Rating: 
Summary: Excellent flick!
Review: This was great movie! Great effects! I bought it not knowing much about the storyline. It turns out, not only is it suspensful but it's filled with lots of cool cinemamographic effects, such as the really cool dissolves, cool blue color filters and let me just say that the director did a lot of really cool things with this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Best movie since The Matrix!
Review: Great movie! Kind of like a combination of Alien, Starship Troopers and Road Warriors. The computer animation was very good, the space scenes and the alien scenes were amazing. The only problems I saw were that the aliens were not consistent with their attacking. They were supposedly afraid of light, but sometimes they would attack someone with a bright light, and sometimes they wouldn't. In other cases people would get by with very dim or no lights and live. Also, they were fast enough to kill a lot of the people instantly, but they weren't fast enough to catch Mitchell (forget her char's name) when she went down into their hole. It was also an interesting coincidence that they just happened to have a guy that could see in the dark. No complaints, just observations. There were a lot of great plot twists, and while the movie resembled Alien, it was most definitely not a copy. The lighting with the three suns was incredible, and something I'd never seen before. Excellent movie; I'm making everyone I know watch it =)
Rating: 
Summary: Another Sci-Fi Failure...
Review: When it comes right down to it, science fiction is perhaps the most difficult genre to do right. When it works, you get a glorious film like James Cameron's Aliens. When it doesn't, well, take your pick, there are so many atrocities like Pitch Black that manage to make it to a movie theatre. And it actually seems that director-writer Twohy and his co-writers were on the right track here. But not surprisingly, they lack the sophistication, the smarts and the style to pull it off. Now, this was perhaps more horror than sci-fi, but still, why go the alien route if you know your story is all rehashed nonsense? So, here's the situation: A transport ship in hyper space gets hit by a meteor shower -- you'd think that with advanced technology, they'd avoid these by now -- and everyone is jarred out of hyper sleep. The captain is killed and the plucky second-in-command must take over. Then -- hey, big surprise, -- the ship crashes on an inhospitable planet where (it's alien time!) vicious, darkness-loving winged monsters live. The potential for a B-movie classic is present, but the usual cliches are too frequent to ignore. Kudos for the low-budger-indie-shocker feel. But thumbs down to the bumps along the way: the stupid characters, the rudimentary dialogue, the pointless sub-plots. As though the characters and their limitless bickering weren't annoying enough, we're forced to witness precious moments of unimportant and cliched backstory. The backstory couches a disturbingly ham-fisted parallelism between the convict and the monsters, the ship's captain--guilt-ridden for almost jettisoning the passengers to save her own life--and the mercenary bounty hunter, the convict and the mercenary bounty hunter, the convict and the guilt-ridden ship's captain, the mercenary bounty hunter and the monsters, and the monsters and the monsters. In a way, it's not really fair to blame the actors, whose amateurishness seems appropriate to the material (although Diesel's stolid machismo is so over-the-top you find yourself almost laughing). All in all, Pitch Black is the kind of film that's great when you find yourself in a motel equipped with HBO.
Rating: 
Summary: Hey bud, got a light?
Review: OK lets get this off our collective chests eh? THIS IS NOT ALIENS! It has some aliens in it but THIS IS NOT ALIENS! That's better yes? This to my mind is a pretty damn good original concept with believable effects and a good cast. I really got the feeling of the atmosphere in this film, it must be hard to come up with truly new premise for a story but here there is just enough to make this a winner. Though a better director could have created more tension, a stronger more fluid telling of the tale, what we are given is a new take on the 'good' guys vs. the aliens, and it works. Where in Aliens the tension is created by the confines of the station, here, even in the wide open expanse of the desert planet the darkness when it falls becomes almost as crushingly claustrophobic, death can be all around you but you only see as far as your fading torch will allow. Don't let the odd negative review deter you from trying this movie, 'cus if you do you may have missed a small gem. A good mix of action, horror, twists 'n' turns (sort of), some realistic 'heroes' and err...other stuff that makes a good nights viewing. Oh and you get some extras as well, surprised me to find DTS as an option as well, nice one.
