Pitch Black (2000)
Directed by David Twohy
When their ship crash-lands on a remote planet, the marooned passengers soon learn that escaped convict Riddick isn't the only thing they have to fear. Deadly creatures lurk in the shadows, waiting to attack in the dark, and the planet is rapidly plunging into the utter blackness of a total eclipse. With the body count rising, the doomed survivors are forced to turn to Riddick with his eerie eyes to guide them through the darkness to safety. With time running out, there's only one rule: Stay in the light.
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The most obvious comparison to Pitch Black has to be Alien since both begin with freighters drifting in space with crew in hypersleep, a leading lady as captain, and survivors fighting for their lives against a bloodthirsty alien creature.
Pitch Black is Alien without the distraction of real characters.
At second glance, this is still true, but you notice something else: Despite its rip-offs (mostly of "Alien" ), "Pitch Black" delivers not only on thrills and suspense, but on artistic direction and clever plotting.
If at times it is reminiscent of "Alien", "Mad Max" or of countless hilarious straight-faced science fiction B-movies, "Pitch Black" takes itself as seriously as it needs to and embraces every cliché it comes across like an old friend.
Alien, the now-classic 1979 Ridley Scott sci-fi epic, is possibly cinema’s most cloned movie.
Incorporating disparate genre archetypes (the movie mixes "Swiss Family Robinson" with "Ten Little Indians" by way of "Alien"), "Pitch Black" provides a thrill ride from its chaotic opening scenes (in which a transport vehicle is forced to make a crash landing) to its surprising outcome.
The movie wants to be more than it can be, so it ends up looking a bit strained in some places, although much of it is undeniably, viscerally effective, especially when Miller and cinematographer David Eggby (Pitch Black) get their cameras right in the middle of the automotvie mayhem ripping up the straight-line asphalt highways cutting through the Australian outback.
Resourceful as Fry is, though, she's uncomfortable in her new role—particularly when the planet's Mad Max-like landscape, thought to be uninhabited, suddenly turns treacherous.
If at times it is reminiscent of "Alien", "Mad Max" or of countless hilarious straight-faced science fiction B-movies, "Pitch Black" takes itself as seriously as it needs to and embraces every cliché it comes across like an old friend.
Special mention has to go to Eggsby, who used the same Coober Pedy, Australia, locations for the now-classic "Mad Max" (1979).
With this opening sequence, Pitch Black -- co-written by brothers Jim and Ken Wheat with director David Twohy -- asserts outright its derivative sources, quoting from the Alien, Mad Max, and Terminator series, Blade Runner, Fearless, Con Air, and The Fugitive, even Stagecoach, in the outlaw traveling with a group of "civilized" folks.
It's a tightly constructed genre picture, combining the best paranoid thrills of the "Alien" series with the setting of "Mad Max" and the anti-Utopian future of "Blade Runner."
Of course, this revelation comes to light, but even that opportunity for narrative progression fails to enliven the main thread of this yarn, the millionth knock-off of the Aliens films to misunderstand completely what makes those films such extraordinary entertainments.
There may be a whole lot of Aliens to the proceedings, but Pitch Black becomes sericeable enough on its own armrest-gripping level.
In Twohy's very slight variation on the "Aliens"/"Starship Troopers" theme, two antisocial people, a docking pilot and a homicidal prisoner, are rehabilitated by the tribulations of survival on a desert planet.
We never really get a good look at the embracing bat-creatures, but we see enough of them to know that they pale in comparison to the ones in "Aliens".
Lewis Fitz-Gerald (who began his film career in "Breaker Morant" in 1980) offers strong comic support while veteran Keith David (whom many will remember for his fight scene with Roddy Piper in 1988's "They Live") brings the appropriate gravity to his role as the Muslim cleric.
The crowd includes tough-talking docking pilot Fry (High Art’s Radha Mitchell, in the buffed Sigourney Weaver role from Alien ), musclebound, pissed-off convict Riddick (Vin Diesel), and a whole slew of obvious victims-to-be, including self-interested antique dealer Paris (Breaker Morant’s Lewis Fitz-Gerald) and steadfast Muslim cleric Imam (Keith David), who brings three young pilgrims with him to the slaughter.
