Rating: 
Summary: Edge of our seat adventure
Review: I've seen this several times on cable and each time I saw something new. I bought it. I still see something new each time I view it get scared in different parts as I notice more and have yet to get tired of the movie. Never having seen Vin Diesel before he was just wonderful. I'm going to watch it again!
Rating: 
Summary: Warning: Boring review landing. Purge!
Review: Over-edited thriller reminiscent of 70's Sci-Fi like 'The Illustrated Man' and 'Idaho Transfer'. Disappointment seems to have arisen over the fact that it isn't really a monster movie, more a morality play with the forces of nature well in the backgound as a catalyst. Those without a strong interest in metaphysics may feel themselves under-catered for. The film's holiness will make it stand the test of time in my opinion although some vulgar direction and self-conscious profanity is unhelpful at times, at least the cast seems uncomfortable delivering it. Is faith rewarded and does God intervene? Whether it is the Christian God or Allah that shines upon our survivors at the film's close will be hotly debated at length by ooh, absolutely nobody, I should think.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best in sci-fi/horror.
Review: In the distant future, a group of passengers-which include a murderous convict and a brave though morally conflicted pilot-aboard a transport ship crashland onto a seemingly uninhabited desert planet. Exploring the region, they discover there are ferocious creatures living under the ground, afraid of the light. The survivors believe they are safe, only to become aware of an approaching solar eclipse! Fast-paced thriller has lots of action, scares, and suspense, boasts very impressive special effects and production values, and features two terrific leads in the sexy Radha Mitchell and Vin Diesel. Superb direction from David Twohy solidifies this exemplary sci-fi/horror tale.
**** 1/2 out of *****
Rating:
Summary: Big Question, Is Riddick the killer
Review: I own the Australian video PAL version and it came with a "Into Pitch Black" FEATURE. I don't know if it's in the DVD version, but I don't think so. After watching the feature it made me rethink the whole story. My impression was Riddick set the whole thing up because he was the alien too. In the movie the aliens didn't kill him, 1 scene he came face to face with them and they didn't touch him. And I'm pretty sure he killed the 1st Aboriginal, Indian guy at the start digging in the hole - the movie effect went into that transparent radar alien view and right before you could see Riddick's knife. (...)...The feature in question went on about Riddicks violent past and how later they wanted to get a bounty hunter to kill him. It was a strange feature. It was like a part 2 of the movie. I though it would be a "Making Of" but it definitely wasn't. I though it was SENSATIONAL, it really made me so much more interested in the movie. Was that shown in the cinema??? (it shouldv'e) To explain it another way, it sorta was like a summary, detective of the whole film - it cut back some scenes and it added the stunning conclusion:
***Riddick was the BAD guy & killer***
Have I stumbled on a revelation or am I wrong?
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Modern B-movie
Review: Vin Diesel stars as Richard B. Riddick, a potentially amoral and dangerous criminal being transported through space to prison. When the spacecraft crashes on an isolated planet, only a few survive, including Claudia Black (Farscape), Cole Hauser, and Radha Mitchell. During the day, the planet is a barren dessert, and the survivors worry that they will die of thirst; as night falls, they find that they are prey to a terrifying foe. The survivors find themselves relying on Riddick, despite their hesitation. Pitch Black is a solid sci-fi thriller, despite its relatively low budget (23 million). The director, David Twohy (writer of "The Fugitive"), manages to maintain a genuinely creepy atmosphere throughout the movie and keeps the movie unpredictable. Ultimately, it's the type of well-crafted B-movie that is rarely made today, and it helped make Vin Diesel a star. Pitch Black is likely to become a cult classic, helped immeasurably by the forthcoming planned sequel "The Chronicles of Riddick." Extras: The DVD features an excellent director commentary track, which sustains a nice balance between technical description of special effects and more general aspects of how the movie was created.
Rating:
Summary: Pitchin' great
Review: Just when you thought all sci-fi movies are bland, boring & too much like all the other ones.
