An alright film with a pretty decent atmosphere Pitch Black is a Vin Diesel vehicle and the start of the Riddick franchise. You can go and see to see where it all started and some scenes are pretty good but overall the film is a middling affair which should be getting the cult status in the future. David Twowy is in good form but could have done better.

David Twohy is one of my favourite directors/writers today. He makes only movies he wrote himself, and they are always unique in some way. He often takes scientific ideas and uses them to make movies which are in a special genre and does something different with it.And Pitch Black is one of the many times where this premise worked perfectly. It's a sci-fi-horror film about a ragtag group of survivors who crashed on a desert planet and have to survive.SOunds simple? Well it is, and that's a strong point of the film, because the premise is simple and doesn't seem that original at first, but the mystery aspect of this film is what makes it great. Nearly every character has something to hide, and so does the planet which isn't as lifeless as one might think...The actors are all very good, most of all Radha Mitchell and Vin Diesel. Mitchells character feels guilty the whole way through, because she wanted to drop all of the passengers to get a better chance to land the ship, but it didn't worked and now everyone greets her for saving them, and want her to be the new leader. And Diesels character is by far the most interesting Anti-Hero since Snake Plissken (who Diesel said he used as a inspiration. You can't take your eyes off the screen when he's there.But one of the things you have to talk about in a David Twohy movie is the unique style. The movie is edited like all of his movies in a kind of "push it to the Limit!" mentality, which is never too distracting, but underlines the intensity of the scenes effectively. Also the cinematography and colors are amazing. The day scenes with the three suns look like you would dry out, and breakdown instantly because of the heat, and the night scenes are fantastically realized (which is very hard to do) and the movie really earns it's title.Also very great: The movie is mostly centered around the characters and how they will get out of the situation, or even if they won't kill each other beforehand, and not so much focused on action, or horror. There are also no jump scares in the film or any other horror-bull crap, it's fairly suspenseful and character driven.That the movie was a fairly low budget doesn't hurt it in any way, the creative way the film is directed by Twohy, prevents it from looking cheap, and the visual effects are just used then needed and aged incredibly well, most of all, of the way they use them.All in all, one of the most intense, dark and unique Sci-Fi-Horror movies you'll see...

Loved the movie. The two leads did a heck of a job to carry the movie. Captivating story and great execution. The best bits of the movie in order are 1. Vin Diesel: I don't think I have seen him pre-Fast Furious franchise but if this is his prowess then FF have absolutely not utilized his skills. The shoulder dislocating scene alone..! (some effects were used, but it was real). His portrayal of a psychopath is really good. 2. the Imagery. LOVED IT. The colours, the lighting, the negative scenes, all really good. The aliens themselves could have been better but hey. 3. The soundtrack keeps a good pace with the movie. Overall, totally enjoyable.

The most difficult part of writing a review of this contrived and poorly acted film is trying to squeeze ten lines into this posting from a film so totally lacking in substance. Radha Mitchell is a very talented and stunningly beautiful actress ( check out " Everything Put Together " ), but the cast of characters and twisted ( perhaps even shopworn ) escape from the jaws of whatever plot line left me repeating " not again.... " . As might be expected when creativity falls short in developing a new ( and potentially interesting ) idea , an extremely long night as one planet eclipses another , the producers/writers resort to conflicts and weaknesses among the cast of characters to provide some substance . It doesn't work , and there's nothing you haven't seen before . Mitchell has been used all too often to provide eye candy for an attention grabbing title with little substance , much as Carol Baker during the '60s and '70s . She deserves better.....WOW ! I stretched it to 15 !