Amazon.com: Owing a major debt to Alien and its cinematic spawn, Pitch Black is a guilty pleasure that surpasses expectations. As he did with The Arrival, director David Twohy revitalizes a derivative story, allowing you to forgive its flaws and submit to its visceral thrills. Under casual scrutiny, the plot's logic crumbles like a stale cookie, but it's definitely fun while it lasts.
A spaceship crashes on a desert planet scorched under three suns. The mostly doomed survivors include a resourceful captain (Radha Mitchell), a drug-addled cop (Cole Hauser), and a deadly prisoner (Vin Diesel) who quickly escapes. These clashing personalities discover that the planet is plunging into the darkness of an extended eclipse, and it's populated by hordes of ravenous, razor-fanged beasties that only come out at night. The body count rises, and Pitch Black settles into familiar sci-fi territory.
What sets the movie apart is Twohy's developing visual style, suggesting that this veteran of B-movie schlock may advance to the big leagues. Like the makers of The Blair Witch Project, Twohy understands the frightening power of suggestion; his hungry monsters are better heard than seen (although once seen, they're chillingly effective), and Pitch Black gets full value from moments of genuine panic. Best of all, Twohy's got a well-matched cast, with Mitchell (so memorable with Ally Sheedy in High Art) and Diesel (Pvt. Caparzo from Saving Private Ryan) being the standouts. The latter makes the most of his muscle-man role, and his character's development is one more reason this movie works better than it should. --Jeff Shannon
You might like - try it! ^ When I bought this dvd, I gave it to someone and couldn't see it myself. But I was told that this is pretty interesting movie, you might be interested. I can't say much but you need just to try, it's not that expensive and you'll see it yourself.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black ^ The space transport vessel "Hunter-Gratzner" carrying 40 people on-board crashes on a desert planet when the ship is struck in a meteor storm. There are only 10 survivors, among them are pilot Carolyn Fry, who has assumed command after the ship's captain is killed, bounty hunter William J. Johns, religious man Abu "Imam" al-Walid, Antiques dealer Paris P. Ogilvie, runaway teenage girl Jack, settlers John 'Zeke' Ezekiel and his lover Sharon 'Shazza' Montgomery and Richard B. Riddick, a dangerous escaped convict. Marooned, the 10 survivors finds the barren and hot desert-scape has sunlight from three suns. Not only they find food and water, and worry about Riddick, the survivors finds themselves being hunted by the planet's flesh eating alien inhabits, when the planet is engulfed in darkness, which happens every 22 years, as they come out on to the surface to hunt and eat all signs of life. Fry and the survivors finds Riddick is their best chance of survival, as Riddick has surgically-enhanced silver eyes that allow him to see in the dark as they set out to find a way of escaping from the planet and getting to a escape shuttle, before they all get eaten by the creatures on the surface. It's a great movie because it uses Science Fiction as a medium to tell an engaging, provoking story, rather then telling a mediocre story to use the flash of Science Fiction. Interesting and entertaining with a great cast, and great special effects.
Pitch Black (2000) ^ David Twohy's follow-up to '96's The Arrival is one of grave circumstances and underappreciated symbolism. After sustaining heavy damage from a meteor storm, a spacecraft transporting numerous people crashes on a hot, desolate planet. Once the sunlight fades into darkness, however, the survivors of the crash become prey to a species of flying, nocturnal alien, against which there is only one chance for their survival: Riddick (Vin Diesel), a convicted murderer who was being moved by their craft to a far-off prison.
Though it underwent critical scrutiny, Pitch Black is one of very few mainstream Hollywood films to address the Muslim faith with high regards, rather than denigration. One of the more prominent roles depicted in the film is Abu "Imam" al-Walid (played by Keith David), a Muslim who sees the good in Riddick, despite the prisoner's forte for killing. The character, in fact, is paid the ultimate honor a slaughter-fest flick can deliver--survival--and is included in the film's below-par sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick.
2 Movies for 1 Great Price? No it isn't! ^ Why would anyone purchase this Blu-ray 2 pack of Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick? The SRP is $59.98 and, as of this writing, it's on sale for $31.49. On the same page is a link to the individual titles. Pitch Black on Blu-ray SRPs for $26.98 and is on sale for $13.49. The Chronicles of Riddick on Blu-ray SRPs for $26.98 and is on sale for $12.49. Isn't the purpose of bundling titles together to sell them at a lower price than if you purchased them separately? It makes you wonder about the quality control here at Amazon and the people who post new product. Who thought this was a good idea?
Same problem ^ Pitch Black players perfectly, but for some reason Chronicles is still terrible in this set. Most of the reviews I saw for this product were from almost a 7 months ago and this set still is having the same problem. Basically the Chronicles disc freezes up about 14 mins in and then jumps 4 mins forward and won't even allow for you to rewind from there. What the heck? So much for QA testing. Amazon needs to stop offering this set since this is clearly still a problem.
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