Just when you thought all horror movies are a repeating the same thing over and over again.
Then came PitchBlack to keep you on the edge of your seat. I find that the audio is one of the best (if you use DTS).
The end of the movie is somewhat dissapointing: Vin should not have said "not for me". Understandable that there had to be an ending but not like he just found jesus again.
Rating: 
Summary: SAVE YOUR MONEY!!
Review: Where do I begin with this absolutely HORRIBLE movie? It is beyond my comprehension how movies like this get made. The plot is: a passenger/freight ship must make an emergency landing on an unknown planet that...(wait for it) has an oxygen balanced atmosphere (except everyone carries a portable hookah for reasons we never find out). Upon landing, the passengers find out that 1: there is a crazy pro wrestler type prisoner on board who is now freely roaming the crash site (he bought himself some night vision eye surgery in prison for a pack of smokes... WHAT?!) 2: there are lizards below the ground that eat people, and finally 3: that the speechless lizards prove better at acting than the crew. The writing is awful at best, and the cheese-wagon characters are so cliche' you'll feel like they came straight out of an action figure box. *snotty science guy, *strong pilot chick, *hunky guy with an attitude, *muslim man with turban(complete with disposable sons for thrilling death scenes) and of course, *that lovable, wacky stowaway. But by far the worst part of this movie is the credits where you have to admit to yourself that you actually watched the whole thing. Save your money and time for a winner like The Thing or Alien. Your intellect will thank you for it.
Rating:
Summary: Better than you would expect
Review: I saw a trailer of this and it looked like a low budget shlock movie. I rented the DVD for various irrational reasons and it was a reasonable science fiction thriller. Despite looking low budget in the previews the sets and filming are quite good. The main attractions are the two leads, a convict played by Vin Diesel and a female pilot played by someone else. The film is interesting as it has a female in the jock lead role and in doing so it is not artificial like Tomb raider. The actress playing the role is both effective an charasmatic. Vin Diesel is also a pleasant surprise. In interviews he comes across as a little dull but he is able to give a multi dimension peformance to his role. You have in a science fictin film something unusual a interesting and rounded character. The photography is good, lots of washed out tones which create the sense of an alient world. The "monsters" provide menance by only being shown for short periods and the way they are portrayed does not degenerate into comedy as can sometimes happen. Quite a reasonable DVD to play to while away a few hours.
Rating:
Summary: Great Sci-Fi Movie
Review: I recently rented this DVD from my local Blockbuster. I wasn't expecting it to be too good, but I still took it home and popped it in my DVD player. And that was when the amazment began. The film begins with the Hunter Graztner (a spaceship) slowing moving towards a planet on a trade route. The ship design, I must say, is the best I've seen in years. The only thing it can compare to is the awesome Nostromo from Alien. But anyways you immediately hear the prisoner's (Riddick) voice (much better in DTS than Dolby 5.1). I think Vin Diesel hit his best acting in Pitch Black. He is just perfect for the role. Riddick talks a while then hints at the future by saying things could go wrong. Immediately a meteor shower punches holes in the ship. The Captian, Dock Pilot, and Officer are awakened out of cyrogenic sleep. Unfortunatly the captian is dead from the shower, and this leaves the Dock Pilot to fly the ship. The dock pilot, Fry, and her Officer Owen realize with warning as they get to the bridge that the ship is going into a planet's atmosphere. Once inside the free-fall to the ground begins. This is when the imigination of the writer really comes in. The ship is just plain awesome in its effects. The ship crashes into a planet that is completly desert, surrounded by three suns. There are ten survivors, one of them the deadly prisoner Riddick. Riddick escapes and an expedition is sent to find water, and him. The plot turns suddenly when a survivor is slaughtered by an unknown creature. Riddick is captured and blamed for the murder, but he swears it wasn't him. Finally the survivors discover that something else lives on the planet, something that sticks to the dark. Luckily there are three suns and the survivors have nothing to worry about. Until they discover a total eclipse