It benefits from its Australian outback location and a nice blend of Aussie talent, including newcomer Radha Mitchell ("Love and Other Catastrophes") and seasoned veterans Lewis Fitz-Gerald ("Breaker Morant") and Simon Burke ("The Devil's Playground"), which it mixes with such American actors as Vin Diesel ("Saving Private Ryan") and Cole Hauser ("Good Will Hunting").
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With this opening sequence, Pitch Black -- co-written by brothers Jim and Ken Wheat with director David Twohy -- asserts outright its derivative sources, quoting from the Alien, Mad Max, and Terminator series, Blade Runner, Fearless, Con Air, and The Fugitive, even Stagecoach, in the outlaw traveling with a group of "civilized" folks.
In Twohy's very slight variation on the "Aliens"/"Starship Troopers" theme, two antisocial people, a docking pilot and a homicidal prisoner, are rehabilitated by the tribulations of survival on a desert planet.
Of course, this revelation comes to light, but even that opportunity for narrative progression fails to enliven the main thread of this yarn, the millionth knock-off of the Aliens films to misunderstand completely what makes those films such extraordinary entertainments.
There may be a whole lot of Aliens to the proceedings, but Pitch Black becomes sericeable enough on its own armrest-gripping level.
Cole Hauser, perhaps best remembered as one of Matt Damon's neighborhood buddies in "Good Will Hunting" (1997) and Woody Harrelson's younger brother in "The Hi-Lo Country" (1998), steps into leading roles as the bounty hunter harboring a personal demon or two.
The survivors include baby-faced pilot Fry (Radha Mitchell, from High Art), spiritual Imam (Keith David, from There's Something About Mary), and law enforcement officer Johns (Cole Hauser, from Good Will Hunting and The Hi-Lo Country).
It benefits from its Australian outback location and a nice blend of Aussie talent, including newcomer Radha Mitchell ("Love and Other Catastrophes") and seasoned veterans Lewis Fitz-Gerald ("Breaker Morant") and Simon Burke ("The Devil's Playground"), which it mixes with such American actors as Vin Diesel ("Saving Private Ryan") and Cole Hauser ("Good Will Hunting").
It's a tightly constructed genre picture, combining the best paranoid thrills of the "Alien" series with the setting of "Mad Max" and the anti-Utopian future of "Blade Runner."
With this opening sequence, Pitch Black -- co-written by brothers Jim and Ken Wheat with director David Twohy -- asserts outright its derivative sources, quoting from the Alien, Mad Max, and Terminator series, Blade Runner, Fearless, Con Air, and The Fugitive, even Stagecoach, in the outlaw traveling with a group of "civilized" folks.
Incorporating disparate genre archetypes (the movie mixes "Swiss Family Robinson" with "Ten Little Indians" by way of "Alien"), "Pitch Black" provides a thrill ride from its chaotic opening scenes (in which a transport vehicle is forced to make a crash landing) to its surprising outcome.
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"Pitch Black," the latest crackerjack thriller from director David ("The Arrival") Twohy is one I can add to my list.
Further, it examines community fractures arising from distrust, know-it-all-ness, and prejudice, all familiar territory for Twohy, whose The Arrival, while burdened by goony horse-hocked aliens and Charlie Sheen's earnestness, made a strong and often thoughtful (SF-metaphorical) case against U.S. imperialism in South America.
David Twohy, who made the inconsistent but somewhat original sci-fi thriller "The Arrival" ?
Then co-writer and director David Twohy -- whose previous efforts have mostly been borderline crap like "The Arrival" -- proceeds to create a highly convincing alien desert landscape.
Yes, Pitch Black plays something like a rip-off of the Alien series, but the first 10 minutes alone are harrowing enough to earn director David Twohy (The Arrival) the benefit of such doubt.
Director David Twohy, who made the aliens-among-us thriller The Arrival, keeps things moving, even if the screenplay (by Twohy and Jim and Ken Wheat) doesn't contain many surprises about who among the Red Shirt victim-class will get chomped.
In Twohy's very slight variation on the "Aliens"/"Starship Troopers" theme, two antisocial people, a docking pilot and a homicidal prisoner, are rehabilitated by the tribulations of survival on a desert planet.
"We knew we could never compete set piece for set piece with something like Starship Troopers, so we'd have to go with what we did have the money -- and the time -- for: better characters.