Rating:
Summary: PERFECT SCI-FI/TERROR MATINEE FARE
Review: Yes, this is your basic, high concept, "Aliens"-on-a-planet-in-total-darkness, survival of the cutest, sci-fi terror film. With that as a template, the real question is: does it deliver the goods? I say yes. The plot is simple: A space ship crashes on a desert planet and the only survivors are an eclectic mix of characters who must somehow survive the perils of this planet to get to a ship that can get them off the planet. The trick is that this planet is about to go into a long total eclipse and there are these carnivorous beasts who only come out in "pitch black" that will eat everybody if they don't find away to work together and survive. The characters include a rookie pilot, a cop with a problem, some Islamic pilgrims, a couple of kids, an effete English rich guy, an Australian tracker, and a psycho killer. What happens and whether anyone lives or dies is pretty obvious to anyone who has seen at least one of these types of movies before, up until the very end. There are a few twists, a red herring or two, a couple of mysteries to be solved, and some secrets are revealed as the film progresses, but they all make sense for the drama of the story. At the last moment, however, I was actually not sure which way the movie was going to go. The filmmaker has the opportunity to make a statement about humanity (something about duty, redemption, and forgiveness), and the way the story ends makes that statement. The special effects are good and convincing. The production design effectively communicates the appropriate moods, from heat and desolation to darkness and claustrophobia. There is even an effect on the film that gives certain scenes a real "other-worldly" feel. At the end of it all, I felt like I had a quality cinematic experience, but something was lacking. The film seemed a little short, and the darkness of it was maybe a little one-dimentional. There was enough variety, enough thrills and chills, enough drama for this particular movie, but I did want something more to go with it. Something lighter, more humorous, maybe, but still in the sci-fi genre. Then I went and saw "Galaxy Quest" (which I have already reviewed). Yes! That's it! "Pitch Black" and Galaxy Quest," in that order, with a cartoon, serial, and newsreel, and we've got a perfect science fiction double feature! Break out the popcorn!
Rating:
Summary: Great movie
Review: Excelent audio, video and fx
Rating:
Summary: It would be very hard....
Review: to think of a worse movie than this. It was painful to watch. Usually, you want to root for at least 1 of the characters. I was hoping that everyone would get it. And early. To end the misery of watching this movie. I've already wasted too much time discussing this movie. Watch Aliens instead. And if you've already seen Aliens, watch it again. And again. But avoid this piece of junk.
Rating:
Summary: a little lean, but better than expected
Review: 'Pitch Black' is a stark, surprisingly well-developed and thought out variation on the outer-space, Sci-Fi action thriller. Special effects are suprisingly good for a low-budget film, and the acting and character development are what set it apart from so many, many bad past films of the same genre. Vin Diesel is a star in the making. This is not where you first heard it, but it's only a matter of time before his star explodes into a SuperNova. His charisma and intensity are palpable, and he has more muscles than any leading man since Arnold. Catch him in the movie, 'Boiler Room' for a look at him in a suit, with nothing to else to rely on except his great acting ability. Most of all, his very unique features, baritone voice, and ambiguous ethnic backgound make him a very memorable, unique hero/antihero and an actor to watch. Other characters were less compelling, especially David Keith's very formulaic role as a muslim holy-man. Where have I seen that character before? Somewhere, I'm sure. Radha Mitchell also turns in a pretty good performance as the group leader and seat of their moral angst. Once again, pretty good character development on the ambiguity of good/evil. Although not of fashion model dimensions or strikingness, Ms. Mitchell's character and features tend to grow on you. Within the first ten minutes of the film, one begins to realize that she is one very, very attractive young woman! She is a fine actor, too, and I was more than a little surprised to find out that she is actually an Australian, and NOT an American, as portrayed in the film. If she can do a passably good American accent, why can't Mel Gibson?? There is a big enough plot twist in the end to keep you satisfied *after* the movie is over. Coupled with the unique, interesting characters, better-than-average character development, better-than-average SFX, and some eye-candy in Diesel and Mitchell, this is a movie that you will remember some time after seeing it. How many other formulaic space-monster Sci-Fi thrillers in recent memory can you say that about?
Rating: 
Summary: A worthy successor to Aliens
Review: With the focus on characterization, you will not even notice the shoestring budget. Great use of the camera. Vin Diesel and the rest of the cast give fairly solid performances. The DVD features however, blow. There isn't much 'extra' to be seen here, and I'm still trying to figure out exactly _where_ these unrated scenes were added in the movie. Get this DVD for the movie, not the features.
Rating: 
Summary: Aliens go down t'pit
Review: Ohmigod! Our ship has been blown off course, a fact only discovered as it re-enters the atmosphere of a mysterious barren planet. Fortunately (the special effects budget not stretching to spacesuits) the planet has a breathable atmosphere, especially after knocking back a couple of bottles of vintage claret supplied by the ship's oddball! Golly! The planet has a secret! It hides an alien force of astonishingly obviously computer generated animals with big teeth. They are merciless. Everyone dies except for a couple of people who escape. That's about it.
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