Pitch Black (2000)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2000
	Director: David Twohy (The Arrival, The Chronicles of Riddick)
	Actors:  Radha Mitchell (Surrogates), Cole Hauser (Good Will Hunting), Vin Diesel (XxX, Fast & Furious)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 19.02.2015, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: A group of travellers crash-land on a desert planet in perpetual daylight. Among them is the killer Riddick (Diesel). Could there be something hiding in the dark on this planet?
Review: I discovered Pitch Black in VHS in the good old early 2000's, then had it in DVD but haven't watched it yet in High Definition. Since the first time I saw it I found it to be a solid SF B-movie like we rarely see any, and I haven't changed my mind after watching it again. Vin Diesel in one of his first roles adds something for sure, but I think it is also the simplicity of the plot and the rather extreme choices (visual and in the story) that make a difference. OK the movie doesn't look as good as a 10-times-more-expensive Hollywood blockbuster (I could notice that especially in Blu-ray) and some dialogs and characters are weak, but those things have to be put in perspective, so one should keep in mind the limited ambitions of the movie when watching it. How many B-series SF movies have left a trace in the past fifteen years? Not many I can tell you. Pitch Black reminds of movies like Screamers, Robocop, or to a lesser extend Alien or Star Wars. David Twohy was a renouned screenplay writer (Waterworld, The Fugitive...) when he moved on to directing The Arrival and Pitch Black, and it is not surprise that he was then offered a huge budget to deliver The Chronicles of Riddick, and that he concluded the trilogy with the simply entitled Riddick in 2013. I have reviewed all the movies (in the reverse order) including the animated Dark Fury, and Pitch Black is still my favorite.
Rating: 8 /10