Pitch Black: Movie, DVD, Blu-ray disc Review (2009)

Directed by David Twohy, written by Twohy and Jim and Ken Wheat, 107 minutes, rated R.

A fine addition to the world of high-definition.

David Twohy’s sci-fi thriller “Pitch Black,” now out on Blu-ray disc, sees clearly through the dark, murky world of less successful sci-fi movies.

It’s a good student who has learned from the pitfalls of the genre--weak premise, messy plot, terrific special effects at the cost of thinly drawn characters--and uses that knowledge to create a world filled with believable characters, genuine suspense, and creepy moments of horror that grab and linger within the gathering darkness.

Nothing in this film is new -- audiences have seen much of this before in other movies, particularly “Alien” and “Mad Max,” the latter of which has obviously inspired Twohy’s vision of a desolate future filled with lost souls. But Twohy (“The Arrival,” “Disaster in Time”) is nevertheless able to make it all seem fresh, sometimes startlingly so.

His film opens with a spaceship falling from space and slamming spectacularly into an unknown planet with three suns (this sequence alone is worth the price of the rental). There, the ship’s nine survivors, including the female pilot, Fry (Radha Michell), lawman Johns (Cole Hauser) and the dangerous prisoner Riddick (Vin Diesel), learn they must take cover from the darkness of a rare solar eclipse--or else.

Indeed, as they learn early on in one particularly bloody scene, this planet holds a carnivorous secret--one that’s only let loose in the dark.

Grade: B+

Features:
An Introduction By David Twohy
The Game Is On
Johns' Chase Log
The Making Of Pitch Black
Dark Fury: Advancing The Arc
The Chronicles Of Riddick Visual Encyclopedia
A View Into The Dark
Feature Commentaries With Cast And Crew
Pitch Black Raw
Picture In Picture
Blu-ray Live Enabled