Pitch Black [15]

Vin Diesel is big and kick-ass Richard B. Riddick. He can see in the dark too!

PITCH BLACK is the story of a group of people stranded on a barren planet after the ship they were traveling in crashes due to debris from the tail of a rogue comet. The crash surviviors work to get situated on a desert planet. They are worried about a convicted serial killer, Riddick, in their midst. Riddick is being transported by what everyone assumes is a policeman. The concern heightens when this convict escapes, and begins stalking them. The bloody disappearance of one of the crash survivors coincides with the recapture of the convict and the discovery that there are... things.... underground.

*SPOILER WARNING*

These native life forms of the planet are probably about 8 feet tall. They have two arms with hands containing sharp claws and a tentacle that comes out of the palm. They are bipeds with long forked tails. They resemble pteranadons somewhat or the aliens from "Lifeforce". As you already know from "Aliens", these guys only come out at night.

The group discovers an abandoned outpost not long before a solar eclipse plunges the entire planet into total darkness and all those things underground fly out, like vampire bats, to the surface.

The outpost has a small escape craft that they can repair if they can get heavy power cells from the crashed ship, but they have to fight their way through the nasty claw/tentacle guys. Here is the twist: Riddick had his eyes operated on in a permanently-dark prison in order to help him see with little light. So, the group becomes reliant on him to see in the dark. Most of the group get picked off by the creatures during the fight to get back to the outpost.

The premise of "bad things happening on a usually lighted planet that undergoes an eclipse" was lifted directly from Isaac Asimov's "Nightfall" short story. However in "Nightfall", the fear of the darkness itself is the story. The space scenes set the story, but they really did not need to waste much time in space. The action starts when they hit the ground. This is a retread of the original "Alien" movie. "Alien" was a retread of quite possibly the scariest movie of all time: "The Thing". (Note: Keith David is the 1982 "Thing infected" guy and appears in this movie!)

Rent this movie if you are a fan of hard Science Fiction. {BB}

Added: May 7th 2004
Reviewer: BB
29 Point Scale Score:    [15]

Related Link (IMDB): IMDB
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Language: english