It starts slow, with a shot you've seen in a million other sci-fi films: a spaceship swoops through the sky, leaving a trail of fire in the shape of the Nike swoosh. Flash to the interior of the ship and things get even more routine, as we find a team of stock characters fretting over their impending crash. The first fifteen minutes of Pitch Black play like a close encounter of the clichéd kind, a lackadaisical Starship Troopers that in no way prepares you for what a fast-paced, thrilling, inventive and just plain scary experience this movie is.
Scheduled for release this February, Pitch Black is the kind of ass-kicking film from out of nowhere that will likely be the Matrix of the year 2000. Put simply, Pitch Black gives good movie. It may not bring you to new cerebral heights, but this relentlessly entertaining flick boasts enough cool plot twists, sleek cinematography and wild special FX to charm even the most jaded genre fan. And if that doesn't work, well, there's always Vin Diesel.
Based loosely on the Isaac Asimov story Nightfall, Pitch Black tells the story of an eclectic group of space travelers who crash land on a planet with three separate suns. There is never darkness, and director David Twohy (The Arrival) films the first half in a bleached-out, surreal style that is absolutely striking. Our heroes soon come to learn, however, that they have arrived on the rare occasion of a tri-solar eclipse. Moreover, they are stranded in a world full of screeching, biting, horrific creatures who shy away from sunlight but arrive in droves at nightfall, hungry for human flesh. The crew's struggle to escape is essentially the plot of Pitch Black.
Only it's more complicated than that. Pitch Black boasts a cast comprised entirely of relatively unknown but supremely talented actors, foremost among them the intensely charismatic Vin Diesel. As the bad-ass, muscle-bound, gravel-voiced criminal Riddick, Vin Diesel is a man destined for action figure status; what's even cooler is that he can really act. Like most of the characters in Pitch Black, Riddick initially appears to be no more than a two-dimensional plot device (albeit a hot one); as the film progresses, he reveals a surprising depth and complexity that is only magnified by Diesel's incredible appeal.
The same praise can be given for the excellent Radha Mitchell as the ship's captain, Fry, and Cole Hauser as her volatile companion Johns. However, the real attraction of the movie -- much like The Matrix -- is the incredible place in which the story unfolds. The setting of Pitch Black is a primal nightmare world, one familiar enough to horrify instinctually but oddly inventive all the same. Over the past three or so years, there have been a few sci-fi movies which have simply swept me away with the pure imaginative scope of the fictive worlds they depict -- films like Dark City, The Matrix, Princess Mononoke and yes, The Phantom Menace. Pitch Black is another to add to the list.
DROOL FACTOR: I have seen the future of hotness, and its name is Vin Diesel. Six foot plus of onomatopoeic glory, Vin Diesel is the thinking woman's alien-slaying bad-ass. As Riddick, he breaks metal chains with his bare hands. He bravely carries hefty illuminated spaceship parts through a planet of screeching light-fearing mutants. And in real life, Vin was the voice of the Iron Giant... without modulation. For girls who prefer a slightly less psychopathic but still tasty character, Cole Hauser's Johns is definitely one to watch.
GROSS-OUT FACTOR: Creative and scary as all hell. Not to be missed.
STRONG CHICK FACTOR: Don't let the beginning of the film fool you -- Radha Mitchell's Fry kicks ass. There are also some really strange and interesting things going on with another female character in the movie, but I will say no more on that. Just see the damn thing already!
--Sarah Kendzior
Pitch Black is scheduled for release in February 2000
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