that is scheduled to occur in a few days. From then on the plot is pretty good. Some of the scenes are very good, like the fight between Riddick and Johns. But others aren't so great- like when an Islamic youth is killed next to Riddick. The movie is so dark it is incredibly hard to understand what is going on. All in all the movie is a great buy if you love sci-fi. The acting is very solid, the plot is worthy enough, and the special effects are good. Some places need to be tweaked just a bit (like some of the "Raptor" [alien monster Close-Captioned name] attacks). This is the best sci-fi horror movie I've seen since Alien (Alien: Resurrection was complete ...). So if you like sci-fi, buy it. If you aren't big into the science fiction world, I'd leave it alone. -Robbie
Rating:
Summary: Good Presentation Makes It Work
Review: This film may not expand the Science Fiction Cinematic Universe as we know it, but there's a couple of twists and turns and enough atmosphere to make it a worthwhile addition to the genre. "Pitch Black," directed by David N. Twohy, involves a commercial space flight carrying forty passengers that crash lands on an unknown desert planet. With three suns above them, there is plenty of daylight in which the survivors can negotiate their quest for survival, and finding water is their main concern. As they begin to explore the wastelands for sustenance, they find evidence that others have been there, apparently some years before them: A small ship and a couple of buildings; all of which appears to have been abruptly left behind. Lead by pilot Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell), the small band of survivors have a couple of additional obstacles in their way, as well. One is Riddick (Vin Diesel), a murderer who was being transported to a penal colony. But he may not be their greatest danger; because there is someone-- or something-- else close by. Very close. An entity that in all probability is responsible for the disappearance of those who came before. And, if that isn't enough, Fry ascertains that the three suns above them will be setting soon; their world is about to be plunged into absolute darkness. Soon, they will have to deal with Riddick and the entity stalking them in the pitch black of an eternal night. This concept is nothing new, and there's a sense of been there, done that, about it, but to Twohy's credit, what it lacks in originality he makes up for in presentation by building the suspense and maintaining the tension right up to the end. The story was obviously influenced by a number of other films, predominately "Alien," "Soldier" and even "Rocketship X-M" from 1950, but there is a unique characteristic about Riddick and a revelation at the end (that has to do with his true nature) that secures a separate entry in the annals of Sci-Fi lore for this film. This one definitely has it's moments, enough to take it to a level that even such highly touted offerings as "Event Horizon" and "Alien 3" failed to achieve. The performances, too, are a cut above the usual for this kind of fare, and while no one in the cast is likely to win an award for their work here, they do a good job, individually and collectively. Radha Mitchell has an affecting screen presence and creates a very real person in Fry, equal to, if not surpassing Sigourney Weaver's Ripley in "Alien." Diesel is effective, as well, especially in the menace he brings to Riddick, which is subtly honest and believable; the understated way he plays it gives added impact to the character and takes him beyond stereotype (though not quite up to Rutger Hauer's Roy in "Blade Runner"). With Riddick, what you see is basically what you get; there's not a lot of depth or complexity to him, but that's who this guy is, and Diesel plays it well. Also turning in effective performances are Keith David as Imam, Lewis Fitz-Gerald as Paris Ogilvie, Rhiana Griffith as Jack and Claudia Black as Shazza. As Johns, Cole Hauser is adequate, but he fails to give his character the definition his co-stars achieved with their respective roles. Rounding out the cast are John Moore (Zeke), Simon Burke (Greg), Les Chantery (Suleiman), Sam Sari (Hassan) and Firass Dirani (Ali). From the beginning, you know what you're in for with this one-- it's a survival story, and few of the characters, if any, are going to make it to the end. But as entertainment, "Pitch Black" does the job; it's thrilling enough that by the time it's over you feel like you got your five bucks worth. You may not remember it next month, but while you're watching, it's a pretty good rush. It's the magic of the movies.
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