure, maybe he appeals to the lowest common denominator, but he’s oh so good at it.
It should go without saying, but the film looked amazing in 1080p. I also watched it with 5.1 audio, and while I didn’t notice anything particularly special, my roommate (who owned the venue) was convinced that Pitch Black was one of the best surround sound films he’s seen yet. I honestly didn’t notice anything different from the extra three or four minutes of the unrated version, but I suppose it’s there for the harder members of the core.
The extras take up a lot of bullet points, but, sadly, most are lacking in actual substance. Almost everything is leftover from the 2004 Chronicles of Riddick induced reissue, which is a tad disappointing. These include:
– “An introduction by David Twohy” (three minutes, a good, brief intro from a very passionate director)
– “The Game Is On” (a two minute preview of Starbreezee’s 2004 XBOX Game, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. It’s no longer available at retail AND a complete remake, also by Starbreeze, is slated for release this spring – so why nothing on that? EfBB was a fantastic FPS!)
– “The Making of Pitch Black” (HBO or HBOish four minute making-of featurrete that feels mostly like a promo)
– “John’s Chase Log” (semi interesting narrated diary of John’s pursuit of Riddick. Seven minutes long and adds a bit to the mythology, but entirely forgettable).
– “Dark Fury: Advancing The Arc” (a 90 second promo for the anime that bridges the gap between Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick)
– “The Chronicles of Riddick Visual Encyclopedia” (Johns narrates some stuff about the planetary prison system for 90 seconds, then it tells you to look for more on the Riddick DVD. Lame).
– “A View Into The Dark” (Another four minute featurette with little actual insight).
– Two commentary tracks. One with Director David Twohy, Cole Hauser, and Vin Diesel, which is recorded simultaneously and somewhat entertaining (Diesel and Twohy do have a lot of chemistry and are obviously passionate about the project), though there are a lot of simple “I love this…” self congratulatory moments. The other features Twohy, Producer Tom Engelman, and Visual Effects guy Peter Chiang. That one put me to sleep (literally).
