Pitch Black

Title: Pitch Black
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Action, Horror, Sci Fi
Starring: Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell

One I expect to receive a difference of opinion upon, I have long considered this to be one of the better films in the genre, but not for delivering upon what you expect. In fact, in terms of action, it seems to deliver upon little, and the horror takes a far more psychological nature, a constant undercutting tension between the characters escalated by the situation which we face. With perhaps a fairly hefty kinship to the ‘Alien’ films, it nonetheless proves itself at the least equal to the best of the sequels the series has produced.

Things hot up quickly when a passenger convoy is damaged by a meteor shower and makes an impromptu crash landing upon a desolate desert planet much of the film takes place. With Riddick (Diesel) on board for a one way trip to the prison, being escorted by Johns (Hauser), the captain killed in the crash and ships pilot (Fry) resuming much of his responsibilities, tensions quickly raise when they are plunged into the darkness, where the light-fearing creatures that dwell are free to run rampant on the tri-sunned desert landscape that make Riddick the least of their problems. Mounting an escape effort, they suddenly find themselves reliant on the lesser of two evils in order to survive.

The character of Riddick is not too difficult to come to terms with, not so much evil in nature as selfish, feared for his strength, agility and ability to see in the dark, coupled conveniently with his moral ambiguity. Unfortunately, this aspect rarely comes across in more than a superficial manner; given Diesel’s deep gravely voice and muscular body the part should almost play itself, and yet – particularly for the first half of the film – he is played for laugh’s, the comical aspect of his character detracting heavily from his dark nature. Luckily, the film doesn’t dwell upon the one character; rather it explores the relationships between many of them. On the surface each character appears to be rather cliché, from the bland ‘Johns’ to the Ripley-clone ‘Fry,’ but there is some effort made to explore their past, to humanise them all in a manner that makes them seem at least somewhat believable. Whilst many may condemn such as detracting from the action and horror produced, it is rarely given long and allows us to understand the characters as more then ‘victim #1,’ as with many other films in this genre.

There are few films that can lay claim to even attempting to create a world in which their characters dwell, and whilst this is no ‘Star Wars’ or ‘Blade Runner,’ the simplistic backdrop lends a certain uniqueness to the proceedings, in no small part thanks to the superb set designs and attention to detail regarding the use of lighting. The monsters too feel nicely designed, if perhaps again reminiscent of those in ‘Alien,’ they are nonetheless well utilised in producing an effective source of tension. The CGI used could easily feel dated now, nearly a decade on, but since we rarely get a decent glimpse of them for long before they dart back into darkness the effect is rather more psychological, as we hear the crunching of their bones or indeed the blurred images through the eyes of Riddick.

People will inevitably complain about the lack of ‘action’ that occurs, but there is a curiosity about the characters, and an undercutting tension throughout. It’s well paced so as to never drag on unnecessarily, and whilst you won’t see someone getting their head bitten off in a gratuitous gore-fest, you’ll actually care somewhat about the characters, if not for their well being than for simply wanting to see more of them on-screen. This is a film that dares to do what many don’t and it whilst not an instant classic is better than is given credit for. This isn’t your standard Action/Horror, this one has some brains backing it, and if that isn’t convincing enough, I’ll let Radha Mitchell and Claudia Black do the rest.